Russian media recently reported that the Antonov An-22 heavy turboprop transport aircraft will officially retire in 2024. The An-22 is the largest turboprop transport aircraft in the world and has served the Soviet/Russian forces for nearly 60 years. Its retirement will further strain Russia’s strategic transport aircraft fleet.
The Russian Air Force only has two types of strategic transport aircraft, the An-124 and An-22. The Ilyushin Il-76, with a payload of less than 60 tons, does not quite qualify as a strategic transport aircraft. The awkward situation arises from the fact that both the An-124 and An-22 were products of the Antonov Design Bureau in Ukraine during the Soviet era. Since Russia’s forceful annexation of Crimea in 2014, relations between Russia and Ukraine have completely deteriorated, leading to Ukraine halting military service exports to Russia, including ship gas turbines, large aircraft engines, as well as components and maintenance services for large transport aircraft like the An-124 and An-22.
The reason the Russian Air Force has kept the aging An-22 transport aircraft in service is that its cargo hold is larger than that of the Il-76, allowing for the transport of extremely heavy loads, including complete missile systems and large, heavy military vehicles. Additionally, based on flight hour calculations, the operating cost of the An-22 is cheaper than that of the An-124.
Facing comprehensive sanctions from Western countries due to aggression in Ukraine, Russia has had to accelerate the full domestication of its civil aircraft production to cope with the predicament of aircraft being cut off. However, all Russian civil aircraft projects – such as the MC-21, SSJ-100, Tu-214, Il-114, and the light multi-purpose aircraft “Baikal” – have encountered numerous difficulties in the process of domestication, leading to delays.
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