Russia Shows Off Plans For the Biggest Supersonic Cargo Plane In The World

Russia is known for the audacious and big projects. It was the first country to send a man in space, and it is also the country that built the largest plane in the world, the Antonov An-225  Mriya. The country has been in the news recently because of its military skirmishes with the European Union and neighboring nations like Ukraine. Russia is now working on taking its macho image to the next level with a new age supersonic warplane.

The design of the plane looks like something out of a sci-fi movie. (Artwork: Aleksey Komarov)

The Military-Industrial Commission in Moscow has unveiled the designs of a future transport plane known as PAK TA. This plane can fly to supersonic speeds of 2000 Km/hour while carrying a  strategic unit of 400 Armata tanks, with ammunition.  It total it will have a payload up to 200 tons and will have a range of 7000 Km which means it can reach practically any part of the planet with one full tank of fuel.

The PAK TA is expected to be developed by Ilyushin Aviation Complex. It will have multi-level architecture and will provide automated cargo loading facility to load the heavy military gears. It will also have the ability to drop cargo and personnels on any terrain. It is expected to reach anywhere in the world in seven hours thereby giving the Russian millitary the ability to be battle-ready at a moments notice.

A Fleet of PAK TA cargo planes will be able to carry about 400 Armata tanks to any location on the planet.

The officials associated with the program want to create a fleet of 80 new cargo planes by 2024 which is a massive and audacious endeavour. It is said that a fleet of just a dozen such aircraft’s will be able to carry 400 Armata tanks or 900 light armoured vehicles to support the Russian military during armed conflicts. The first aircraft’s to be built under the program will have a cruising speed of 900 Km/h and a range of 4500 Km which will let the developers study the practical applications for future cargo planes.

It is said that the plans for the PAK TA have been around for a while and the Russian government is putting focus on the military hardware development for future warfare. PAK TA in its initial design stages looks like something straight out of a science fiction flick like Avatar.  Lets just hope that instead of just limiting to war based applications, this technology helps in giving a boost to the aviation technology that benefits the humanity in the long term.