Antonov An-70

An-70
The An-70 in flight
Role	Military transport aircraft Type of aircraft
National origin	Soviet Union Russia / Ukraine
Design group	Antonov Design Bureau
Built by	Antonov Serial Production Plant Kazan Aircraft Production Association
First flight	16 December 1994
Status	Completed state tests, open for production
Produced	1991–1996 2012–2015
Number built	2 prototypes

The Antonov An-70 (Ukrainian: Антонов Ан-70) is a four-engine medium-range transport aircraft, and the first aircraft to take flight powered only by propfan engines. It was developed in the late 1980s by the Antonov Design Bureau to replace the obsolete An-12 military transport aircraft. The maiden flight of the first prototype took place in December 1994 in Kyiv, now independent Ukraine. Within months the prototype had suffered a mid-air collision. A second airframe was produced to allow the flight-test programme to proceed. Both prototypes were produced by the Kyiv Aircraft Production Plant.

Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, the programme became a joint development between Russia and Ukraine. The former compounded the issue of a reduced market with its intermittent commitment to the project. Repeated attempts to start production have had limited success. Western European countries, including Germany, at one stage assessed the aircraft for procurement, but many later decided against it.