Antonov An 990 Direct

Antonov An-990 "Graphene" is a fictional, ultra-heavy transport aircraft created for the X-Plane 11 and 12

Navigating the plane requires several unique considerations:

Wingspan: A staggering 870 feet (265 meters)—that’s 3x the wingspan of the real-life An-225! Max Weight: 6,000 Tonnes (13.2 Million lbs). Scale: Roughly 120 times the weight of a Boeing 737-100.

In simulators, the An-990 is so large that it is incompatible with most standard airports. Runway Requirements:

Development context

• Antonov’s historical strengths lie in large transport aircraft (An-124, An-225, An-22). The An-990 concept represented an attempt to enter the commercial wide-body passenger market beyond niche or cargo roles.
• The project faced major challenges: high development costs, need for Western-certified engines and systems, international market competition from Boeing and Airbus, and political/economic constraints following the breakup of the Soviet Union and later geopolitical events.
• As a result, the An-990 remained a concept and did not advance to full development, prototype, or production.

Part 1: The Great Misconception – Does the An-990 Exist?

Let us answer the burning question immediately: No operational, mass-produced, or even fully designed prototype of the Antonov An-990 exists.

| Claimed Spec (An-990) | Reality Check | | :--- | :--- | | "Can carry 4 battle tanks" | An-225 carried 3. 4 would require 800-tonne MTOW. | | "Range of 25,000 km" | Only possible with zero payload. Fuel weight alone exceeds limit. | | "Built in 2003" | Antonov records show no production in 2003 beyond An-74s. | | "Engines: 10x Kuznetsov NK-93" | NK-93 was a propfan (never serial produced). Fitting 10 is impossible. |