Antonov An 990 Updated

Six custom GE-990-480 turbofan engines, each producing 480,000 lbf of thrust.

: A staggering 6,000 tonnes (13.2 million lbs) . This makes it roughly 120 times heavier than a standard Boeing 737-100 and nearly 10 times heavier than the real-world Antonov An-225.

: Graphene . Creators designated this fictional frame as a graphene-composite build to explain how an airframe of this scale wouldn't immediately collapse under its own structural weight in real life. antonov an 990

Due to its massive interior cargo deck, players use the An-990 to transport other large aircraft. Pilots can load a space shuttle or a heavy airliner inside, fly to cruising altitude, and deploy them directly from the air. Why Can't It Be Built in Real Life?

While it shares its namesake with legendary real-world titans like the Antonov An-225 Mriya and the Antonov An-124 Ruslan , the An-990 is purely a product of flight simulation imagination. Origin of the Antonov An-990 Concept

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. | Specification | Fictional | Real-World Antonov An-225

Throughout history, humanity has been captivated by the idea of building impossibly large things. From the pyramids to super-carriers, there is a primal thrill in constructing something that defies scale. The An-990 taps directly into this vein of wonder. It represents the absolute outer limit of what an aircraft could look like if every physical constraint were removed. It is the ultimate expression of the Antonov design philosophy, which some wryly observe as: "They make the airframe then add engines until the thing flies".

Antonov's numbering system typically follows a sequence (An-2, An-24, An-124, An-225, etc.), and no "An-990" has ever been designed, built, or proposed. The largest aircraft Antonov ever produced is the (which had six engines and was designed to carry the Buran space shuttle).

The dream of heavy lift is not dead. In late 2022, Antonov confirmed plans to rebuild the An-225, with estimated costs topping $500 million. While its return is a long-term goal, Antonov currently focuses on its fleet of An-124 Ruslan Pilots can load a space shuttle or a

Pays homage to real Antonov history by carrying a Soviet Buran Space Shuttle and launching it like a massive missile.

The concept of the Antonov An-990 stems from community flight simulator developers who enjoy building "megastructures" that challenge physics engines. In the real world, the Antonov Design Bureau built a reputation for creating the world’s largest operational cargo aircraft. Simulator creators leveraged this design language to craft an imaginary logical evolution—the An-990.

Although fictional, the An-990 draws inspiration from the design philosophy of Oleg Antonov , whose real-world aircraft—like the An-124 Ruslan

While it will never grace real skies, the Antonov An-990 remains a marvelous testament to the creativity of the flight simulation community, pushing digital aviation software to its absolute limits.

Modders position the An-990 as a theoretical successor to the An-225 Mriya. Where the Mriya was designed to carry the Buran space shuttle, the An-990's fictional purpose is to transport an entire fleet of smaller aircraft (like a Boeing 747 on its back) or act as a massive global air tanker for apocalyptic-scale wildfires.