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Built in the 60s, Crashed in 2025: Russia’s Flying Dinosaur An-22 Goes Down
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![Photo of Vlad Litnarovych]( "Photo of Vlad Litnarovych")
A Russian An-22 military transport aircraft belonging to the country’s Ministry of Defense crashed in Ivanovo region on Monday, with all seven crew members feared dead, Russian state media TASS reported on December 9.
The aircraft went down in the Furmanovsky district near the Uvod Reservoir while conducting what officials described as a routine post-repair test flight.
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Emergency crews located debris in the water shortly after the crash. Russian outlets have not confirmed any survivors.
The An-22, known by its Soviet designation “Antey,” holds a unique place in aviation history. Developed in Kyiv in the 1960s, the aircraft became the world’s first wide-body military transport and remains the largest turboprop cargo plane ever built. Its maiden flight took place on February 27, 1965, and the platform entered service in 1969, following serial production that began three years earlier.
Capable of carrying up to 80 tons of cargo and boasting a maximum take-off weight of roughly 250 tons, the An-22 was powered by four NK-12MA engines—each delivering an extraordinary 15,000 horsepower.
The aircraft was built to lift heavy armor, oversized equipment, and airborne troops across long distances, pioneering a new generation of strategic airlift. Its design later paved the way for even larger transports, including the An-124 “Ruslan” and the record-setting An-225 “Mriya.”
Most of the surviving An-22 fleet is more than five decades old, raising questions about airworthiness and modernization. According to Russian media reports, the airframe involved in the crash was likely at least 49 years old.
Authorities have not commented on potential causes of the incident, and the Russian Ministry of Defense has yet to issue detailed findings.
Earlier, a Soviet-designed An-24 aircraft with 49 people on board crashed in Russia’s Far East, roughly 15 kilometers from the city of Tynda in the Amur region.
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-cd2758dceb3bc0a1e4770e8a7d67f1c4.jpeg "Fortis tanker near Istanbul, September 10, 2024. (Source: VesselFinder)")
