Aviation
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Europe
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Antonov An-225 may have been destroyed in Russian attack
Rafael Ramos
2/28/2022
Various media sources claim that the Antonov An-225 Mriya, the world's largest cargo plane, may have been destroyed while sitting in a hangar at Hostomel Airport near Kiev. The attack would have happened on Sunday morning (27).
So far, the Ukrainian company has not given much information, only said that the plane is being inspected and it is still not possible to report the technical conditions of the An-225.
"The Russian occupiers destroyed the flagship of Ukrainian aviation — the legendary An-225 Mriya. It happened at Antonov airfield in Hostomel, near Kiev," Ukroboronprom, Ukraine's state arms manufacturer, said on its Facebook page.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba also confirmed the information through social media. "This was the largest aircraft in the world, AN-225 'Mriya' ('Dream' in Ukrainian). Russia may have destroyed our 'Mriya'. But they can never destroy our dream of a strong, free and democratic European state. Let's prevail!"
According to the sources, other planes were also destroyed. Among them, an Antonov An-124 and the An-26, An-74 and An-28 jets.
The giant with a declared maximum payload capacity of 250 tons was produced in the late 1980s by present-day Ukraine to support the Soviet space program. Its first flight took place on December 21, 1988, undergoing an upgrade in the early 2000s to become the commercial aircraft with the highest payload capacity. However, the maximum load ever carried by the model was 187.6 tons.
Only one unit of the model was produced, although a second unit of the model had its fuselage assembled. The completion of this second unit never happened due to budgetary issues.
Antonov An-225
Miroslav.vajdic, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Antonov An 225 carrying Buran
Ralf Manteufel, GFDL 1.2, via Wikimedia Commons
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Rafael Ramos
Aviation enthusiast from an early age, he had his first contacts with the area developing that good old habit of spending dozens of hours in front of the screens of Micrsoft Flight Simulator and other simulators. With a solid background in various technological areas, including engineering and chemistry, Rafael has rejoined aviation as editor and author of articles and materials on our portal, providing invaluable help to the dynamics and expansion of the website and the aeronautical community, bringing us the news and updates so indispensable for us to remain current in our area of operation.
   
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