Airlifters for distant wars: the prospect of a continuing series of West-led multi-national out-of-area actions in under-developed regions is boosting sales of both strategic and tactical airlifters. The following review broadly considers military transport developments in order of increasing aircraft size.

Summary

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Transport Aircraft

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Airlifters for distant wars: the prospect of a continuing series of West-led multi-national out-of-area actions in under-developed regions is boosting sales of both strategic and tactical airlifters. The following review broadly considers military transport developments in order of increasing aircraft size.

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In the fixed-wing category, this discussion is generally limited to transports with high-set wings and fuselage-mounted undercarriages, making possible the use of rough, unpaved runways. Due to the fact that the wing-box is set in the shoulder of the fuselage this configuration also allows for an unobstructed and lower floor surface, which facilitates loading of both palletized cargo and vehicles.

Lightweights

The principal established designs in the sub-ten-tonne range are the 7.5-tonne PZL-Mielec M-28B Skytruck (formerly the Antonov An-28TP), the 8.1-tonne Eads-Casa C-212-400 and the 9.5-tonne Antonov An-38. Following a decade-long hiatus, in 2006 the Czech Republic's Aircraft Industries relaunched low-rate production of the 6.6-tonne L-410 under the original Let brand name.

The leader in this size category is the C-212, of which over 490 have so far been delivered. The C-212-400, powered by two 820-kW Honeywell TPE331-12JR turboprops, has been chosen by the Brazilian Air Force to replace at least...

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