NEW Antonov AN-225 Is Now Making a MASSIVE Comeback! Here's Why

In 2022, the Antonov AN-255 Mriya, the largest plane in the world, was destroyed beyond repair by Russian forces during their invasion of Ukraine.

The damage was so severe that most people expected it to be the end of the record-breaking Cold War era aircraft, forever confining it to the history books. But the Ukrainian government had other ideas.

But it looks now like the AN-225 could be set to make a massive return.

[hydewhyte]

The real question to ask is ... why was the 225 left on the ground in a war zone to begin with? The pilots are on record as having begged to be allowed to move it.

[larryblanks]

Sweet, I'd love to see her in the air again. Beautiful Bird.

[mlhardin]

Because of the "heavy lift" capacity of this plane, nothing else on the planet can duplicate it. I vote YES! Rebuild the AN-225! This was very interesting. Thank you very much.

[andreideac]

I saw the plane at Phoenix Sky Harbor a few years ago. It's was beyond impressive!

[millardmoore]

Ukraine should probably focus on food and rebuilding its infrastructure

[AMERICANPATRIOT]

This aircraft should be modernized and brought to life again, with new, efficient turbofan engines.

[jBKht]

In 1992 I was a project manager for a large food manufacturer. I was tasked with getting a large production line from Denmark to west coast of US. One option was to by a large cargo plane from Russia or Ukraine and get a pilot to fly it. Plane would cost US$100, 000 and I figured we would give the plane to the pilot as payment. I even figured in fuel and material handlers. Things were very cheap then. The company went with shipping by boat 😢

[courierdog]

As stated from a practical stand point NO! However from an Emotional and Cultural pride it is overwhelmingly YES!!

[salajangheorghe]

Mriya-Antovov 225 was started through an extensive space funding program from the time of the USSR (the Mriya program started on Dec. 21, 1980 and the first test flight took place only in 1988)
The real investments and costs for the manufacture of this aircraft are not really known because the USSR hid the truth as it did with other space or military programs.
Today's Ukraine, which wants to claim this plane, came into being only in 1991, when both the factory and the plane were already in existence from the time of the USSR.
From my point of view, Mriya / Anotonov 225 needs so much funding that it will never be rebuilt by Ukraine, especially since it will need many years from now to rebuild its own country.
... Only in case some billionaires from the West would like to invest in such a megalomaniacal project.

[a-fl-man]

guarded and fueled the AN-124/ that in itself is a monster aircraft. never saw the 225, it must be massive

[feynthefallen]

Don't hold your breath, people. First, Ukraine has to survive the war. Which, given the reluctance and, not to put too fine a point on it, incompetence of their western allies when it comes to keeping them supplied with essential war gear, is becoming increasingly unlikely.

[sakurakinomoto]

The AN-225 was needed and built only for one purpose: The transport of the buran shuttle. After the soviet union died, it was refurbished for a broader purpose but was used only for a few tasks. Economically it is not worth to be reconstucted. But as a political symbol it could be reconstructed from russian reparations after the war. There are some more years of work to do and when it takes off for the first time after war, the design will be nearly 50 years old and as museal as the design of the B52 which is still in use after 70 years. So I will smash the button "YES" if I ever will be asked if it should be rebuilt or not.

[williambunting]

The AN 225 is a modern technical marvel with capability that the world would like to have maintained. It should be rebuilt and flown as a symbol of Ukrainian aviation excellence. I didn’t realise how many unique aircraft that Antonov had built, having only recently learned of the AN 24, a marvellous little aircraft with brilliant performance. It might not suit the West to have a new aviation specialist to compete with, but Ukraine is now part of the West, and they will get along just fine.

[joblo]

Emotionally, the answer would be a definite maybe. But practically it's a dead no.

The incomplete frame is around 35 years old. So there have to be questions soundness of that. The missing pieces cannot be bought off the shelf. They will have to be replaced with modern equivalents. But nothing is equal. Then it will have to be assembled. Any special tools and frames will have to be recreated. So, basically this will be a one-off custom aircraft. They would probably be better off designing a new aircraft with those specs using modern tech, like carbon fibre, obviously newest design high efficiency engines, electronics etc.

If they want to do it, fine. But they have to raise the money themselves. None of the international loans, gifts, unless the donor explicitly approves. For example, any aircraft manufacturing plant would have to be outsized, much bigger than they would need for any other projects they would build.

[modromore]

No problem, get the Russians to chip in - most of the Antonov engineers have gone there anyway ....

[MuellerNick]

Antonov is a broken company. No longer the glory it was decades ago. Just have a look at the follow up of the An-2 that Antonov tried. So any money for the new An-225 is just wasted mony that will dissappear somewhere in some pockets of some Ukrainians.
Yes, the An-225 was an impressive plane. But Ukraine struggled to make money out of it. The attitude of the managers that enabled the destruction shows it all.

[joefin]

Interesting is that the AN-225 livery has the colors reversed from the Ukraine flag. The flag is yellow on bottom and blue on top!

[mariocarneiro]

This will never happen, simply because there are no parts or equipment to make them, the only ones to have this capability would be the Russians, but they will not do this, nor provide any equipment, the AN-225 is dead and will remain dead, because contrary to what many people think, the "Antonov Design Bureau" does not have the capacity to manufacture aircraft or parts of them, currently it only serves to manage the use of the AN-225 and AN-124, maintaining them using existing parts, they don't manufacture anything.

[wvincus]

The US taxpayers pay for it, not Ukraine. US funds Ukraine. Let’s have some accuracy for a change.

[CarlsVlogs]

It will be great to see it in the skies . It will be so proud for Ukraine