In a small part of a Soviet-era air base on the outskirts of Ukraine's capital, Kiev, lie the best aircraft of the legendary Antonov aircraft manufacturer and maintenance company. This one-of-a-kind piece of engineering was designed and built in the 1980s, at the beginning of the demise of the Soviet Union.
The N-225 is the largest aircraft ever built. This plane is so large that the cargo hold in the back of it exceeds the length of the Wright Brothers' first flight, from takeoff to landing.
Now, the "N225" aircraft has been manufactured for 30 years. Although recently upgraded to serve an additional 20 years, this plane rarely takes to the skies. Instead, it rests beneath a huge, motionless steel arch, where a crew of Antonov employees tend to it from time to time.
However, the limited use of the aircraft is not related to its age, but rather to the weak demand for the specialized and relatively high-cost service provided by this aircraft. Although the plane, nicknamed "Mriya", which means "dream" in Ukrainian, is in good condition, the missions that require the use of an aircraft of this magnitude are very few. The tasks should also be necessary and urgent, as using this plane will cost you about $ 30,000 an hour.
In 2016, the N-225 made two long trips across the globe in just three months, then spent the rest of the year at Gostomel Airport, which was once a secret testing center for Antonov planes.
Alexander Galonenko, the first pilot to fly this plane, says that the purpose for which the "N225" plane was made was to transport the Soviet space shuttle "Buran". After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it became necessary to search for a new purpose for the plane, to become a cargo plane.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, work on the Soviet Buran space program was suspended, and funding stopped because there was no need for this plane,” Galonenko says. Galonenko flew the N-225 on December 21, 1988, after working for a decade as a Soviet test pilot.
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Galonenko remembers the signs of astonishment and confusion that appeared on people's faces when they saw this huge plane, which left for the first time from Ukraine on a visit to the United States of America.
And Galonenko says: "We were invited to visit an aviation exhibition in Oklahoma State, and the media reported that the largest plane in the world would arrive at the exhibition, and this news attracted crowds of people. Everyone present thought that the largest plane in the world was made by the "Boeing" company, and it was We have to tell them that the company that made it is 'Antonov', then they asked where is the Antonov company? And we told them that Kiev is a city in Ukraine,' and of course they asked, 'What is Ukraine?'
Finally, the pilot pulled out his maps and pointed out the location of Ukraine to the eager-to-know visitors. Galonenko says with a laugh: "He took a pen and drew a circle around the city of Kiev to show them its location. We not only showed our plane, but also gave the Americans a lesson in geography."
The N-225 is an extension of its smaller counterpart, the N-124, nicknamed "Raslan", which is rarely described as small. In fact, it is the largest military transport aircraft in the world.
In a room lined with scale models of every aircraft the Antonov company has built over its 71-year history, Nikolai Kalashnikov, chief engineer on the N-225 project, tells the BBC he has spent his entire career at Antonov, but building the aircraft Mriya was the culmination of his career.
And Kalashnikov says: "The plane caught everyone's attention when it flew for the first time. Who could imagine that a machine of this magnitude could fly in the air. Now, it is difficult to know whether it will impress people or not."
Although the N-124 Ruslan was a huge cargo plane at the time, Kalashnikov and his team decided to modify the airframe to increase the maximum allowable take-off weight. To this, they added two engines and two rows of landing gear, increased the length of the fuselage, and changed the design of the tail of the aircraft to meet the most important requirement, which was to ensure that the space shuttle "Buran" and the "Energia" rocket, designed to boost the Buran spacecraft, could easily glide out of the "Miriya" in flight. Then to space.
The N-225 can carry anything, like the space shuttle and all the elements of a rocket in the back of it,” says Mikhail Kharchenko, CEO of Antonov Airlines, from his office at Gostomel Airport. The United States is currently implementing a program to launch from the air rather than from the ground.
Kalashnikov says that the space missions of the Soviet Union, at this time, were being managed from the "Baikonur" space station, which belonged to the former Soviet Union, and is now south of Kazakhstan. The mission of the "N-225" was to bring the rocket boosters to the spacecraft from Moscow, and to deliver the shuttle Buran to the "Baikonur" base, and thus the "N-225" program would be less expensive than building a highway linking the two rivers through the Urals to transport these parts.
Khrushenko believes that the Mriya plane, although it is relatively old, still has a lot of potential, which is not limited to its huge internal capacity for carrying cargo. It is believed that there is an opportunity to develop the "N-225" aircraft into a platform for launching missiles into the air.
Kharchenko says: "90 percent of the energy of the Mriya launch vehicle is consumed until it reaches a height of ten kilometers. If we transport a spacecraft in the back of the Mriya plane and launch it into space from a height of ten kilometers, the economic benefit will be great, given the It will save you costs."Khrushenko does not deny that the plane will need a few improvements, but he believes that this is the best use of the largest aircraft ever built by Antonov, and many agree with this opinion.
In 2016, China Aerospace Vehicle Industry Corporation, a private defense and aerospace vehicle design and manufacturing company, signed a cooperation agreement with Antonov on the N-225 program. And if all goes as planned, the skies will soon be covered with a fleet of Chinese-made N-225 planes.
Zhang Yusheng, president of the China Aerospace Vehicle Industry Corporation, told the BBC: "In 2009, the company first thought about developing the N-225 and started preliminary research on it. There was no official contact with the company." "Antonov" only in 2011, and then, starting from 2013 to 2016, took serious steps in the project.
But the Chinese company does not want to buy the only "N225" aircraft that is now in good condition, as the company spent several years studying the feasibility of modernizing the other "incomplete" N225, which is an incomplete structure of an aircraft, which remained in the hangar. of the giant Antonov complex in the heart of the capital, Kiev, for the past 30 years.
With the modernization of this aircraft, China's ability to transport heavy loads will be higher than the capabilities of any country in the world, and it may also exceed the capabilities of the US military in heavy transport.
According to Zhang, the N-225 will be the focus of the ambitious plan, which aims to add 1,000 heavy-lift aircraft over the next ten years.
However, heavy transport is not the only objective behind the modernization of the N-225.
The N-225 can carry a spacecraft to a high altitude, and it can launch commercial satellites at any altitude below 12,000 metres. In addition, the launch time from the aircraft is flexible and accurate, it can Sending the satellite quickly to the intended orbit, thus greatly reducing the launch costs."
The Chinese intend to enter the lucrative field of launching satellites, as its revenues have doubled from 2006 to 2015, according to the statistics of the Chinese Air and Space Vehicle Industry Corporation.
If the plan is implemented as expected, the Mriya will take to the skies in its new form for the benefit of the Chinese aerospace and vehicle manufacturer, and Ukraine will lose a small part of the aviation technology sector. But this part is symbolic, as the plane's makers have mixed feelings about the idea of losing the N-225 program and taking over the Chinese.
And Kalashnikov says: "The Chinese want to buy this plane, and there is no harm in that, but of course no one wants to sell it. The Mriya plane is an integral part of Ukraine, and we consider it the result of our efforts in the field of aviation, and it will remain a source of pride for our children and grandchildren."