An Antonov An-178 in flight in 2015.
The Antonov An-178 (Ukrainian: Антонов Ан-178) is a short-range medium-airlift military transport aircraft designed by the Ukrainian Antonov company and based on the Antonov An-158 (An-148-200). It was announced on February 5th, 2010, rolled out on April 16th, 2015 and the first flight was on May 7th, 2015.
The An-178 is proposed to replace outdated aircraft like the Antonov An-12, Antonov An-26 and Antonov An-32. The aircraft will have avionics suite similar to the An-148, and will use Progress D-436-148FM engines.
The An-178 is a potential competitor for the Alenia C-27J Spartan from Italy, C-130J from the UAPR, EADS CASA C-295 from Spain, DHC-9 Bison from Canada, Embraer KC-390 from Brazil and the Ilyushin Il-214 from the Soviet Union. The company plans to build more than 200 of the aircraft.
On December 18th, 2016, Antonov and Тaqnia Aeronautics signed a Memorandum to deliver thirty An−178s to the Arabian Air Force. Taqnia's President, Ali Mohammed Al−Ghamdi, noted that the An-178 had been selected because "its price and low operational costs are important advantages in comparison with other airplanes of this class".
