Russian forces have destroyed Ukraine's flagman aircraft An-225 Mriya, the world's biggest cargo plane, Ukraine's state defence conglomerate Ukroboronprom said.
Ukraine's state defense group Ukroboronprom said on Telegram that the Russian military had destroyed Ukraine's flag carrier An-225 Mriya, the world's largest cargo plane. Ukroboronprom said on Sunday that the plane was destroyed in an attack by Russian troops at Hostomel airport outside Kyiv.
Repairs to the aircraft will cost more than $3 billion and take a long time, the statement said.
The An-225 Mriya, designed in the 1980s, is the longest and heaviest airplane ever built. According to Xinhua news agency, it is capable of carrying 640 tonnes of cargo.
The story of the An-225 begins in the 1960s and 70s when the Soviet Union was locked in a space race with the United States. By the late 1970s, the need arose to move larger and heavier loads from their assembly locations to the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the vast space port in the desert of Kazakhstan that was the launchpad for Yuri Gagarin's pioneering space voyage of 1961.
The cargo in question was the Buran spacecraft, the Soviet Union's answer to NASA's Space Shuttle. Since there were no airplanes capable of carrying it at the time, the Antonov company was ordered to develop one.
The airplane is based on the smaller AN-124 and retains the nose design allowing it to dock and load cargo through its large open front. The aircraft's empennage was redesigned with twin vertical stabilizers to enable it to carry the larger external load, leaving it without a rear cargo door.
Only one An-225 was built by the Antonov company that came up with the design. Romantically named Maria, meaning 'a dream', it first took off in 1988 and was in service until recently.
The AN-225 has six D-18 engines. Its cargo loading bay is 43 meters long by 6.4 meters wide and 4.4 meters long, with a 1300 cubic meter usable cargo area capable of carrying over 250 tons. All this load is supported by the main landing gear consisting of 14 wheels per side and a dual front gear with 4 wheels. It has a maximum speed of 800 kmph and is capable of traveling 15,400 km in one go.
The maximum total weight of the AN-225 at take-off is 640 tons. It is twice as heavy as the Statue of Liberty.
The An-225 was stored until 2001 after the Buran was canceled. However, in the following year, it enters commercial cargo service. So far, the aircraft has carried food items, military equipment, oil and gas machinery and relief materials around the world.