Role

A patrol-and-attack variant of the An-72 short-take-off-and-landing military transport, developed for the maritime border units of the USSR KGB Border Troops. It preserves the distinctive layout of the base aircraft — the two D-36 turbofans are mounted ABOVE the upper wing surface, which exploits the Coandă effect (the jet exhaust clinging to the flap to boost lift) and shields the engines from foreign-object ingestion on unpaved runways. This allows operation from austere airfields as short as 600—800 m. The patrol variant differs from the transport by carrying the “Kapyushon-1” search radar in an enlarged nose radome, additional communication and observation suites, an integral 23 mm GSh-23L cannon installation with the barrel extending under the starboard side, and two under-wing pylons for bombs and rockets. Adopted in 1990; principal operators — the FSB Border Service of Russia and the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.

Specifications

• Crew 5 pers. (2 pilots, navigator, flight engineer, observer)
• Length 28,07 m
• Wingspan 31,89 m
• Height 8,65 m
• Wing area 98,6 m²
• Empty weight 19 050 kg
• Normal take-off weight 32 800 kg
• Max take-off weight 34 500 kg
• Engines 2 × D-36 ser. 1A
• Thrust 2 × 6 500 kgf
• Engine layout over-wing (Coandă effect)
• Max speed 720 km/h
• Cruise speed 550—600 km/h
• Loiter speed 350—500 km/h
• Service ceiling 10 100 m
• Range with external tanks 4 800 km
• Combat radius 1 500 km
• Loiter time до 5 h
• Take-off / landing run 650 / 380 m (from ground 800 / 500)
• Radar “Kapyushon-1” naval search
• Cannon 23 mm GSh-23L (starboard side, 250 rds)
• Hardpoints 2 under-wing
• Bombs FAB-100, OFAB-100
• Unguided rockets UB-32A (S-5), B-8M1 (S-8)

Модификации

Operators