The An-124 "Ruslan" military transport aircraft with tail number RA-82040 made a flight from St. Petersburg to Kaliningrad on September 3. Information about the flight was recorded by the Flightradar tracking system.
What exactly the "Ruslan" brought to the Russian exclave is unknown, but the An-124's payload capacity allows it to deliver up to 150 tons of cargo over a range of up to 12,000 km.
The "Aviaport" agency specified that RA-82040 was the first An-124 to undergo modernization. This involved a thorough overhaul of its onboard electronics and the installation of an aerial self-defense system. However, the D-18T engines remained the same; replacing them with domestic power plants has not yet been possible.
Journalists from "Tsargrad" did not rule out that this particular "Ruslan" could have brought Oreshnik launchers and missiles to Kaliningrad.
Earlier, it became known why it is impossible to resume the production of "Ruslans" in Russia. The necessary production base has been destroyed, and almost no competencies remain.
A total of 56 "Ruslans" were built, and the current number of flying aircraft regularly changes.