Everything about Antonov An-30 totally explained
The
Antonov An-30 (
NATO: Clank), is a development of the
An-24 and
Antonov An-26 equipped for aerial
cartography, a special
VIP passenger version has been made in very limited numbers.
Design and development
The Antonov
An-30 is a development of the
An-24T fitted with a new forward fuselage with a glazed nose and a raised flight deck (41cm higher fuselage) with a hump similar to the
Boeing 747. As a specialist aerial surveying craft, the An-30 was equipped with four survey cameras, with additional hatches provided to permit the use of laser, thermographic, gravimetric, magnetic and other
geophysical surveying tools. To enable accurate and repeatable survey flights, standard equipment for the An-30 included computer flight path control technology. It first flew in
1974, with 123 built.
Depending on the camera assembly and flight altitude aerial photography can be in the scales of 1:3.000 to 1:200.000 time. The camera platforms can be kreiselstabilisiert. The trip is semiautomatic. Movies can jump on board in a darkroom to be developed. For the comfort on longer missions ensure peace chairs and a toilet on board.
Operational history
As well as its principal use as a survey aircraft, it has also been used by Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Romania, Russia and Ukraine to carry out surveillance under the
Open Skies Treaty.
The An-30 has also been used as a
weather control aircraft as the
An-30M. Some have been fitted with frozen tanks of
carbon dioxide to be ejected into the sky to form artificial
rain clouds. These An-30s have also been put to use to avoid crop-damaging
hailstorms and also to maintain good weather for as example new airplane maiden flights, important parades like 1st of may and 850th anniversary of
Moscow in September 1997.
Between 1971 and 1980 total 115 aircraft were built and 23 were sold abroad to Afghanistan, Bulgaria, China, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Mongolia and Vietnam.
Machines of this type completely mapped Afghanistan in 1982, one machine was shot down during use. Cuban machines were operated in Angola in 1987.
Variants
An-30A » Version designed for civilian aviation, 66 built.
;An-30D "Sibiryak" » Version of the An-30A with better navigation equipment and larger fuel capacity, which appeared in 1990. The variant was used in the Arctic to ice monitoring, fisheries monitoring and as a transport aircraft. It has improved communication equipment, such as an on-board fax machine. The cameras allow additional data on the film to expose.
An-30M "Meteozashchita" » Version equipped for weather research. It can spray dry ice into the atmosphere for weather control duties. The dry ice was stored in 8 containers per 130 kg instead of the photographic equipment.
;An-30V » Version designed for Soviet Air Force with better equipment, 26 built.
Operators
Military operators
