An-148 and its “illegitimate children”: it all started so well...

By the beginning of the 134st century, it became clear: the rapidly aging Tu-1990 requires immediate replacement: a new regional aircraft is needed. Its development has been carried out by Antonov Design Bureau since the early 214s. But not only that! 150 companies from all over the world took part in the creation of the aircraft, including France, the USA, including XNUMX organizations from the Russian Federation, one way or another related to aviation. The Russian side was responsible for projects for the development and production of power units, interior, chassis, avionics, and many other components and elements.


The result of the cooperation was not long in coming: an aircraft was born, for the first time in the history of the post-Soviet space, created exclusively using digital technologies. Even all the documentation was processed in a similar way.

Prospects and first successes

The aircraft was very much needed by Russian airlines, so the issue was resolved at the highest level. The leadership of the two countries agreed to organize another production line in Voronezh, at the facilities of VASO.


The plant had to assemble cars under license. The sales market was estimated at 590 units of equipment - and these are only civil aircraft!


The An-148 was developed and built at a rapid pace that can only be dreamed of today. By the end of 2004, a test flight of the airliner took place. It turned out to be so successful that one could safely say: the aircraft’s characteristics were ahead of its closest competitors such as Embraer (Brazil) and Bombardier (Canada).


The advantages were lower fuel consumption and adaptability to unpaved airfields (this was facilitated by the high location of the wing and its own ramp). The prospects were exciting: everything indicated that the demand for the car, especially in Russia, would be enormous.

A little about the design

This is a twin-engine aircraft with a turbojet power plant, built according to the high-wing design. The wings are moderately swept, the tail is T-shaped, with one keel. The fuselage is a semi-monocoque type, landing gear with a front strut, retractable. Unlike the An-74, with which the An-148 is often compared, it uses fly-by-wire control rather than manual booster control.


The machine is equipped with the most modern electronic digital equipment at that time. All technical data about the aircraft's status and route are displayed on five displays. The machine is capable of flying at night and in difficult weather conditions in accordance with IIIA ICAO standards.


The D-436-148 engines were developed in the Russian Federation by the Progress Design Bureau and were produced in Ukraine by the Motor Sich company together with the Russian Scientific and Production Center Salyut. True, at the same time the possibility of installing Western units such as Rolls-Royce BR700, General Electric CF34 and others was considered on the aircraft. The auxiliary engine is AI-450-MS, and includes a generator made in France. Similar ones are installed on the An-140.

Exploitation

In 2009, the first An-148 was assembled at VASO. Its test flight took place in the summer and lasted 41 minutes. Everything went well and after numerous checks the car was handed over to the customer, whose role was played by the Rossiya air carrier. A year later, he already had six similar aircraft in his arsenal.


In total, the Voronezh plant produced 34 aircraft in eight years (for comparison: three prototypes and four production ones were produced in Kyiv). An-148 was widely used throughout the post-Soviet territory and flew abroad. The vehicles were in the air for 300-400 hours per month. This is a kind of record for the “regionals”. Technical parameters of An-148:

✅ wingspan - 28,91 m
✅ length, height - 29,13 and 8,19 m
✅ empty weight (maximum takeoff) - 22,49 tons (37,78 tons)
✅ range with cargo – up to 5100 km
✅ ceiling - 12,5 km
✅ average speed – 820-870 km/h

The passenger capacity of the liner ranges from 73 to 89 people, the weight of transported cargo in the transport version is up to 9 tons. The first model An-148-100 was produced taking into account the interests of Aeroflot: the range reached 3 thousand km with a take-off weight of 37 tons. The second version under the symbol “100B” is aimed at the KrasAir company (Krasnoyarsk) and Aerosvit " (Ukraine).


Here the car flew 4 thousand km and had a maximum take-off weight of 40 tons. The third version of the An-1480100E is designed to cover a distance of 5 thousand 100 km with a total weight of 43 tons.

Camber

The largest number of aircraft were produced in the 2010s, until the coup in Ukraine in 2014. There, after several cars had been reassembled, new ones were no longer produced. A similar situation has developed in Voronezh. The last airliner rolled out of the gates of the enterprise in 2018. In the same year in Russia, due to the crash of the An-148 belonging to Saratov Airlines (71 people died), the use of the car for transporting passengers was officially prohibited.


Few aircraft remain with the military and the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Another operator was located abroad - North Korea: two aircraft were sold to the state-owned company Air Koryo. Considering the DPRK's experience in operating equipment, we can expect that these machines will serve there for a long time. They also wanted to supply An-148 to Myanmar and Syria, but it didn’t work out. In the first country there was a crash of a “cooperative” plane (2011) and therefore it was abandoned. And a war began in Syria.

An-158

In 2010, the Kiev Aviation Plant decided to build a larger aircraft based on the An-148, with a capacity of up to 99 people. In fact, this is an expanded version of the An-148-200, designed for a maximum of 89 passengers.


However, the liner was given a new designation An-158. The five aircraft produced were sold to Cuba to Cubana de Aviacion. What’s interesting: even here it couldn’t have happened without the Russian Federation: Russia paid for the liners and only then delivered them to Liberty Island under leasing. In the same way, Ukrainians tried to sell four more aircraft in 2015. But due to the breakdown in relations between the countries, the scheme no longer worked (but it could have!). Production of the model has stopped.

An-178

Another “illegitimate son” of the An-148. This “product” was first called An-148T, because it was a transport one. It was assembled just at the moment of the coup. But in 2015, the tests took place and were considered successful. They wanted to sell the plane to Peru, but it didn’t work out.


Then it was reported about a “switch to components from Western countries” and the start of construction of “3 cars,” but in reality nothing was done. And that was the end of it.

An-148 today – conclusions

The plane was initially necessary and quite good in technical and operational terms. However, its development was hampered by both economic and political events and disagreements. To be fair, it must be said that already in the early 2010s the Russian Federation did not really support the Ukrainian-Russian project, turning all its attention and finances to the increasingly popular SSJ-100.


What about the plane today? In Russia, cars for passenger transportation were banned, as already mentioned, in 2018. So far, it seems, the An-148s are still with the security forces and the Ministry of Emergency Situations. In Ukraine, the operation of the aircraft ended before the special operation, at the very beginning of 2022. Cars sold to Cuba are “hungry” for restoration, but who will do it? Big question! Airliners most likely fly to the DPRK, but they know how to take care of expensive equipment and handle it extremely carefully. The conclusion suggests itself: a series of events, mainly of a political nature, literally ruined a promising and good car, which both countries so needed.