Source: Press Information Bureau
The Indian Air Force has lost its fifth Antonov AN-32 military transport aircraft. The twin-engine plane went missing on June 3 after taking off from Jorhat in Assam with 13 air force personnel on board. It was flying to an Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) in Arunachal Pradesh near China border
Key Highlights
- An-32 is a twin engine, tactical light transport aircraft designed and manufactured by Antonov Design Bureau of Ukraine for the Indian Air Force (IAF).
- The An-32 is derived from the An-26 transport aircraft.
- A total of 240 An-32s are currently operational worldwide.
- An-32 has ten variants of An-32A, An-32B, An-32B-100, An-32B-110, An-32B-120, An-32B-300, An-32LL, An-32MP, An-32P Firekiller, and An-32B-200
- Designed to suit both military and civil operations, the An-32 can take-off and land on rough airfields and dirt runways.
- The aircraft is designed to manoeuvre day and night in tropical and mountainous regions, even in hot climatic conditions (up to 55°C).
- An-32 features advanced cargo handling devices and a cargo door fitted with a ramp to ease the loading or unloading of freight.
- It is also incorporated with an upper cargo handling device to load and unload 3,000kg of payload.
- An-32 can fly at a maximum speed of 530km/h and its cruise speed is 470km/h.
- The range and service ceiling of the aircraft are 2,500km and 9,500m, respectively
