The story of the An-990 begins in the late 1970s. While the West was developing the C-5 Galaxy and conceptualizing the C-17 Globemaster, the Soviet military demanded a quantum leap in transport capability. The requirement was ambitious: a heavy-lift cargo aircraft capable of operating from unpaved runways, carrying main battle tanks, and crucially, possessing a speed profile that dwarfed existing turboprops.
The is a fictional, ultra-heavy concept aircraft popularized within the flight simulation community, most notably in X-Plane.org . It does not exist as a physical plane built by the real-world Antonov Company . Instead, it represents the absolute limit of digital aviation design—a gargantuan, hypothetical "super-tanker" designed to dwarf every real-world plane ever constructed. antonov an 990
Designed to carry an entire Boeing 747-400 on its back, launch it mid-flight, and follow it. The story of the An-990 begins in the late 1970s