Posted on 01/25/2006 10:28:11 PM PST by Paleo Conservative
Boeing may introduce a Soviet-era military transport jet as a new option for the US military's need for a new fleet of small airlifters, the airframer told Flight International in Washington, DC yesterday.
The Antonov An-72, a 70-seat jet with over-wing-mounted engines (pictured below in Aeroflot livery), is one of the options Boeing is considering to enter the US Army's pending Future Cargo Aircraft (FCA) competition, says George Muellner, Boeing vice president for Air Force Systems.
A Boeing evaluation team has visited Antonov headquarters in Kiev, the Ukraine, and both companies remain in active discussions, says Muellner.
The FCA competition is on hold for two months to allow army officials time to discuss blending the programme with a US Air Force requirement for a new light cargo aircraft fleet. Muellner says Boeing's plans will not be decided until the army unveils the final requirements for FCA.
As another option, Boeing also is in discussions to Alenia to join the Global Military Aircraft Systems team that plans to offer the Alenia C-27J Spartan. Raytheon and EADS CASA North America also plan to compete, offering the CASA C-295, CN-235, or both, depending on the army's final requirements.
The An-72, if Boeing were to offer it, would be the only jet-powered aircraft in the competition.
STEPHEN TRIMBLE / WASHINGTON, DC
Precisely.
"Them Russians sure build ugly airplanes! "
Yes, but they're very practical and take LOTS of abuse.
" Don't the over wing engines help with short field performance?"
Don't know about short field performance, that would depend more on the wing design but the high engines would be great for rough, unpaved fields. The engines would be much less likely to sustain FOD (foreign object damage).
...and welcome to FR, BTW...
Oh great. Now we're going to copy the Russians in the field of avaition?
I'm surprised that plane can get off the ground.
If the aerodynamics are that important, why isn't this concept being used on regular aircraft? Even though the engines might not pick up as much FOD (foreign object debris), it is not an efficient design. LOL! There must be politics involved in discussing this with Russia and Alenia. Politics is behind everything, imho.
One word: Politics
Actually they are copying a copy of their own design.
I wouldn't be surprised if Boeing went into their archives and dusted off the YC-14 blueprints just to see how to incorporate newer technology and metallurgy.
I don't think most planes need to land on short gravel runways. It pays for the short field performance with extra structural weight in the wing and shorter range.
That's exactly what I thought.
It pays for the short field performance with extra structural weight in the wing and shorter range.
But is the extra MTOW, max takeoff weight worth it?
So boeing does not have to pay someone some royalty by using the espianoge based design of the soviets.
something is not right here.
"With the jet exhaust at overhead level, that sucka has got to be LOUD inside."
Cargo can't hear anything!
Probably not for most civilian uses. As I recall this is a proposal for a military cargo plane in a class that is smaller than a C-130. The ability to operate from short primitive airstrips near combat zones is more important than the ton mile costs or range. The fact that it is smaller than a C-17 means a C-17 doesn't have to be used to send a small payload when the speed of a jet is needed.
Boeing is already building pieces of it's airliners in Russia.
Their marketing a Russian "homage" of their own design is a logical step, I guess. ;-)
DUDE! Great find. Thanks!
Now all I gotta do is figure out how to save it and store it at Putfile.
And edit out the ad at the beginning.
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