The Antonov An-124 Ruslan (Ukrainian: Антонов Ан-124 "Руслан") (NATO reporting name : Condor ) is a strategic airlift jet aircraft. It was designed in the 1980s by the Antonov design bureau in the Ukrainian SSR, then part of the Soviet Union (USSR). Until the Boeing 747-8F, the An-124 was, for thirty years, the world 's heaviest gross weight production cargo airplane and second heaviest operating cargoaircraft, behind the one-off Antonov An-225 (a greatly enlarged design based on the An-124). The An-124 remains the largest military transport aircraft in the world. The lead designer of the An-124 (and the An-225) was Viktor Tolmachev.
During development it was known as Izdeliye 400 (Product #400) in house, and An-40 in the West. First flown in 1982, civil certification was issued on 30 December 1992. In July 2013, 26 An-124s were in commercial service with 10 on order. In August 2014, it was reported that plans to resume production of the Antonov An-124 had been shelved due to the ongoing political tensions between Russia and Ukraine. The various operators of the An-124 are in discussions with respect to the continuing airworthiness certification of the individual An-124 planes.
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