Ruslan is the world's largest serial transporter

The AN-124 "Ruslan" aircraft (according to NATO standards - "Condor"), which began to be produced in the USSR, is the world's largest serial military transport aircraft. Its main purpose is the transportation of airborne troops and military equipment. There are also civilian versions used to transport bulky non-standard cargo.

Commissioning

For the first time, the giant lifted into the sky from the Borispol airfield (Kyiv) on 21.12.1982/8/5 a crew of 1986 people. After testing, the aircraft began to be mass-produced at two enterprises: in Ukraine (KiAPO) and in Ulyanovsk (Aviastar). At that time, the Soviet airliner returned the palm to the USSR in serial military transport aircraft, taking it away from the Lockheed C-124 Galaxy (USA). Since 1987, the An-XNUMX has been operated by Aeroflot. Most often, the aircraft transported bulky non-standard cargo related to the oil industry, turbines to hydroelectric power stations. In XNUMX, the giant entered the USSR Armed Forces. The main technical parameters of the liner:

• ✅ length - 69 m (for comparison: 320 times longer than the Airbus A-2)
  
• ✅ height - 21,08 m (approximately like a house with 7 floors)
  
• ✅ wingspan - 73,3 m
  
• ✅ crew - 8 people (maybe 4 or even 3, depending on the modification of the aircraft)
  
• ✅ cruising speed - 865 km / h
  
• ✅ ceiling - 9500 m
  
• ✅ flight range at full load - 4800 km, when transporting equipment weighing up to 80 tons - 7500 km
  
• ✅ resource - 45 years or 50 thousand flying hours
  

The power plant includes 4 D-18T engines with a thrust of 23,4 tons each. Aircraft engines were developed by V. A. Lotarev at the Progress Design Bureau. They are characterized by relatively small dimensions, low noise (in the latest modifications of the aircraft, it meets global standards), and acceptable fuel consumption. Its maximum weight on board is 213 tons. To take off a fully loaded airliner, a runway of at least 74 km long will be required. However, the aircraft can also take off from unpaved runways.

Design

It consists of two decks, divided into sealed compartments, which is very convenient for maintenance. The first of them is cargo: it is located below and it transports equipment and bulky goods. Crews (active and replacement) and various equipment are located in the upper part of the front deck. In the rear compartment are persons accompanying the equipment. At the fuselage, the bow and rear parts are folded up, which allows loading / unloading in two directions.



Equally important for these operations is the special design of the chassis. They "know how to squat", which makes loading / unloading easier. Moreover, the rack system is capable of turning the aircraft almost on the spot - the radius is only 50 m. The main characteristics of the cargo compartment:

• ✅ length, not counting the ramp - 36,5 m
  
• ✅ width - 6,4 m
  
• ✅ height - 4,4 m
  
• ✅ the total volume of the compartment is over 1000 cubic meters. m
  
• ✅ weight of transported equipment - up to 120 tons
  

The floor of the compartment is made of titanium alloys and easily withstands loads of up to 12 tons per axle, created by tracked or wheeled vehicles. The cargo compartment has roller equipment, with the help of which equipment weighing up to 50 tons is transported. It is also possible to transport 88 passengers.

Modifications

The civilian version of the aircraft bears the An-124-100 index. The liner was certified in 1992. Today it is used by six organizations of the Russian Federation and Ukraine. The crew of this modification of the aircraft consists of 4 people. All avionics are imported. Onboard cranes lift 30 tons each. The engines have received sound-absorbing components to meet international noise standards.

Today, other, more advanced varieties of Ruslan are also found in operation. First of all, this is the An-124-100M. Here, the maximum load is increased to 150 tons. But it is necessary to test the arrival airfield first. Another model of the liner is An-124-102. It differs from the previous ones by the number of crew members - there are three of them, and by more advanced electronic equipment for controlling the liner.



A total of 56 aircraft were produced. From open sources, it is only known that 10 of them (at least) are operated by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Volga-Dnepr has 12 units, OJSC 224 Letny Detachment has 8 liners, Antonov Airlines (Ukraine) has 7 ships, Maximus Air Cargo (UAE) - 1 aircraft.

What interesting things were transported by Ruslan

This aircraft is capable of doing the work that no other aircraft in the world can do. Thus, 50-ton equipment for the gold mining industry had to be transported from the Czech Republic to Africa. The dimensions of the cargo practically coincided with the dimensions of the aircraft compartment: the gaps between the walls of the liner and the Czech equipment were only 77 mm! But not only industrial equipment is transported by this giant:

• ✅ in 1989, the stage equipment of the rock legend Pink Floyd weighing 140 tons was delivered to the capital of the USSR from London
  from the United Arab Emirates to Switzerland in 1992, Ruslan transported 52 tons of gold bullion, estimated at 230 million pounds sterling
  
• ✅ during a tour in 1993, Michael Jackson brought stage equipment weighing 310 tons to the Russian capital - it took three (!) Aircraft
  
• ✅ from the capital of England to Tunisia in 1997, the liner delivered 100 tons of film equipment, including a model of a spaceship for filming the notorious Star Wars
  

Demand for transportation services of this kind is stable. The geography of flights includes 1300 airports located in 190 countries. In a year, one airline (the largest is the Russian Volga-Dnepr) operates approximately 1200 flights, mostly abroad.

Main competitor - Lockheed C-5A Galaxy

The same American transport military aircraft that surpassed Ruslan. This liner from the United States ranks third in the world in terms of carrying capacity after the An-224 (but the Mriya is not a serial ship - it was produced in a single copy, the second was never completed). The first samples, released in the 60s and participating in the Vietnam War, were not very successful. With the declared 100 tons of cargo, in reality, up to 70 tons were taken on board, the resource was only 4600 hours instead of the estimated 30000 hours.



However, over time, the "sores" were eliminated: by 1982, the modified liner (models C-5A and C-5C) received new engines and avionics. As a result, the aircraft managed to achieve the highest rates in the world in terms of the mass of cargo and the range of its transportation (later the record was broken by the Soviet Ruslan). An American plane, having risen to a height of 2000 m, transported 110 tons of equipment. However, the An-124 transported 171 tons of cargo at 11000 m. The main parameters of the C-5A Galaxy:

• ✅ length - 75 m
  
• ✅ height - 20 m
  
• ✅ wingspan - 67,8 m
  
• ✅ speed - 888 km / h
  
• ✅ maximum flight range - 10400 km
  
• ✅ ceiling - 10800 m
  
• ✅ number of crew members - 5 people
  
• ✅ weight of transported cargo - 118 tons
  

Galaxy was not very lucky with the operation: 6 cases of aircraft loss are known. The worst disaster occurred in 1975, when an aircraft crashed while taking children out of South Vietnam. One aircraft crashed during takeoff (13 people died), another during landing in 2006 (there were no casualties), three liners burned down on the ground.

Prospects

Russian air carriers are increasingly talking about resuming the construction of new transport aircraft with a large payload. Their demand is obvious, and Ruslans will start to be written off by 2025. The proposal to resume production of modified versions of this airliner was made at a meeting with the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation in March 2021. It is assumed that the new aircraft will carry even more cargo, for which its design will be strengthened. Production is planned to be organized at the Ulyanovsk plant. 4 customers already want to buy the future aircraft.