The Antonov State Enterprise, part of Ukroboronprom, rolled out the first military transport aircraft An-178-100R ?001 ordered by the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. The An-178 is proposed to replace outdated aircraft like the An-12, An-26, and An-32. The Ukrainian Armed Forces have placed an order for three An-178-100R planes. The first aircraft is ready for flight tests. The construction of aircraft to meet the needs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces are being carried out by the plans. The construction of the glider of the first of the three ordered aircraft has been finished. The fuselage, wing, and tail of the second An-178-100R were assembled ahead of schedule and the assembly of the fuselage of this aircraft was started.
An-178 is a high-wing transport aircraft with a moderately swept wing, winglets, and a T-tail. The airframe is made of aluminium alloys and composite materials. The fuselage is semi-monocoque with a circular cross-section. The retractable landing gear consists of two main wheel bogies and a dual nose wheel. The flight control system is a dual duplex fly-by-wire system, consisting of two parts: FCS-A and FCS-B, each of which is responsible for two control channels. The flight control surfaces include ailerons near the wingtips, four control spoilers, six lift-dump/speed-brake spoilers, rudder, and elevators, with an emergency mechanical cable backup system. The powerplant consists of two Progress D-436-148FM turbofan engines, mounted on pylons under the wings and an auxiliary power unit. It can shift 18 tonnes over 1,000 km, or 10 tonnes over 4,000 km.
Antonov Company will build three An-178 aircraft, ordered by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, without Russian components. The roundtable meeting “Import substitution: the potential for domestic production and strengthening the independence of the state. To build An-178 aircraft without Russian components, Antonov Company will have to replace 54% of all parts used for the aircraft. European, U.S., and Canadian foreign suppliers are also involved in the aircraft equipment. A great deal of work was carried out during the implementation of the An-178 program to ensure a new qualitative level of all aircraft systems, including the hydraulic system, aircraft control systems, power supply, air-conditioning, and more.
The aircraft was derived from the 99-seat An-158 regional airliner and was fitted with the commonized F1 fuselage nose section with the identical flight deck, wing panels, empennage, and most of the onboard systems. The fuselage however was newly created with an enlarged diameter that had grown from 3.35 m to 3.9 m, which has resulted in an enlarged cargo hold – the cargo cabin cross-section increased to 2.75 m by 2.75 m. Aside from the wing structure, outer panels, front fuselage nose, cockpit, and nose landing gear come from the An-158. The planned engine may be the new-generation in-development Ivchenko-Progress AI-28 turbofan. The decision was made to fit the An-178 prototype with less powerful D-436-148FM engines in the interim. The D-436-148FM is a derivative of the production-standard D-436-148 with an upgraded fan.
