The Antonov An-12 (Russian: Антонов Ан-12; NATO reporting name: Cub) is a four-engined turboproptransport aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. It is the military version of the Antonov An-10 and has many variants. For more than three decades the An-12 was the standard medium-range cargo and paratroop transport aircraft of the Soviet air forces. A total of 1,248 were eventually built.[2]
Design and development
Antonov An-12BP at China Aviation Museum, Beijing
Developed from the Antonov An-8, the An-12 was a military version of the An-10 passenger transport. The first prototype An-12 flew in December 1957 and entered Soviet military service in 1959. Initially, the aircraft was produced at the State Aviation Factory in Irkutsk. From 1962, production was transferred to Tashkent, where 830 were built. Later, production moved to Voronezh and Kazan.[2]
In military use, the An-12 has capacity for up to 100 fully equipped paratroopers or 20,000 kg (44,090 lb) of cargo, which is loaded through the rear loading ramp/door.[2]
In terms of configuration, size, and capability, the aircraft is similar to the United States-built Lockheed C-130 Hercules.[citation needed] Soviet military and former-Soviet An-12s have a defensive tail gun turret.
In the 1960s, China purchased several An-12 aircraft from the Soviet Union, along with a license to assemble the aircraft locally. Due to the Sino-Soviet split, the Soviet Union withdrew its technical assistance. The Xi'an Aircraft Company and Xi'an Aircraft Design Institute reverse-engineered the An-12 for local production, and the first flight of a Chinese-assembled An-12 was delayed until 1974 after USSR ceased production in 1973.[3]
In 1981, the Chinese version of the An-12, designated Y-8, finally entered production. Since then, the Y-8 has become one of China's most popular military and civilian transport/cargo aircraft, with many variants produced and exported. A Tu-16/H-6 bomber navigator cockpit design was chosen for the Y-8 instead of the original An-12 shorter navigator cockpit design, as the H-6 bomber had been in serial production for some time.[4] Although the An-12 is no longer in use either in Russia or in Ukraine, the Y-8 is upgraded and produced in China. The latest Y8-F600 is a joint venture between the Shaanxi Aircraft Company, Antonov Aeronautical Scientific Technical Complex (ASTC), and Pratt & Whitney Canada. The Y8-F600 has a redesigned fuselage, western avionics, PW150B turboprop engines with an R-408 propeller system, and a two-crew glass cockpit.[5]
Operational history
P-7 airdrop platform for use with An-12 aircraft. Equipped with MKS-5-12P parachute system. Loaded weight 4000-4900 kg. First used at the October Storm exercises near Erfurt, GDR. Last dropped in Poland 1986.
Soviet Air Forces
The aircraft first took flight in 1957 and was produced in the USSR until 1973. It was used in a variety of roles from search and rescue operations to equipment transportation. Its most significant use was seen during the Soviet-Afghan War. Among Soviet soldiers, it was infamously known that the plane would take off from Afghanistan to Tashkent with "Cargo 200" or coffins with the bodies of deceased soldiers. To this regard the aircraft was nicknamed "Black Tulip" (Russian: «Чёрный тюльпан»).[6]
In addition to its basic cargo transport role, the An-12 was adapted as a platform for a wide variety of specialist tasks and some 30 different variants were produced. Upgrades included increased take-off weights and additional fuel capacity. The upgraded variant An-12BP became the standard tactical transport of the Soviet and other air forces.[2] In 2019, it was announced at the military "Army-2019" Forum that Russia started working on an armed ground-attack and close air support variant of the An-12, similar to the AC-130.[7] In 2021, it was announced that the gunship will not be based on the An-12 after all, as it did not meet the requirements for a "flying gunner."[8]
Operators
Currently the An-12 is popular with cargo operators, especially those in the CIS, Africa and the Indian subcontinent.[9]
Civil operators
47-year-old An-12 still operational, seen at Malmö Airport, SwedenAn An-12A of Vega Air makes a smokey takeoff from Kastrup Airport in 2004
On 8 January 2009, following numerous incidents involving the An-12 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) issued a temporary ban of the An-12 from UAE airspace.[10] On 1 March 2010, the ban was made permanent after the An-12 failed a GCAA airworthiness evaluation.[11]
Czechoslovakian Air Force : Czechoslovakia's fleet numbering two was divided evenly between the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic upon split with Slovakia. All CzAF An-12s were phased out of active service in the 1990s.
The Indian Air Force inducted the first of these aircraft in 1961, when it raised No.44 Squadron "The Himalayan Geese". Six of these aircraft soon took part in airlifting army reinforcements to Ladakh during the Sino-Indian War of 1962. The An-12 was subsequently used to raise No.25 Squadron. The An-12s were also used as heavy bombers during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. All IAF An-12s were phased out of active service in the 1990s. One of them is preserved at the Indian Air Force Museum, Palam, New Delhi.
^"Antonov official website". Archived from the original on 23 January 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2009.((cite web)): CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^ abcdAllport, Dave (April 1996). "Military Transport Aircraft Directory (Part 2)". Air International. Vol. 50, no. 4. p. 237.
Cooper, Tom (2017). Hot Skies Over Yemen, Volume 1: Aerial Warfare Over the South Arabian Peninsula, 1962-1994. Solihull, UK: Helion & Company Publishing. ISBN978-1-912174-23-2.
Cooper, Tom; Weinert, Peter; Hinz, Fabian; Lepko, Mark (2011). African MiGs, Volume 2: Madagascar to Zimbabwe. Houston: Harpia Publishing. ISBN978-0-9825539-8-5.
Endres, Günter G. (1979). World Airline Fleets 1979. Hounslow, UK: Airline Publications and Sales Ltd. ISBN978-0-905117-53-9..
Hoyle, Craig (8–14 December 2015). "World Air Forces Directory". Flight International. Vol. 188, no. 5517. pp. 26–53. ISSN0015-3710.
"Pentagon Over the Islands: The Thirty-Year History of Indonesian Military Aviation". Air Enthusiast Quarterly (2): 154–162. n.d. ISSN0143-5450.
External links
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