The Unsuccessful Successor to the "Antei": What is Known About the An-122 on a New Technological Basis

As the Soviet Union neared its end, it became clear that the Antei military transport aircraft, despite its outstanding characteristics and several records, needed a deep modernization or replacement. At that time, the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy, with a payload capacity of about 120 tons, became more relevant compared to the "Antei," which could carry up to 80 tons.

First Strokes

The Antonov Design Bureau began developing a project to modernize the "Antei," including the installation of a swept wing and turbojet engines.

This work can be called hedging, since there was a decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU to create an aircraft with a payload capacity of 120 tons, which led to the emergence of the famous An-124 "Ruslan." However, if difficulties arose with the development of the "Ruslan," it was planned to quickly establish the production of the An-122.

As is known, the "Ruslan" turned out to be extremely successful, and the aircraft was launched into serial production. As a result, the "Antei" modernization project lost its relevance and was closed. However, this project was not worked out in detail. Today, it is not even possible to find drawings of this aircraft on the Web.

Lost the Competition

Directives were issued to the Kiev Mechanical Plant, according to which it was required to create a turbojet aircraft that surpassed the characteristics of the American competitor.

Chief Designer A. Ya. Belolipetsky headed a group of engineers who initially considered projects with a swept wing, T-tail, and four turbojet engines, while the fuselage of the An-22 remained the same.

Did Not Pass the Central Committee Filter

Also, one of the project managers was N. M. Vorobyov, who in the second half of the 2010s headed the drone direction.

Designated An-122, the new aircraft project allowed the transportation of 80 tons of cargo over a range of 3,500 km. In October 1967, O. K. Antonov and V. F. Eroshin submitted the project to the Military-Industrial Commission under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, which was rejected because it did not provide significant advantages compared to the An-22 and still lagged behind its American competitor.

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