An225 'Mriya'

The An225 was designed and built by Antonov Design Bureau (ADB) in Kiev, Ukraine. Its maiden flight of 75 minutes was on 21 Dec 1988.

Originally designed for the Soviet space program with the objective of being able to airlift all the elements of the Energia program including the Energia rocket's boosters, the Buran space shuttle and all of the major elements of the planned Soviet space station.

This requirement evaporated as the Soviet space program contracted and the aircraft was reduced to flying exhibitions and demonstrations until 1994 when she was retired.

The An-225 is a development of the Antonov An-124. To meet the needs of its new role, fuselage barrel extensions were added fore and aft of the wings, which received root extensions. Two more Lotarev D-18 turbofan engines were added to the new wing roots, bringing the total to six, and an increased-capacity landing gear system with 32 wheels was designed.

The An-124's rear cargo door and ramp were removed to save weight. Very large and heavy external loads would disturb the aerodynamics of a conventional tail and the empennage was therefore changed from a single vertical stabilizer to a twin tail. Unlike the An-124, the An-225 was not intended for tactical airlifting and is not designed for short-field operation.

The An-225 Mriya (translates to 'Dream' in Ukrainian) first flew on December 21, 1988. The aircraft was on static display at the Paris Air Show in 1989 and again in June 2001. Two aircraft were ordered, but only one aircraft (tail number UR-82060) made it into service before the collapse of the Soviet space program when work on the second aircraft was halted and the fuselage mothballed at Antonov's development plant in Kiev.

The first aircraft was also placed in storage in Kiev after the cancellation of the Energia program and before the decision was taken to bring it back into service, the engines and other components were extensively cannibalised for use on the commercial An124 fleet during the 1990s after the breakup of the Soviet Union when industrial cooperation was extremely difficult and components were in very short supply .

However, after refurbishment and upgrading airframe UR 82060 is now back in service after a first flight on 7 May 2001 and is commercially available for carrying ultra-heavy and oversize freight, up to 250,000 kg (550,000 lb) internally or 200,000 kg (440,000 lb) on the upper fuselage. Cargo on the upper fuselage can be 70 m long.

The decision to rebuild and certify her in 2000 was ADBs response to the British Royal Air Force choosing the Boeing C17 as their Short Term Strategic Airlift aircraft. ADB, along with their long term British partners, Air Foyle, had submitted a very credible economic alternative, the An124-100M to the British MoD. However, the bid was not selected due to the greater tactical manoeuvrability of the substantially smaller C17 on the ground despite the An124 being considerably cheaper and carrying more cargo than the C17.

Petro Balabuyev, General Designer and Chief of the Antonov Design Bureau demonstrated the capability of Antonov's designs particularly in the growing super heavy payload business being developed by the An124 fleet by deciding to bring the An225 back into service again.

In Dec 2001 the first commercial flight operated from Europe to Oman. She is now chartered on various commercial operations worldwide and both the British and American governments as well as NATO have use the An225.