The Antonov An-178 (Ukrainian: Антонов Ан-178) is a short-range medium-airlift military transport aircraft designed by the Ukrainian Antonov company and based on the Antonov An-158 (An-148-200). The first An-178 prototype was rolled out in Kyiv on 16 April 2015. The aircraft will be available in both civil and military configurations, and will replace the ageing aircraft such as Antonov An-12, Antonov An-26 and Antonov An-32.
Construction on the second An-178 aircraft began in March 2015 while maiden flight of the aircraft is expected to take place in late 2015.
The An-178 is a potential competitor for the Alenia C-27J Spartan from Italy, EADS CASA C-295 from Spain, Lockheed Martin C-130J from the United States, Embraer KC-390 from Brazil and the Ilyushin Il-214 from the Russian Federation. The company plans to build more than 200 of the aircraft.
The Antonov state enterprise began construction of first prototype of the An-178 cargo jet. Antonov has begun flight trials of its new An-178 transport aircraft, some five years after the development of type was first announced. On May 7, 2015, it performed its maiden flight, on May 13 the aircraft spent 5 hours 20 minutes in the air, and on May 14 – 4 hours 20 minutes. The AN-178 new transport actively started to perform a program of certification tests. In May 2015, Antonov Aviation and China’s Beijing A-Star Aerospace Technology Co. have signed a protocol on intentions after the maiden flight of a new Antonov cargo plane.The UAE and Azerbaijan have already expressed interest in the new cargo plane.
The An-178 is a high-wing transport aircraft with moderately swept wing, winglets and a T-tail. The airframe is made of aluminium alloys and composite materials. The fuselage is semi-monocoque with a circular cross-section. The retractable landing gear consists of two main wheel bogies and a single nose wheel. The flight control surfaces include ailerons near the wing tips, four control spoilers, six lift-dump/speed-brake spoilers, rudder and elevators, with an emergency mechanical cable back-up system.
The base platform of the AN-178 can be developed into a number of civil and military variants. The airframe and onboard equipment are unified with AN-148 and AN- 158 aircraft.
The aircraft can carry 99 soldiers, 80 paratroops or evacuate 70 sick and wounded persons. It can be used in a range of missions including logistic support of troops, parachute drooping of cargoes at platforms or small troop divisions, carrying of injured personnel, and transportation of light vehicles. It can also be used to transport and deliver equipment and engines.
The aircraft is fitted with digital avionics, and a glass cockpit. It can fly in intensive air traffic, under VFR and IFR weather conditions both during the day and night times. It can take off and land on unpaved runways and pebble covered surfaces.
The flight deck integrates a dual duplex fly-by-wire system with two control channels including FCS-A and FCS-B parts. It also includes a flight simulator for training flight crews.
The flight control surfaces of the aircraft constitute ailerons, four control spoilers, six lift-dump/speed-brake spoilers, rudder and elevators, and an emergency mechanical cable back-up system.
The aircraft features a more spacious and fully pressurised cargo compartment, which can carry up to 18t of cargo over 1,000km. It has an onboard cargo capacity of 10t and can achieve a range of more than 4,000km. It can accommodate high capacity 1C containers with a lateral size of 2.44m ? 2.44m, as well as maritime containers and IATA containers.
The An-178 transport aircraft is powered by two D-436-148FM turbofan engines, mounted on pylons under the wings and an auxiliary power unit, developed by Ivchenko-Progress. Each engine generates a take-off thrust of 7,880kgf. The D-436-148FM has a dry weight of 1,450kg and an inlet diameter of 1,390mm.