The Mil V-16 was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

heavy cargo/

transport Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

project of the late 1960s. The Mil V-16 was designed by Mil Design Bureau, a Moscow helicopter plant. The original scheme described a heavy side-by-side twin-rotor aircraft with two Soloviev D-25VF

gas turbine A gas turbine or gas turbine engine is a type of Internal combustion engine#Continuous combustion, continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas gene ...

engines below six-bladed rotors at the tips of heavily supported wings on each side of the

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

and tricycle-type

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for taxiing, takeoff or landing. For aircraft, it is generally needed for all three of these. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, s ...

, with both rear landing wheels mounted below the wings while the front wheel was located below the

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, on the front part of an aircraft, spacecraft, or submersible, from which a pilot controls the vehicle. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the controls th ...

, as well as located directly under the wings. Designed to be capable of transporting large numbers of combat units, the V-16 was also intended as a Soviet military vehicle transportation aircraft. This aircraft was one of the first for the USSR to begin using operational based algorithms within its controlling systems.

Variants

;V-16 : Proposed ''ultra-heavy'' version of the

Mil V-12 The Mil V-12 (NATO reporting name: Homer), given the project number ''Izdeliye 65'' ("Item 65"), is a prototype helicopter designed in the Soviet Union and the largest helicopter ever built. The designation "Mi-12" would have been the designatio ...

, intended to lift . Originally envisaged in a three rotor layout, powered by six Soloviev D-25VF engines, but reverted to a two-rotor system similar to the V-12 powered by two large gas generators supplying a single large low pressure free-turbine driving a main gearbox each. ;Mi-16: The proposed VVS designation for the production V-16.

Specifications (V-16)

General characteristics (planned): :Length: 37 m (121 ft 5 in) :Wingspan: 67 m (219 ft 10 in) across rotors :Height: 12.5 m (41 ft) :Empty Weight: 69,100 kg :Gross Weight: 97,000 kg :Max Takeoff Weight: 105,000 kg *Freight compartment:

References

Bibliography

* {{Mil aircraft 1960s Soviet military transport aircraft Mil aircraft 1960s Soviet helicopters Abandoned military aircraft projects of the Soviet Union Twin-turbine helicopters Military transport helicopters Transverse rotor helicopters