Ukraine wants to build another Antonov Mriya, the world’s largest aircraft

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced in an online meeting with students last week that he plans to rebuild the Antonov An-225 Mriya, which is considered the world’s largest cargo plane. Buran was built to carry the space shuttle, The giant plane was destroyed by Russia three days after the invasion began..

In addition to being the world’s largest cargo aircraft and largest fixed-wing aircraft, the Mriya was the only aircraft of its kind ever built. It was 84 meters long, had a wingspan of 88.4 meters and a height of 18 meters. Empty weighed 285 tons, capable of reaching 640 tons at take-off when the aircraft is fully loaded.. To fly such a heavy payload, the aircraft was equipped with six turbofan engines, each with 51,600 pounds of thrust at takeoff.

Why did you build a new Mriya?

Wow – Zelensky said he wanted to complete the second Antonov An-225 Mriya to commemorate all the Ukrainian pilots killed in the war with Russia.
The price tag is $800 million.
Time to re-read my last interview with the destroyed Mriya pilot: https://t.co/xW8cF6DwNp

— Ilya Ponomarenko ???? (@IAPonomarenko) 20 May 2022

After Mriya was destroyed by crossfire during a battle at Hostomel, where the maintenance base is located, assessments by Antonov showed that the aircraft could no longer be repaired. Zelensky considered rebuilding the aircraft. from the body of a second model After the collapse of the Soviet Union, its production had to be stopped due to lack of funds, which had already begun.

Rebuilding Mriya after the war is no longer a question of money, says Zelensky. Values ​​$800 million worth of business. The president wants the plane to become a memorial to the victims of the city of Mariupol after the end of the war. Antonov has already launched a crowdsourced campaign to resurrect the plane.