Antonov An-26 (Curl)

Transport Aircraft

Soviet Union | 1969

"The Soviet-era Antonov An-26 Curl transport made a name for itself during the Cold War, produced in some 1,400 examples overall."

Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 03/02/2022 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site; No A.I. was used in the generation of this content.

Image from the United States Department of Defense DVIDS imagery network database.

The Antonov An-26 was developed from the An-24 of 1962 for the airliner passenger / general transport role. First flight of the An-26 product was on May 21st, 1969 and production spanned from then until 1986 to which 1,403 examples were ultimately realized. A plethora of variants then emerged and operators have ranged the globe with many airframes still in active service today (2014).

The original An-24 proved a design that was robust for the most harshest of conditions available across the vast Soviet empire - particularly in hard to reach areas of the frontier where few services were available. This propelled a new, modified form to gain traction, one in particular that included a powered loading ramp for ease of moving cargo pallets to and from the aircraft to awaiting bays or transport trucks. With a new ramp design finishing its testing phase, the installation commenced to produce the new working designation of An-26.

As finalized, the An-26 carried over much of the same form and function of the preceding An-24 model including its high-wing design and twin engine layout. The tail unit remained a single vertical fin with low-set horizontal planes. The flight deck was held at the extreme front end of the fuselage aft of a short nose cone. The cargo hold then made up a bulk of the available internal space remaining. Initial production models were recognized simply as "An-26" and were identified in NATO nomenclature as "Curl-A". A combo passenger/cargo-hauler form then became the An-26-100. The local Chinese variant became the Xian Y-7H military transport.

Other limited production variants followed including an Arctic reconnaissance platform with special mission equipment, an atmospheric air lab, an assault transport prototype, various testbeds, a fire-fighting platform, and other proposed (some unrealized) designs.

Operators have gone on to range from Angola and Belarus to Yemen and Zambia. Many military operators have since abandoned the type including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Poland, and Somalia. The United States operated An-26s through the 6th Special Operations Squadron of the United States Air Force from the period of 2003 to 2007. Soviet An-26s were passed on to the emerging states after the fall of the Soviet empire. Most current operators remain civilian in nature including fifteen operating in the Ukraine.

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March 2022 - Serbia has signed a deal to replace its aging fleet of Soviet-era An-26 tactical transports with CN295 types. Deliveries are expected to begin late 2023.

Power & Performance
Those special qualities that separate one aircraft design from another. Performance specifications presented assume optimal operating conditions for the Antonov An-26 (Curl) Transport Aircraft.

2 x Progress AI-24VT turboprop engines developing 2,820 horsepower each.
Propulsion

277 mph
445 kph | 240 kts
Max Speed

24,606 ft
7,500 m | 5 miles
Service Ceiling

1,553 miles
2,500 km | 1,350 nm
Operational Range

1,575 ft/min
480 m/min
Rate-of-Climb

City-to-City Ranges
Operational range when compared to distances between major cities (in KM).

NYC

LON

PAR

BER

MOS

TOK

SYD

LAX

NYC

Structure
The nose-to-tail, wingtip-to-wingtip physical qualities of the Antonov An-26 (Curl) Transport Aircraft.

5
(MANNED)
Crew

78.1 ft
23.80 m
O/A Length

95.8 ft
(29.20 m)
O/A Width

28.2 ft
(8.60 m)
O/A Height

33,069 lb
(15,000 kg)
Empty Weight

52,911 lb
(24,000 kg)
MTOW

Design Balance
The three qualities reflected below are altitude, speed, and range. The more full the box, the more balanced the design.

RANGE

ALT

SPEED

Variants
Notable series variants as part of the Antonov An-26 (Curl) family line.

An-26 "Curl" - Base Series Designation; initial production aircraft.

An-26-100 - Passenger / cargo hauler

An-26A - Assault transport; single example.

An-26A SLK - Modernized variant

An-26B - Civilian cargo hauler

An-26B-100 - Passenger / cargo hauler

An-26BL - Alternative designation covering An-26L.

An-26BRL - Alternative designation covering An-26RL.

An-26D - Long-range variant

An-26KPA - Equipment testbed

An-26L - Testbed

An-26LL-PLO - Airborne testbed

An-26LP - Fire-fighting platform

An-26M - Airborne hospital

An-26P - Fire-fighting platform

An-26REP - Electronic CounterMeasures (ECM) platform.

An-26RL - Surveillance, reconnaissance and monitoring for Arctic circle.

An-26RR - Alternative designation covering An-26RT.

An-26RT - Communications relay platform

An-26RTR - Alternative designation covering An-26RT.

An-26S - VIP passenger carrier

An-26Sh - Navigator trainer platform

An-26ST - East German Air Force special-missions aircraft.

An-26Z-1 - Czech ELINT model

An-50 - Proposed jet-powered variant

Xian Y-7H - Chinese military transport model

Xian Y-14 - Chinese An-26 copy

Operators
Global customers who have evaluated and/or operated the Antonov An-26 (Curl). Nations are displayed by flag, each linked to their respective national aircraft listing.

Total Production: 1,403 Units
Contractor(s): Antonov Design Bureau - Soviet Union

[ Afghanistan; Angola; Bangladesh; Belarus; Benin; Bulgaria; Cambodia; Cape Verda; Chad; China; Cuba; Czechoslovakia; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Denmark; East Germany; Ethiopia; Germany; Guinea-Bissau; Hungary; Iraq; Kazakhstan; Kyrgyzstan; Laos; Latvia; Libya; Lithuania; Madagascar; Mali; Moldova; Mongolia; Mozambique; Namibia; Nicaragua; Niger; North Yemen; Pakistan; Peru; Philippines; Poland; Puntland; Republic of Congo; Romania; Russia; Serbia; Slovakia; Somalia; Soviet Union; Sudan; Syria; Tajikistan; Tanzania; Turkmenistan; Ukraine; United States; Uzbekistan; Venezuela; Vietnam; Yemen; Yugoslavia; Zambia ]

Relative Max Speed

Hi: 300mph

Lo: 150mph

Aircraft Max Listed Speed (277mph).

Graph Average of 225 MPH.

Era Crossover

Showcasing Aircraft Era Crossover (if any)

Max Alt Visualization

Production Comparison

1403

36183

44000

Entry compared against Ilyushin IL-2 (military) and Cessna 172 (civilian) total production.

MACH Regime (Sonic)

Sub

Trans

Super

Hyper

HiHyper

ReEntry

♦

Aviation Timeline

EarlyYrs

WWI

Interwar

WWII

ColdWar

Postwar

Modern

Future

♦

1 / 1

Image from the United States Department of Defense DVIDS imagery network database.

Mission Roles
Some designs are single-minded in their approach while others offer a more versatile solution to airborne requirements.

TRANSPORT

Recognition
Some designs stand the test of time while others are doomed to never advance beyond the drawing board; let history be their judge.

Military lapel ribbon representing modern aircraft

Military lapel ribbon for the Ukranian-Russian War

Military lapel ribbon for Warsaw Pact of the Cold War-era

Going Further...
The Antonov An-26 (Curl) Transport Aircraft appears in the following collections:

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