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Antonov designed the An-22 Antheus (named for the giant son of Greek god Poseidon) to carry the Soviet Army's mightiest fighting vehicles, including main battle tanks and missile launchers. On 16 June 1965, the Soviet Union impressed Western observers by flying in the prototype of a new cargolifter aircraft, the Antonov "An-22," to the Paris Air Show. The new transport was indisputably the biggest aircraft in the world. The An-22 had performed its first flight only months before, on 27 February 1965.

By 1967, the initial prototype that made its debut in Paris had been followed by four more prototypes and the first production item. The Soviets were proud of their impressive big machine, demonstrating it in public air displays in the USSR and announcing that it had set a number of payload-to-height records.
Observers recognized that the new machine was clearly a scaled up An-12 "Cub", with both machines being four-engine turboprops with a high mounted, straight, narrow-chord wing. They both also featured main landing gear mounted in fairings along the fuselage, with a pressurized crew compartment and unpressurized cargo compartment.

There were also clear differences between the two. Unlike the the An-12, the An-22 used four-bladed contrarotating propellers, driven by Kuznetsov NK-12MA turboprop engines with 11.2 kW (15,000 SHP) each. The An-22 also featured twin tailfins, instead of the An-12's large single tailfin. The twin tailfins gave the An-22 better handling with an engine out, and a single tailfin would have been much too tall anyway.

The narrow-chord wing of the An-22 meant that the total wing area was low and so the wing loading was unusually high for a cargolifter, but the wing had double slotted flaps over 60% of its length, and the An-22 could take off in 1,400 meters (4,265 feet) in fully-loaded condition.
The An-22 was designed for rough-field operation, with two-wheel nosegear and three levered-suspension dual main landing gear assemblies in each fairing, for a total of six main gear assemblies and twelve main gear wheels. The aircrew could adjust tire pressure from the cockpit to compensate for field conditions.

There were five or six crew, plus a pressurized compartment behind the cockpit with seating for 28 or 29 passengers. Personnel access was through a door in each landing gear fairing. The main cargo bay was 33 meters (108 feet) long, and was accessed through a rear loading ramp. The ramp could be opened in flight for airdrop of cargoes. Cargo capacity was 80 tonnes (88 tons). There were four traveling gantries mounted on rails in the roof of the cargo bay, to be used in conjunction with two winches, each with a load capacity of 2,500 kilograms (5,500 pounds).

An array of three radars were fitted with radomes under the nose for navigation and weather warning, and like most Soviet transports, there was glazing under the nose for the navigator.

Apparently about 100 An-22s were built to end of production in 1974, with the totals split evenly between Aeroflot and the VTA, the Soviet military airlift service, though some sources claim that even the Aeroflot machines were generally used for military duties. Some of the five prototypes were upgraded to production specification and put into formal service.

The An-22s were used mostly to carry cargoes to the undeveloped Soviet Far East. The Antonov bureau considered building a double-decker airliner version of the An-22, with a capacity of 724 passengers, but this machine never got beyond design studies.

The An-22 was supplemented by the Antonov An-124, discussed below, beginning in 1987. It is unclear how many An-22s still remain in service, maybe about a dozen or two dozen in all.

General characteristics

* Crew: 5-6
* Capacity: 29 passengers
* Payload: 80,000 kg (180,000 lb)
* Length: 57.9 m (190 ft 0 in)
* Wingspan: 64.4 m (211 ft 3 in)
* Height: 12.53 m (41 ft 1 in)
* Wing area: 345 m² (3,713 ft²)
* Empty weight: 114,000 kg (251,330 lb)
* Max takeoff weight: 250,000 kg (551,000 lb)
* Powerplant: 4× Kuznetsov NK-12MA turboprops driving contra-rotating propellers, 11,030 kW (15,000 shp) each

Performance

* Maximum speed: 740 km/h (400 knots, 460 mph)
* Range: 5,000 km (2,700 nm, 3,100 mi)
* Service ceiling: 8,000 m (26,240 ft)