The Destroyed Antonov An-225 Must Be Rebuilt, Here's Why

The apparent destruction and complete loss of the the largest cargo aircraft the world has ever seen in armed conflict was a horrific blow for both the civil and military aviation sectors worldwide. The announcement that the six engine, 1.4 million pounds (fully loaded) Ukrainian transport plane had been destroyed during fighting at Antonov Airport in the capital of Kyiv took time to be confirmed as factual.

But now, footage of what appears to be the An-225 engulfed in flames in its massive hangar appears to confirm the worst. It appears what was once deemed the largest operational airplane of any kind in the world is now nothing more than a pile of ash and scrap lying on the floor of a hangar in a Kyiv airport hangar. To understand why this is a devastating blow for aviation, it's essential to understand the historical significance of what the An-225 indeed was.

Absurdly large airplanes are nothing new. Since the dawn of manned flight, man has been trying to find ways to make aircraft bigger, heavier, and capable of carrying more stuff. Be it cargo, trucks, tanks, bombs, and hey, even people. Apart from a couple of industry icons in the Boeing 747, Airbus A380, Hughes H-4 Spruce Goose, and a handful of others, it's been astonishingly tricky for supersized transport planes and airliners to jump from concept drawing to reality, let alone become operationally successful.

The An-225 is another name on that short list, at least before some unspecified event rendered it nothing more than an oversized barbecue. It was designed as a purpose-built carrier aircraft for the Soviet Space Shuttle program. Dubbed the Buran Orbiter, the Soviet-built space plane is a near-identical copy of the North American-Rockwell Space Shuttle Orbiters famous for service with NASA.

The An-225's design has its roots in the smaller but still gargantuan An-124 quad-engined airliner and military transport. Nearly every aspect of the base An-124 airframe was strengthened, elongated, and widened to fit the specifications required by the Soviet Space program. This included a bonkers 32 wheel landing gear system capable of holding the immense girth of the airframe. This gear arrangement became a bit of a trademark feature of the Ukrainian jet.

There was every reason to suspect that the An-225 was due for a long and successful career in support of the Soviet Space Program, but there was one not-so-small snag in the road. By December 1991, the Soviet Union was up in smoke. So too was its promising Buran Shuttle program, which only logged one un-crewed mission orbiting the Earth before the collapse of the Soviet Union saw it unceremoniously retired.

Consequently, the An-225 Shuttle Carrier spent eight years following the collapse of the USSR mothballed in storage in Ukraine. Once the Ukrainian economy had recovered sufficiently to even consider taking the massive aircraft out of storage, the airplane promptly went about setting all kinds of impressive world records.

These include the world record for a single-item payload of 189,980 kg (418,830 lbs) lifted by a single aircraft and an airlifted total payload of 253,820 kg (559,580 lbs) with an astonishing four unspecified Russian Main Battle Tanks in tow at speeds in excess of 500 miles per hour (800 or so kph). It also carried a fully-loaded payload of 247,000 kg (545,000 lb) in commercial service. Dwarfing the average payload of something like a 747.

At the end of the day, there were a plethora of uses for an aircraft as colossal as the An-225. Be it in the government-funded space sector, private cargo service, and yes, the occasional military mission. The loss of the only airworthy Mriya in the world is a crippling loss for aviation. Legend had it that another partially completed An-225 airframe is lying in storage somewhere either in Ukraine or Russia.

If this 70% complete by some estimates airframe can be found, it should be a top priority for Antonov to bring another An-225 into service. Some very important super heavy and super-specialized cargo is very much dependent on it.

Of course, the Ukrainian people have much more pressing priorities at the current moment. But once the dust settles on their current struggles, the rebirth of the An-225 must be a matter of national importance. The global aviation sector depends on that for invaluable research into super large aircraft.

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