The Antonov An-22 "Antei" (, ''An-22 Antej''; English ''
Antaeus'') (NATO reporting name "Cock") is a heavy
military transport aircraft designed by the
Antonov Design Bureau in the
Soviet Union. Powered by four
turboprop engines each driving a pair of
contra-rotating propellers, the design was the first
wide-body transport aircraft and remains the world's largest turboprop-powered aircraft to date. The An-22 first appeared publicly outside the Soviet Union at the 1965
Paris Air Show. Thereafter, the model saw extensive use in major military and humanitarian
airlift
An airlift is the organized delivery of supplies or personnel primarily via military transport aircraft.
Airlifting consists of two distinct types: strategic and tactical. Typically, strategic airlifting involves moving material long distanc ...
s for the Soviet Union, and is still in service with the
Russian Air Force
" Air March"
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.
Design and development

In the late 1950s, the Soviet Union required a large military transport aircraft to supplement the
Antonov An-8 and
An-12s then entering service.
Originally known as the An-20, the model is a conventional multi-engined high-wing design.
In the early 1960s, the Antonov bureau produced a wooden mock up at its Kyiv, Ukraine, workshops of what was designated the Model 100.
The prototype, now designated the An-22, was rolled out on 18 August 1964 and first flew on 27 February 1965.
The prototype was given the name
Antaeus (sometimes misspelled
Antheus) and, after four-months of test flying, was displayed at the 1965
Paris Air Show.
All aircraft were built at the
Tashkent State Aircraft Factory and the first military delivery was made to the Air Transport Wing at Ivanovo Airbase in 1969.
The aircraft was designed as a
strategic airlifter
An airlift is the organized delivery of supplies or personnel primarily via military transport aircraft.
Airlifting consists of two distinct types: strategic and tactical. Typically, strategic airlifting involves moving material long distance ...
, designed specifically to expand the
Soviet Airborne Troops' capability to land with their then-new
BMD-1 armoured vehicles. The An-22 cargo hold can accommodate four BMD-1s compared to only one in the
An-12
The Antonov An-12 (Russian: Антонов Ан-12; NATO reporting name: Cub) is a four-engined turboprop transport aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. It is the military version of the Antonov An-10 and has many variants. For more than thr ...
.
It has the capability to takeoff from austere, unpaved, and short airstrips, allowing airborne troops to perform
air-landing operations. This is achieved by four pairs of
contra-rotating propellers, similar to those on the
Tupolev Tu-114. The propellers and exhaust from the engines produce a slipstream over the wings and large double-slotted
flaps. The
landing gear is ruggedized for rough airstrips. In early versions
tire pressures could be adjusted in flight for optimum landing performance. That feature was removed in later models.
The An-22 follows traditional cargo transport design with a high-mounted wing allowing a large cargo space of 33 m in length and a usable volume of 639 m³. The forward fuselage is fully pressurized and provides space for 5 to 8 crew and up to 28 passengers, but the cargo space is pressurized to only 3.55 PSI / 0.245 bar allowing for a lighter airframe. A door equipped with pressure bulkhead is located at frame 14, separating the cargo attendant's compartment from the main cargo compartment. This allows the rear cargo doors to be opened during flight for paratroops and equipment drop. Like the An-12, the aircraft has a circular fuselage section. The An-22 has set a number of payload and payload-to-height world records.
The An-22 has the general appearance of an enlarged version of the earlier
Antonov An-12
The Antonov An-12 (Russian: Антонов Ан-12; NATO reporting name: Cub) is a four-engined turboprop transport aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. It is the military version of the Antonov An-10 and has many variants. For more than thr ...
except that it is fitted with a
twin tail. This gives the An-22 better engine-out performance, and reduces height restrictions for hangars. Also of note are large anti-flutter masses on the top of each tail.

Only one production variant was built, the standard An-22. Prototypes, such as the one first featured at the
1965
Events January–February
* January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years.
* January 20
** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...
Paris Air Show had fully glazed noses that lacked the nose-mounted
radar of production models. Those aircraft had the radar mounted below the right wheel well fairing, forward of the wheels. Antonov designated a variant with a modified electrical system and an additional augmented flight control system the An-22A but the designation was not used by the military.
A proposed civil airliner version capable of seating 724 passengers on upper and lower decks was planned but wasn't constructed. (For comparison, a typical
Boeing 747
The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022.
After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, t ...
can carry 400–500 passengers.)
Total production
Variants
;An-22
:Three original prototypes were built at the
Antonov facility in
Kyiv,
Ukraine, with glass nose.
;Amphibious An-22
:An
amphibian
Amphibians are tetrapod, four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the Class (biology), class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terres ...
version of the An-22 was proposed, but did not progress past the scale model phase.
;An-22
:Initial production variant with external start system, 37 built at
Tashkent.
;An-22A
:Improved variant with air-start capability, modified electrical system, and updated radio and navigation equipment, 28 built at Tashkent.
;An-22PZ
:Conversion of two An-22s to carry wing centre sections or outer wings of Antonov An-124 or An-225 externally above fuselage. Fitted with third centreline fin.
[Gordon, Komissarov and Komissarov ''Air International'' January 2006, pp. 35–36.]
Several other An-22 variants were projected and constructed by Antonov but never entered serial production, notably a
nuclear-powered aircraft and a
ballistic missile platform.
Operational history

The An-22 was originally built for the
Soviet Air Force and
Aeroflot
PJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines (russian: ПАО "Аэрофло́т — Росси́йские авиали́нии", ), commonly known as Aeroflot ( or ; russian: Аэрофлот, , ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. The ...
(the state airline). Rearming from
An-12
The Antonov An-12 (Russian: Антонов Ан-12; NATO reporting name: Cub) is a four-engined turboprop transport aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. It is the military version of the Antonov An-10 and has many variants. For more than thr ...
in the Air Force began in July 1974. Several
Military Transport Aviation units were equipped. The 12th Mginsk Red Banner Military Transport Aviation Division (based at
Migalovo) was one of the units which had its three regiments entirely equipped with the An-22s. Another unit that operated it was the 566th
Solnechnogorsk
Solnechnogorsk (russian: Солнечного́рск, lit. ''sunny mountain town'') is a town and the administrative center of Solnechnogorsky District in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the Moscow–St. Petersburg Highway and the Moscow ...
Military Transport Aviation Regiment, which used the An-22 from 1970 to 1987.
An early use of the An-22 was to deliver Soviet
humanitarian aid
Humanitarian aid is material and logistic assistance to people who need help. It is usually short-term help until the long-term help by the government and other institutions replaces it. Among the people in need are the homeless, refugees, and ...
to
Peru in July 1970 following the
Ancash earthquake. One An-22 disappeared on 18 July during these relief flights. An-22s were also used to deliver Soviet military aid to
Egypt and
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
during the
Yom Kippur War in 1973, to
Angola in 1975, and to
Ethiopia in 1977.
[Gordon, Komissarov and Komissarov ''Air International'' January 2006, pp. 36–37.]
The An-22s from Migalovo were used for the initial deployment of the
Soviet Airborne Troops (VDV) during the 1979
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
. One An-22 was shot down near
Kabul on 28 October 1984, at takeoff, with about 250 casualties as the aircraft was used as troop carrier, probably shot down by a SA-7 missile.
[Gordon, Komissarov and Komissarov ''Air International'' January 2006, p. 37.] In 1980, one An-22 crashed at
Vnukovo Airport while two crashed at Migalovo (in 1992 and 1994).
In 1984, military An-22s were used to deliver
Mi-8 helicopters to
Ethiopia during
drought relief operations.
In 1986 the aircraft of the 8th Military Air Transport Aviation Regiment from Migalovo were used to deliver materials for the
Chernobyl disaster
The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the No. 4 reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian SSR in the Soviet Union. It is one of only two nuc ...
relief operation.
During 1987 the An-22s were used to deliver military equipment to
Angola. A year later the military An-22s were used to deliver 15,000 tons and 1,000 personnel for the
1988 Armenian earthquake
The 1988 Armenian earthquake, also known as the Spitak earthquake ( hy, Սպիտակի երկրաշարժ, ), occurred on December 7 at with a surface wave magnitude of 6.8 and a maximum MSK intensity of X (''Devastating''). The shock occurre ...
relief operation.

The An-22 aircraft were often seen at the
Le Bourget Air Show, and in 1988 delivered an engine from the
An-124 to the
Farnborough Airshow.
In late 1980s, the An-22s were used to deliver
Internal Troops to many regional conflicts during and after the
breakup of the Soviet Union. In 1995 they deployed the Russian peacekeeping force from the
98th Guards Airborne Division
The 98th Guards Airborne Division is an airborne division of the Russian Airborne Troops, currently based in Ivanovo.
Russian 98th Airborne Division patch.svg, 98th Guards Airborne Division shoulder sleeve insignia (1993)
History
During the Se ...
during the
Bosnian War
The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...
.
Approximately 45 An-22s remained in service by the mid-1990s, mostly with the
Russian Air Force
" Air March"
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, but these are slowly being replaced by the bigger turbofan-powered
Antonov An-124. The remaining An-22s appear to be operated by an independent military transport aviation squadron at Migalovo base in
Tver.
As of December 2018, six An-22s were in service with the 76th Military Transport Air Squadron at Tver, with only three aircraft airworthy. They are planned to remain in service until 2033.
A single An-22 (registration number UR-09307) is in service with Antonov Airlines as of September 26, 2020 but was potentially damaged in 2022 during Russia's military action in Ukraine.
Operators
Military
Current
;
*
Russian Air Force
" Air March"
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3 active
Former
;
*
Soviet Air Force.
:8th Military Transport Aviation Regiment
:Other regiments
Civil
Current
;
*
Antonov Airlines – a single An-22 (registration number UR-09307) was in service with Antonov Airlines as of September 26, 2020. During the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
at the
Battle of Antonov Airport on February 24th, 2022, the aircraft reportedly suffered substantial damage when penetrated by projectiles.
Former
;
*
Air Sofia (leased)
Incidents and accidents
As of January 2011, there have been 9 hull losses with a total of 95 fatalities.
Specifications (An-22)
On display
A former Ukrainian Air Force AN-22 is on display at the
Technik Museum Speyer in
Speyer, Germany.
See also
References
*
*
*
*
Further reading
* Pyotr Butowski, 'Air Power Analysis – Russian Federation Part 2' in International Air Power Review, Volume 13, Summer 2004, AIRtime Publishing Inc., Norwalk, CT.
*
*
External links
Walkaround An-22А RA-09309 at MAKS-2009Second walkAirliners.net An-22AN-22 specifications in comparison to other cargo charter aircraft
{{DEFAULTSORT:Antonov An-022
An-022
1960s Soviet cargo aircraft
1960s Soviet military transport aircraft
Aircraft with contra-rotating propellers
Four-engined tractor aircraft
Four-engined turboprop aircraft
High-wing aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1965
Double-deck aircraft
Twin-tail aircraft