Antonov designed the An-22 Antheus (named for the giant son of Greek god Poseidon) to carry the Soviet Army's mightiest fighting vehicles, including main battle tanks and missile launchers. Its NK-12 turboprops, which
also power the Tu-95/Tu-142 "Bear" family of Russian bombers and maritime patrol
aircraft, are the most powerful turboprop engines in service. The first An-22
flew on 27 February 1965, and was publicly displayed at the Paris International
Air Show later that year. The largest transport aircraft of the time, the An-22
set a number of world records. Production was ended in 1975 after 66 aircraft had been delivered to the Soviet Air Force and Aeroflot. (Although
primarily built for the Soviet Air Force, almost all An-22s wear the traditional
Aeroflot colors. This allowed them much freer access to overflight and landing
rights than had they been operated in military markings.)
After entering service, the An-22 set 14 payload to height
records in 1967, the pinnacle of which was the airlift of 220,500 pounds (100
metric tonnes) of metal blocks to an altitude of 25,748 feet (7,848m). It also
established the record for a maximum payload, 221,443 pounds (104,445kg), lifted
to a height of 6,562 feet (2,000m). A number of speed records were also set in
1972, including a speed of 328 knots (608.5km/h) around a 540 nautical mile
(1,000km) closed circuit with a 110,250 pound (50,000kg) payload. Several other
speed-with-payload records were established in 1974 and 1975.
The An-22 aircraft is intended to airlift heavy and
large-size combat materiel and troop forces to long distances, airdrop and
airland airborne troops. The aircraft is built around a high-wing monoplane
configuration.
The aircraft structure peculiarities reside in a two-fin tail unit, considerable
cut for a cargo hatch, measuring 4.4x16 m, co-axial propellers with an
efficiency exceeding 90%.
The An-22 is equipped with a cargo ramp that can be set at various levels (from
the ground to a loading trestle or truck body), four telphers with a
cargo-lifting capacity of 2.5 tons each that facilitate and speed up
loading/unloading processes, regardless of the availability of airfield
cargo-handling facilities.
The aircraft cargo hold can accommodate 151 paratroopers or 292 soldiers, or 202
wounded. Like the An-12, the main cargo hold is not pressurized, troops/passengers are
carried in a forward cabin which accommodates 29.
A power-assisted servo-tab control system was developed for the An-22 aircraft.
The system ensures high-degree flight safety and enables the
crew to change over to manual control when the power-assisted control system
fails.
The aircraft is fitted with a multi-strut multi-wheel
cross-country landing gear that enables the crew to land the aircraft even in
case of break-up of separate strut shock absorbers or tires, or failure in the
extension of up to two struts.
The LG main units comprise three independent struts (on each
side) with a levered suspension of wheels, 1.72 m in dia. The landing gear
control system enables the crew to change the tire pressure on the ground and in
air that allows the crew to operate the aircraft from both concrete airfields
and unpaved and snow-covered first-category airfields.
The airborne equipment is intended to execute
airdropping/cargo-airlifting missions in VFR and IFR weather conditions and
comprises a flight-and-navigation, aiming, radio communications and
airdropping/cargo-handling equipment.
The flight-and-navigation equipment comprises an integrated flight control and
aiming-navigation system, automatic radio compass, radio altimeter, UHF radio
compass, optical direction finder.
The radio communications equipment comprises a HF radio set,
UHF/VFR radio set, intercom system, survival radio set, voice warning system and
tape recorder.
The airdropping/cargo-handling equipment is intended to load,
unload and airdrop paratroopers, combat materiel and cargoes, arrange and tie
down them for airlift and comprises a cargo winch, electric telpher, rollgang
equipment, tie-down chains, cables, rigging and auxiliary equipment,
side-mounted stationary seats, detachable seats, ambulance straps, posts and
medical equipment to cater to the wounded.
The aircraft can carry 85-100% nomenclature of armament and
combat materiel of different fighting service organic subunits.
In terms of transportation capabilities, the An-22
outperforms the IL-76M military transport aircraft 1.4 times.
While the Antheus has been superseded by the larger,
jet-powered An-124 "Condor", the surviving aircraft are still heavily utilized as they offer rare payload carrying characteristics.