The Antonov firm as we speak offered new particulars about its large An-124-100 Ruslan (NATO reporting name Condor) cargo jet that mysteriously appeared within the extremely restricted skies of Kyiv final week. The jet brought on a stir as a result of solely army plane and restricted authorities and rescue helicopter flights are allowed over Kyiv after Russia’s full-on invasion. Since then, runways have been blocked to stop Russian touchdown makes an attempt and worldwide transportation to and from the Ukrainian capital has been performed by practice. You may learn extra in regards to the flight of the Condor in our authentic story here.
Condors have been utilized by the U.S. and different nations to maneuver army provides, together with weapons offered to Ukraine and different outsized masses. The jets, one of many world’s largest plane, have been a supply of satisfaction in Ukraine, the place they had been manufactured.
As we suspected, we now know that this explicit plane, tail quantity UR-82073, flew from the Antonov restore facility in Kyiv to the corporate’s new headquarters in Leipzig, Germany on Friday. The flight was launched after completion of a four-year modernization effort, the company explained on Facebook. That work started earlier than the outbreak of the all-out invasion of Ukraine.
You may see the jet taxi and take off from Kyiv and land to a water cannon salute in Leipzig within the following video.
This Condor, in-built 1994, had greater than 21,000 flying hours over greater than 5,500 flights when the Russians attacked on Feb. 24, 2022, in line with Antonov. The aim of the restore work was to interchange fundamental elements manufactured in Russia with extra fashionable ones made in Ukraine and the West.
When Russian forces tried to take Kyiv, the Condor was in a “disassembled state,” Antonov famous.
The corporate’s headquarters and no less than one Condor in comparatively respectable situation had been destroyed at Hostemel Airport during the opening battle when the Russians tried to take the airfield as a staging floor to assault Kyiv. It was throughout this combat that the largest plane on the earth on the time, the beloved An-225 known affectionately as Mriya, and a direct cousin of the An-124, was additionally destroyed. Nevertheless, UR-82073 was positioned at Antonov’s restore facility in Kyiv and was spared destruction.
Nonetheless, on account of “the full-scale aggression of Russia,” Antonov stated it initially ordered a partial suspension of the modernization effort. Nevertheless, the work finally continued.
“Even in essentially the most troublesome circumstances of the conflict, the crew of JSC ‘ANTONOV’ was capable of resume work and full the modernization in June 2025,” the corporate famous.
As a part of the refurbishing, the jet’s livery included the phrase “Be Courageous Like Irpin” emblazoned beneath the cockpit. It’s a reference to the pivotal combat alongside the Irpin River within the early days of the all-out conflict that helped maintain the Russians from advancing into Kyiv.
UR-82073 is one in all quite a few Condors owned and operated by Antonov Airways, a subdivision of the corporate specializing in worldwide cargo transportation.
The AN-124-100 “can load shipments weighing as much as 120,000kg (264,555lbs),” the corporate identified. “Nevertheless, two of Antonov Airways’ seven AN-124-100s have been modified to just accept 150,000kg (330,693lbs) payloads.”
Designated AN-124-100M, “Antonov Airways’ modernized variations boast upgraded navigation techniques (P-RNAV) and absolutely adjust to the newest ICAO avionics and noise rules, that means that they’ll function globally and with out restriction,” the corporate added.
When the modernization work was accomplished, UR-82073 took off for Germany, sparking curiosity and wonderment from stunned Ukrainians. In the meantime, a number of Russian milbloggers expressed disgust that the Condor was not blown up on the bottom or shot out of the sky.
It’s price noting that any plane that giant would have given off sufficient signatures for the Russians to simply spot it, no less than if it climbed to greater altitudes (especially if no A-50 is up). Really hotting it down is one other problem altogether. That the An-124 was capable of take off from Kyiv and fly over Ukrainian airspace unscathed is a bone of competition for the favored Fighterbomber Telegram channel.
“A tragic occasion, in fact. For our intelligence at first,” stated Figtherbomber on Friday. The channel is carefully tied to Russian army aviation. “The unhappy factor right here will not be that the An-124 arrived, however that it was capable of go away intact and unhurt. It arrived, in fact, at evening, later, when our brokers are asleep.”
Within the hours after UR-82073 flew over Kyiv, some Russian Telegram channels claimed it had flown out of Dnipro, forward of an anticipated Russian advance. In our story about that flight, we famous it was “almost certainly that the plane in query had been stranded in Ukraine since 2022 and took off from the Svyatoshino airport in Kyiv. That’s the headquarters of the Antonov Serial Manufacturing Plant.”
Satellite tv for pc imagery obtained by The Struggle Zone backed up this assertion. Taken July 2 by Planet Labs, the picture reveals that there was two comparatively intact An-124s on the apron on the time. One specifically appears to have been energetic, with the plane transferring to the runway on July fifth.
On Wednesday, after Antonov officers revealed what actually occurred, they expressed satisfaction in what they completed.
“The relocation of [the Condor] turned not only a technical answer, however an emblem of the steadiness, professionalism and unity of Ukrainian plane producers, the corporate proclaimed. The improved jet “will proceed to fly and serve Ukraine on the worldwide route.”’
The completion of the An-124’s modernization work was a brilliant second of hope for Ukrainians at a really troublesome time. Nevertheless, given the character of the conflict, it might be fairly a while earlier than one other Condor flight is noticed over Kyiv.
Contact the writer: howard@thewarzone.com
