With the collapse of the Soviet Union, antonov, the manufacturer of the An-124 transport aircraft, was also assigned to Ukraine. In order to fill the shortcomings of the An-124 heavy transport aircraft, Russia published a model of a heavy transport aircraft in 2019, what is the superiority of this giant transport aircraft called "Slon" or "elephant"?
In November 2019, Russia first revealed plans to replace the An-124 project, and the Central Institute of Aerohydrodynamics (TSAGI) publicly named it "slon", which means "elephant" in Russian.
The slon model exhibited by TSAGI weighs 120 kilograms, is about 1.63 meters long, 0.5 meters high, and has a wingspan of nearly 1.75 meters
Technical indicators for the new transport aircraft in Russia include:
The range reaches 7,000 kilometers;
The aircraft reached a speed of 850 kilometers per hour;
The maximum payload is 20% more than the An-124 (180 tons class);
The aircraft can take off using a 3 km runway.
According to the Central Institute of Aerodynamics, the work was carried out within the framework of local technical research and development programs under a government contract signed with the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation.
The Elephant, like the An-124, is powered by four turbofan engines, which have a monoplane design. Its engine will be powered by the Russian aviadvigatel PD-35 advanced bypass fan engine.
Russia has allocated $1.13 billion to develop the PD-35 engine
A core element of the success of the Elephant transport aircraft is the engine. In 2018, Russia's United Engines (UEC) received a $1.13 billion grant to develop the PD-35 turbofan engine. The main user of the PD-35 is the Sino-Russian joint wide-body airliner project: CR929.
It is reported that the PD-35 will learn a lot of experience in the PD-14 project, which is also one of the engines of the new Russian airliner, the Irkut MC-21 narrow-body airliner. The total investment in PD-35 will be as high as 160 billion rubles, of which 60 billion rubles will be used to build test benches and laboratories.
After TSAGI made model photos public in 2019, they spent most of their experience in 2020 conducting aerodynamic tests. In July 2020, the company announced that the project was entering phase II testing, where scientists at the institute analyzed the model's aerodynamic characteristics at low flight speeds in the longitudinal and transverse passages of the T-102 wind tunnel.
Alexander Krutov, a researcher at TSAgi, said: "We were able to study the effectiveness of the aircraft model at different slip angles and assess the effectiveness of the assembly for the lateral stability of the aircraft at low speeds. The results obtained confirm the said design characteristics".
TSAGI also said that the first phase of the design will be completed in 2020. The focus of work in 2021 is to improve the aerodynamic layout based on test results. Aircraft wing design, take-off and landing performance, and further wind tunnel testing.
In this regard, Krutov also pointed out that after the gradual retirement of the An-124, heavy transport aircraft will form a new niche market. Advanced technologies can be leveraged to manufacture advanced transport aircraft to fill this gap in the market. Civilian cargo companies will be the main customers of the new aircraft. However, it can also be modified to become a transport aircraft used by the military.
From the design drawings revealed, the huge cargo compartment of the "Elephant" can accommodate 14 military vehicles or 5 tanks.
The Antonov An-124, also known as the Antonov An-124, is a heavy-duty long-range strategic transport aircraft developed by the Antonov Design Bureau of the former Soviet Union, originally designed to transport tanks and fighters. First flown on 26 December 1982 and began equipping the troops in 1986, producing a total of 56 such aircraft, Antonov Aviation is currently one of the main transport carriers of the An-124, with a fleet of 7 An-124s and an average age of 31.5 years.
The Volga-Dnieper Group has the world's largest Fleet of An-124s, with 12 An-124s and an average age of 27.5. The An-124 ranks first in cargo capacity among military transport aircraft currently in service, with a maximum payload of up to 150 tons, and it also has a large and flat cargo space.
The cargo compartment of the An-124 is 36 meters long, the cargo compartment is 6.4 meters wide and the cargo compartment is 3.4 meters high. Its cargo capacity is 27.5 tons higher than that of the U.S. military's C-5B.
During the pandemic, international air passenger traffic has been severely constrained, and the An-124 has made an important contribution to global air cargo. Up to transport helicopters and jet business jets, down to India to transport 70 tons of oxygen, especially in the transport of special cargo, you can always see the figure of the An-124. It can be said that every flight of the An-124 has news potential.
In November 2020, an An-124 rushed off the runway at Russia's Novosibirsk-Tolmachevo Airport, and the Volga-Dnepr Group grounded its An-124 fleet, which also caused a lot of shock to the global air cargo market.
The spiral of the pandemic in India has led to the collapse of medical facilities in India. Using an An-124 transport aircraft, Antonov Airlines can transport 70 tons of medical oxygen to India. The new "elephant" transport aircraft of the Russians has a load of 180 tons, and if the new aircraft is put into service, it will have a profound impact on the global air cargo market.