Antonov An-71

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An-71
AN-71 CCCP-780361 Zhulyany.jpg
Antonov An-71
at Ukraine State Aviation Museum
Role Naval AWACS
Manufacturer Antonov
First flight 12 July 1985
Status Cancelled
Primary user Soviet Frontal Aviation
Number built 3
Developed from Antonov An-72

The Antonov An-71 (NATO reporting name: Madcap) was a Soviet AWACS aircraft intended for use with VVS FA (Fighter Bomber) forces of the Soviet Air Force. Its design was based on An-72, with a completely redesigned rear fuselage supporting the rotodome of the radar atop the broad chord forward swept fin. The cargo hold held the electronic equipment and six operators stations. Development never progressed past the prototype stage, the first of which flew on 12 July 1985. The program was canceled, with the fall of the Soviet Union when issues with the RADAR [Vega-M Kvant] could not be resolved. In 2010, one example was transferred to Ukraine State Aviation Museum for restoration and display.[1]

Soviet Air Force AWACS doctrine

Prior to the fall of the Soviet Union the Air Force was divided into three aircraft based groups of units. They were the VVS-DA (Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily Dal'naya Aviatsiya) or Long Range Aviation (Bombers), VVS-FA (Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily Frontovaya Aviatsiya) (Fighters, Fighter Bombers and Attack aircraft) and the VVS-VTA (Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily Voenno-Transportnaya Aviatsiya) or Military Transport aircraft. The PVO (Voyska protivovozdushnoy oborony or Voyska PVO) which was the primary defensive fighter, Interceptor and surface based defensive force was in no way part of the VVS. This means the A-50 Mainstay AWACS aircraft and its predecessor the Tu-126 Moss both served exclusively with the Voyska PVO and did not assist in the direction of day to day tactical aircraft. The An-71 was designed to be used overland to support the FA. This doctrine of each force having its own AWACS plane is contrary to most Western air forces use of land based AWACS aircraft. This doctrine difference lead in part to the fallacy that the An-71 was designed to be used by on the Russia Aircraft Carriers.[2]

Carrier based variant

It should be noted that the An-71 Madcap is often cited as a carrier based AWACS aircraft. In short it was not as is already described above under AWACS doctrine. However a highly modified design, the An-75, was proposed for use on the Soviet Aircraft Carriers under construction but the AVMF (Soviet Naval Aviation) canceled its development when it was realized that too much of a re-design would be needed to make the An-75 safe to operate off of any of the proposed aircraft carriers. The AVMF or Aviatsiya Voenno-Morskogo Flota (Literally Aviation for the Military Maritime Fleet,) decided to seek a second purpose built AWACS proposal using an improved Kvant-M version of the existing An-71/An-75's Kvant Radar by the Vega-M design bureau. The An-75, if built would have had engines mounted under the wing rather than above, similar to the later An-74TK-300, and had many other structural and aerodynamic changes. In the end the An-75 would have only shared a slight commonality with the An-71/An-72 aircraft families and was deemed to costly to continue in-light of the clean sheet design the Yak-44E.[2]

Export

In the early 2000s (decade), Ukraine unsuccessfully negotiated with India on the sale of an An-71, priced at US$200 million. The An-71 would have had the capability to detect 400 targets at ranges of up to 370 kilometres (230 mi).[3]

Operators

 Soviet Union

Specifications (An-71)

General characteristics

Performance

See also

Related development
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

References

  1. ↑ Transporting the Madcap to the museum.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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