Military use of ANtonov aircraft

I found a tidbit of info on the An-22’s operational career in a wartime capacity:

During the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, An-22s were used to deploy airborne troops. On October 28, 1984, one An-22 was shot down by an SA-7 shortly after taking off from Kabul, killing 250 passengers and crew. Two further An-22s crashed at Vnukovo Airport in Moscow in 1992 and at Migalovo Air Base in 1994.

In 1984 the An-22 was used to transport Mi-8 helicopters to help relief operations following the drought in Ethiopia and 1986 to deliver materials following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. An-22s became the go-to aircraft for relief missions and troops’ transportation to hot spots during the Soviet Union’s break-up in the late 1980s.

The An-72s with well-integrated guns above are from PSFSB, i.e. the border guard branch of the Russian federal security service. Most likely, it’s to provide them with some means to shoot down or warn (with tracer fire for instance) trespassing small aircraft on their own, such as airborne drug/gun runners or whatever, without having to call on the air force and all of that.

The pylons that can be fitted to the An-26 family can be used for other things than just high explosive ordnance, for that matter. They can fit smoke bombs, flare bombs, torpedoes (as in the Peruvian Navy example above) and so on and so forth. None of that is really “makeshift” in any way – the pylons are official, standard issue, and lends the type some additional flexibility/multi-purpose abilities. Though, I have to agree that using them to carry plain bombs does have an air of “makeshiftness” to it as they’re hardly optimal for that (even though crews apparently train for it regardless).

I’m sure you can find uses for those pylons when on paradrop missions too, considering the various containers they can carry.

thanks for the info

but why do the russians want to use an-26, an-32, an-74 to carry bombs , rockets and cannons surely they have much better platforms cheaply available to do the job

I can understand why smaller nations , or war torn nations use these antonovs in civil wars or makeshift solution when they do not want to risk their fighter-bombers
?

An-72 with semi-integrated UPK-23 gunpod:

This is more or less standard armament for these in Russian PSFSB service, even those in far less militaristic liveries:

The An-26 photos with the WW2 slogans above, that Gerard posted a few years back are from a Baltic fleet aviation exercise. The slogans were just an impromptu joke by the crew. Interestingly though, when these exercises took place they said they practiced An-26 bomb runs for the first time since the USSR days. That, together with the fact that the fuselage pylons are standardized for the model (BDZ-34) and rated up to FAB-500, strongly suggests that those particular Antonovs were designed from the get-go to be able to perform limited combat tasks.

https://warisboring.com/the-iraqi-air-force-just-got-new-bomber-planes-by-arming-transports/
http://iraqimilitary.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=242

nastle:

But with its F-16IQs, Su-25s, L-159s, and now South Korean-made T-50 Golden Eagle jet trainer and light attack aircraft, Iraq increasingly has far better options when it comes to carrying out air strikes and appears to have relegated its AC-208s to intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions. And even though the Vipers are the only aircraft that can employ precision-guided munitions,

Various sources say that the L-159 can use Maverick & LGBs.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]262125[/ATTACH]

http://red-stars.org/spip.php?article89

[ATTACH=CONFIG]262124[/ATTACH]

http://rus.asutrading.com/id-5/74-200/id.html

here is another

thanks guys for posting

thanks seems like An-24 and 26 can also be used to drop barrel bombs

Antonov had already developed a method to attach four racks to that older aircraft, two on each side of the fuselage, able to carry 500-pound class bombs, a configuration that reportedly dates back to before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In addition, a special system was installed inside the main cargo bay that allowed the crew to roll up to four more 500-pound class bombs right out of the back of the aircraft. A bombardier using an NKPB-7 optical bombsight in one of the plane’s two side-mounted observation windows would aim the weapons in a method not far removed from how bomber crews did so in World War II. It is not clear if the Iraqis are still using this sighting system.

http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/20330/iraqs-an-32-cargo-planes-turned-bombers-flew-nearly-twice-as-many-strikes-as-its-f-16s

In contrast, most other such bomber conversions of transport planes that remain in use today around the world, such as Iraq’s An-32s, are generally an especially crude method of conducting strikes. We don’t know where and how the Iraqis have employed these armed An-32s, but there were increased reports regarding their use in the lead up to liberating Mosul in 2016, along with an official video showing Mi-171 helicopters dropping unguided bombs from high altitudes.

IRAQI AIR FORCE
An Iraqi An-32 with what may be a new, single pylon bomb rack or a sensor system.

It is possible, and perhaps likely, that the An-32s were among the factors that contributed to significant reported civilian casualties during the Mosul campaign. The converted transports simply would not have been able to strike targets with high precision, increasing the chances of collateral damage in general, but especially during missions over a densely packed urban area where ISIS in many cases deliberately established positions next to innocent bystanders.

Iraq’s recent strike in Syria, which the country’s military very visibly touted as a precision affair involving laser-guided bombs as seen in the video below, could indicate that the country is moving away from its earlier imprecise tactics. Unfortunately, it’s hard to say how regularly the Iraqi Air Force conducts missions using precision-guided munitions.

But with its F-16IQs, Su-25s, L-159s, and now South Korean-made T-50 Golden Eagle jet trainer and light attack aircraft, Iraq increasingly has far better options when it comes to carrying out air strikes and appears to have relegated its AC-208s to intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions. And even though the Vipers are the only aircraft that can employ precision-guided munitions, the Frogfoots, ALCAs, and Golden Eagles can all almost certainly deliver unguided weapons more accurately that the converted transports.

The An-32s could still find some use against remote militant camps or compounds, where precision might not be as important as volume of fire and where there is less concern about causing civilian casualties. With ISIS, or some new “ISIS 2.0” iteration of the group, still a threat in Iraq and Syria, air power will almost certainly continue to be an important part of making sure the terrorists are unable to reassert themselves.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]261548[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]261549[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]261550[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]261551[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]261554[/ATTACH]

Blimey!! – I knew they were using old ordnance – but old slogans as well ???

This is a joke

[ATTACH=CONFIG]261535[/ATTACH]

does anybody have more pics of antonov makeshift bombers or articles about them please share

thanks !