The Antonov An-70 is a four-engine medium-range transport aircraft, and the first large aircraft to be powered by propfanengines. It was developed in the late 1980s by the Antonov design bureau to replace the obsolete An-12 military transport aircraft. However, the dissolution of the Soviet Union prevented the mass production of the type. The maiden flight of the first prototype took place on 16 December 1994 in Kiev, now independent Ukraine. Within a year the prototype plane had suffered a mid-air collision. A second airframe was produced and tests continued but numerous further attempts to start production have been unsuccessful. - Wikipedia
The Russians, and their former comrades, the Ukrainians, seem to have a thing for contra-rotating propellers. The Russians use them in the
Bear Bomber, and
some of their
helicopters.
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