Antonov An-124 Ruslan

An-124 Ruslan
An Antonov An-124 Ruslan preparing to land
Role	Heavy transport aircraft Type of aircraft
National origin	Soviet Union
Manufacturer	Antonov
Design group	Antonov
Built by	Antonov Serial Production Plant Aviastar-SP
First flight	24 December 1982[1]
Introduction	1986
Status	In service
Primary users	Russian Aerospace Forces Volga-Dnepr Airlines Antonov Airlines
Produced	1982–2004
Number built	55[2]
Developed into	Antonov An-225

The Antonov An-124 Ruslan (Russian: Антонов Ан-124 Руслан; Ukrainian: Ан-124 Руслан, lit. 'Ruslan'; NATO reporting name: Condor) is a large, strategic airlift, four-engined aircraft that was designed in the 1980s by the Antonov design bureau in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union (USSR). The An-124 is the world's second heaviest gross weight production cargo airplane and heaviest operating cargo aircraft, behind the destroyed one-off Antonov An-225 Mriya (a greatly enlarged design based on the An-124) and the Boeing 747-8.^[4] The An-124 remains the largest military transport aircraft in service.^[5]

In 1971, design work commenced on the project, which was initially referred to as Izdeliye 400 (Product #400), at the Antonov Design Bureau in response to a shortage in heavy airlift capability within the Military Transport Aviation Command (Komandovaniye voyenno-transportnoy aviatsii or VTA) arm of the Soviet Air Forces. Two separate final assembly lines plants setup for the aircraft, one at Aviastar-SP (ex. Ulyanovsk Aviation Industrial Complex) in Ulyanovsk, Russia and the other was the Kyiv Aviation Plant AVIANT, in Ukraine. Assembly of the first aircraft begun in 1979; the An-124 (which was sometimes referred to as the An-40 in the West) performed its maiden flight on 24 December 1982. The type made its first appearance in the Western world at the 1985 Paris Air Show. Oleg Tolmachev was the Chief engineer of An-124 and An-225.^[6] After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, commercial operations were quickly pursued for the An-124, leading to civil certification being obtained by Antonov on 30 December 1992. Various commercial operators opted to purchase the type, often acquiring refurbished ex-military airlifters or stored fuselages rather than new-build aircraft.

By July 2013, 26 An-124s were reportedly in commercial service while a further ten airlifters were on order.^[7] During 2008, it was announced that Russia and Ukraine were to jointly resume production of the type. At one point, it looked as if Russia would order 20 new-build airlifters. However, in August 2014, it was reported that the planned resumption of manufacturing had been shelved due to the ongoing political tensions between Russia and Ukraine.^[8] The sole remaining production facility is Russia's Aviastar-SP in Ulyanovsk.^{[citation needed]} The various operators of the An-124 are in discussions with respect to the continuing airworthiness certification of the individual An-124 planes. The original designer of the An-124 is responsible for managing the certification process for its own products, but the Russia-Ukraine conflicts are making this process difficult to manage.^{[citation needed]} In 2019, there were 26 An-124s in commercial service.