Antonov An-12

An-12
An-12 of Gomelavia in 2009
Role	Civil and military transport aircraft
Manufacturer	Antonov
First flight	16 December[1] 1957
Introduction	1959
Status	Active service with various airlines (especially cargo) and air forces
Primary users	Belarus Air Force Aeroflot PLA Air Force
Produced	1957–1973
Number built	1,248
Developed from	Antonov An-10
Variants	Shaanxi Y-8

The Antonov An-12 (Russian: Антонов Ан-12; NATO reporting name: Cub) is a four-engined turboprop transport aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. It is the military version of the Antonov An-10 and has many variants.

Design and development

An An-12A of Vega Air makes a traditional smokey take-off from Kastrup Airport (2004).

47-year-old An-12 still operational. Malmö Airport

The first prototype An-12 flew in December 1957. Over 900 had been built (both military and civilian versions) when Soviet production finally ended in 1973. The An-12BP entered Soviet military service in 1959. In terms of configuration, size, and capability, the aircraft is similar to the United States-built Lockheed C-130 Hercules. Soviet military and former-Soviet An-12s have a defensive tail gun turret.

Chinese production

In the 1960s, China purchased several An-12 aircraft from the Soviet Union, along with a license to assemble the aircraft locally. Due to the Sino-Soviet split, the Soviet Union withdrew its technical assistance and the first flight of a Chinese-assembled An-12 was delayed until 1974. The Xi'an Aircraft Company and Xi'an Aircraft Design Institute worked to reverse-engineer the An-12 for local production.^[2]

In 1981, the Chinese version of the An-12, designated Y-8, entered production. Since then, the Y-8 has become one of China's most popular military and civilian transport/cargo aircraft, with many variants produced and exported. A Tu-16/H-6 bomber navigator cockpit design was chosen for Y-8 instead of the original An-12 shorter navigator cockpit design, as the H-6 bomber had been in serial production for some time.^[3] Although An-12 is no longer in production in Russia or in Ukraine, Y-8 is upgraded and produced in China. The latest Y8-F600 is a joint venture between Shaanxi Aircraft Company, Antonov Aeronautical Scientific Technical Complex (ASTC), and Pratt & Whitney Canada. The Y8-F600 has a redesigned fuselage, western avionics, PW150B turboprop engines with an R-408 propeller system, and a two-crew glass cockpit.^[4] It is unknown whether the Shaanxi Y-8 remains in production, yet many believe it will remain in production for the foreseeable future.

Variants

Operators

An-12 operators (military operators in red, civil operators in green, and operators for both military and civil purposes in blue)

Currently the An-12 is very popular with cargo operators, especially those in the CIS, Africa and the Indian subcontinent.^[5]

Civil operators

On 12 January 2009, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) issued a temporary ban of the An-12 from flying over their airspace following runway incursions at Sharjah International Airport and the GCAA has advised operators to stop using the aircraft.^[6][7] The ban was made permanent in Feb 2010.^[8]

Current  Armenia Air Armenia  Belarus Ruby Star Airways  Mexico Air One (Mexico)  Russia ATRAN Cargo Airlines  Thailand Air People International  Ukraine Aerovis Airlines Antonov Airlines CAVOK Air Motor Sich Airlines Ukraine Air Alliance  United States SRX,[9] (still operated by Avialeasing)

Former  Angola Alada  Bulgaria Balkan Bulgarian Airlines[10]  People's Republic of China Civil Aviation Administration of China;[11] see also Shaanxi Y8  Egypt Egyptair  France Darta  Guinea Air Guinee  Ghana Ghana Airways The sole An-12 was delivered in October 1961. Withdrawn from use in 1962 and returned to Soviet Union in 1963.[12]

Iraq Iraqi Airways[13]  Philippines Interisland Airlines  Poland LOT Polish Airlines[14]  Russia Avial Aviation SAT Airlines  Serbia United International Airlines  Sri Lanka SriLankan Airlines  Ukraine Volare Airlines

Military operators

Current  Angola People's Air and Air Defence Force of Angola[15]  Azerbaijan Azerbaijani Air Force  Belarus Belarus Air Force  China People's Liberation Army Air Force People's Liberation Army Navy Air Force  Eritrea Eritrean Air Force  Ethiopia Ethiopian Air Force[16]  Guinea Military of Guinea  Kazakhstan[17]  Kyrgyzstan  Moldova Moldovan Air Force  Mozambique Military of Mozambique  Russia Russian Air Force[18] Russian Naval Aviation[18]  Sudan Sudanese Air Force[19]  Uzbekistan[20]  Yemen Yemen Air Force  Zimbabwe Air Force of Zimbabwe

Former  Afghanistan The Afghan Air Force operated 12 from 1981 through 2001. One of their An-12 which defected to Pakistan, is preserved at PAF Museum, Karachi  Algeria Algerian Air Force  Armenia Armenian Air Force  Bangladesh Bangladesh Air Force operated from 1973 to 1980s, now all retired  Ivory Coast Cote d'Ivoire Air Force  Czech Republic Czech Air Force  Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakian Air Force : Czechoslovakia's fleet numbering two was divided evenly between the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic upon split with Slovakia. All CzAF An-12s were phased-out of active service in the 1990s.  Egypt Egyptian Air Force  Georgia[21]  India The Indian Air Force inducted the first of these aircraft in 1961, when it raised No.44 Squadron "The Himalayan Geese". Six of these aircraft soon took part in airlifting army reinforcements to Ladakh during the Sino-Indian War of 1962. Subsequently, the An-12 was used to raise No.25 Squadron. The An-12s were also used as heavy bombers during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. All IAF An-12s were phased-out of active service in the 1990s. One of them is preserved at the Indian Air Force Museum, Palam, New Delhi.

Indonesia Indonesian Air Force – Retired in 1970  Iraq Iraqi Air Force  Jordan Royal Jordanian Air Force  Mongolia Mongolian Air Force - Retired 12 An-12[22]  Myanmar Myanmar Air Force  Nigeria Nigerian Air Force – 12 An-12s in service  Poland Polish Air Force used 2 An-12B from 1966 until 1977 (crashed) and 1995[23]  Slovakia Slovak Air Force received one An-12BP registered 2209 in 1993. It was sold to Moldavia in 1999 and now serves with Angolan Air Force.[24]  South Yemen Yemeni Air Force  Soviet Union The Soviet fleet was dispersed among many of the Soviet Union's successor states. Soviet Air Force Soviet Naval Aviation  Syria Syrian Air Force  Tanzania Tanzania Air Force Command  Turkmenistan  Ukraine Ukrainian Air Force Ukrainian Naval Aviation  Yugoslavia SFR Yugoslav Air Force

Accidents and incidents

Specifications (An-12)

Data from Global Aircraft,^[25] Airliners.net^[26]

General characteristics

• Crew: 5: 2 pilots, flight engineer, navigator, radio operator
• Payload: 20,000 kg (44,000 lb)
• Length: 33.10 m (108 ft 7 in)
• Wingspan: 38.00 m (124 ft 8 in)
• Height: 10.53 m (34 ft 7 in)
• Wing area: 121.7 m² (1,310 ft²)
• Empty weight: 28,000 kg (62,000 lb)
• Useful load: 60 paratroopers (two BMD-1 armoured vehicles)
• Max. takeoff weight: 61,000 kg (130,000 lb)
• Powerplant: 4 × Ivchenko AI-20L or AI-20M turboprops, 4,000 ehp (3,000 kW) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 777 km/h (419 knots, 482 mph)
• Cruise speed: 670 km/h (361 knots, 415 mph)
• Range:
  
  • With maximum fuel: 5,700 km (3,075 nm, 3,540 mi)
  • With maximum load: 3,600 km (1,945 nm, 2,235 mi))
• Service ceiling: 10,200 m (33,500 ft)
• Rate of climb: 10m/s (1960ft/min)

Armament

• Guns: 2× 23 mm (0.906 in) Nudelman-Rikhter NR-23 cannons in a tail turret (some aircraft)

See also

• Military transport aircraft

Related development

• Antonov An-22
• Shaanxi Y-8

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

• Lockheed C-130 Hercules
• Transall C.160

Related lists

• List of military aircraft of the Soviet Union and the CIS

References

1. "Antonov official website". Retrieved 15 August 2009.
2. "Y8 Turboprop Transport Aircraft". Sino Defence.
3. "Y8 navigator cockpit modification". AirForceWorld.com. Retrieved 8 April 2011.
4. "Y8F600 aircraft". Shaanxi Aircraft Industry. Archived from the original on 21 May 2006.
5. Gordon,Yefim & Komissarov, Dmitry. Antonov An-12. Midland. Hinkley. 2007. ISBN 978-1-85780-255-9
6. "GCAA issues temporary ban of Antonov An-12 from UAE airspace". Archived from the original on 1 February 2009. Retrieved 13 January 2009.
7. "United Arab Emirates bans flights of Soviet-built An-12 aircraft". Archived from the original on 1 February 2009. Retrieved 13 January 2009.
8. "UAE bans ANTONOV An-12 aircraft from its airspace". The Times Of India. 19 February 2010. Retrieved 19 February 2010.
9. "SRX :: Fleet". Retrieved 26 December 2014.
10. Endres 1979, p. 189.
11. Endres 1979, p. 15.
12. Vintage Russian. Props and Jets of the Iron Curtain Airlines, Airlife Publishing, Shrewsbury 1998, ISBN 1-85310-971-1.
13. Endres 1979, p. 401–402.
14. Endres 1979, p. 351.
15. Hoyle Flight International 8–14 December 2015, p. 32.
16. Hoyle Flight International 8–14 December 2015, p. 37.
17. Hoyle Flight International 8–14 December 2015, p. 41.
18. Hoyle Flight International 8–14 December 2015, p. 46.
19. Hoyle Flight International 8–14 December 2015, p. 48.
20. Hoyle Flight International 8–14 December 2015, p. 53.
21. "Armament of the Georgian Army". Georgian Army. Retrieved 25 June 2007.
22. http://www.worldairforces.com/countries/mongolia/mon.html
23. Gołąbek, Adam: 13. Pułk Lotnictwa Transportowego in: Lotnictwo z szachownicą nr. 9 and nr. 10
24. Radek Havelka. "An-12BP 2209 :: An-12BP". valka. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
25. "An-12 Cub". Global Aircraft. Archived from the original on 19 February 2006. Retrieved 9 March 2006.
26. "The Antonov An-12 & Shaanxi Y8". Airliners.net. Archived from the original on 19 February 2006. Retrieved 9 March 2006.

• Endres, Günter G. (1979). World Airline Fleets 1979. Hounslow, UK: Airline Publications and Sales Ltd. ISBN 0-905117-53-0..
• Hoyle, Craig (8–14 December 2015). "World Air Forces Directory". Flight International. Vol. 188 no. 5517. pp. 26–53. ISSN 0015-3710.

External links

• List of all An-12 aircraft used by Polish Air Force
• Pictures of An-12
• Hundreds of An-12 photos
• Y-8 Transporter Intro, AirForceWorld.com
• Russianplanes.net