In Europe, explained why there will not be a second An-225

28 May 2020 9

The second instance of the An-225 Mriya transport super-heavy aircraft will not be there, writes the German specialized magazine Flug Revue.

The only built An-225 is very active during the COVID-19 pandemic, its services are in demand more than ever. Now it is regularly used, delivering medical supplies from China to all corners of the world. The German government also chartered it.

Few people know that the only "Mriya" has an unfinished sister. In the USSR, two An-225s were built to transport the Buran orbital rocket-plane. But the USSR collapsed, the Buran program was closed, and the second copy of the An-225, which had a 70% readiness, was not completed due to an acute shortage of money. As explained by the head of the Ukrainian state-owned company Antonov, Aleksandr Donets, the second An-225 can be expected for a long time, but most likely it will never appear. After all, adapting it to existing standards is very expensive.

According to 2012 estimates, when our relations with Russia were still good, the construction cost reached almost $ 460 million.

He said, adding that the aircraft could never recoup such costs.

The cost of one An-225 flight is about $ 1 million. Mriya makes six flights a year on average, but because of the pandemic, the number of flights has increased significantly. The operation of the "aviation giant" is too expensive, and because of its size, not every airport is able to accept it. Therefore, the smaller An-124 Ruslan is used much more often.

According to Donets, the completion of the second copy of the An-225 makes sense only in one case - if this aircraft will be used with its original purpose, i.e. for space programs.

Note, by the way, that the other day the head of Roskosmos Dmitry Rogozin said about the revival of the program of the orbital rocket-ship, which will become the heir to the Soviet "Buran". Who knows, maybe someday Russia will buy back the unfinished An-225, if, of course, Kiev makes such a deal.

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alexandrmakedo

+3

28 May 2020 10: 45

According to Donets, the completion of the second copy of the An-225 makes sense only in one case - if this aircraft will be used with its original purpose, i.e. for space programs.

Crazy. What space programs require this miracle? The airplane was made specifically for the transportation of Buran.
Because to take it to the cosmodrome in a disassembled form and collect it at Baikonur is to build there an assembly plant, a test base, which would be much more expensive. And Mriya could be shown at an air show. Though such a sense would be.
1. comedian
  
  +3
  
  29 May 2020 08: 39
  
  You are new to the history of Buran and Mriya. Actually, all Buran’s transportation was performed by Atlant. Mriya except that drove to the air show. So the USSR had a plane that could transport Buran and Energy.
  
  But Mriya was created as a universal aerospace platform, which would allow not only delivering Buran. But also to be a platform for an air launch, being such a returnable first stage. That is why the characteristics of Mriya are many times superior to the capabilities of Atlanta, and are excessive for only the delivery of Buran.
Bulanov

+2

28 May 2020 11: 10

Time is gone, technology is different. The new Buran, if there is one, will fly according to other principles. By the way, in Simferopol there is a runway for him ...
beeper

+4

28 May 2020 11: 10

Alas, with the firm "Antonov" in Ukraine, it is full of seams - the cave banderopetecs have finally finished off! After all, flawed slaves born to crawl cannot build, fly, but only creep and destroy!
So, about the unfinished An-225, paraphrasing the famous movie hero:

Who will finish it - he is a monument (to our Soviet Union!)!
Vlad Shmel

+1

29 May 2020 11: 12

And what for a goat accordion? Perhaps another Wright brothers' plane should be rebuilt? It is clear - Ukraine wants money, but it’s easier to put this unfinished building on the metal than to risk your life during its operation because of the problems of metal fatigue and others ... And their d ..... everything is trying to reanimate. Purely the approach is coming out - Z'ist not z'im, ale podnadkuyu.
Panting

+2

29 May 2020 13: 37

Everything rests on the terrible word "expensive" or "very expensive", but they cannot voice the price, it will torment the shame. Or make one flight for a million or two or three flights for 650 thousand. There really is no difference. And how much it costs to finish building a second plane, so generally silent, because they do not allow it, it creates competition, and not expensive.
alexandrmakedo

+1

29 May 2020 20: 13

Quote: Komediant
You are new to the history of Buran and Mriya. Actually, all Buran’s transportation was performed by Atlant. Mriya except that drove to the air show. So the USSR had a plane that could transport Buran and Energy.

But Mriya was created as a universal aerospace platform, which would allow not only delivering Buran. But also to be a platform for an air launch, being such a returnable first stage. That is why the characteristics of Mriya are many times superior to the capabilities of Atlanta, and are excessive for only the delivery of Buran.

Especially for Buran. Atlanta was first used, but .... The program was closed, and these transport workers became unnecessary.
They did not talk about the air launch. Atlas was transporting incompletely collected iron. Mriya could.
Alexander Efremov_2

0

30 May 2020 07: 27

In the field of aviation, our "brothers" are not without the USSR and Russia, no matter how much they puff out their cheeks.
1. Netyn
  
  0
  
  17 June 2020 14: 23
  
  It works both ways.
  Now we are choking without aircraft engines and ship power plants.