| | Antonov An-990 (Virtual) | Antonov An-225 Mriya (Real) | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Wingspan | 870 feet (265.2 meters) | 290 feet (88.4 meters) | | Length | (No verifiable source) | 275.6 feet (84 meters) | | Max Payload | 6,000 tonnes (13.2 million lbs) | 250 tonnes (551,000 lbs) | | Engines | Up to 26 × GE90-115B | 6 × Progress D-18T | | Primary Role | Ultra-Heavy Cargo / Aerial Firefighting | Strategic Airlift |
Today, the Antonov An-990 exists in a strange limbo. It is not recognized in official aviation registries, yet it persists in the memories of a handful of engineers and in the shadows of Cold War speculation.
: When parked next to a standard wide-body airliner like the Boeing 747-400, the 747 looks like a small toy, while a human avatar is reduced to the relative scale of a mouse cursor. Real-World Counterparts vs. Simulator Fiction antonov an 990
In flight simulation communities, the An-990 is often given backstories that bridge real Soviet-era heavy-transport engineering with speculative next-generation technologies.
Its scale is its defining characteristic. As the "largest aircraft" in X-Plane, it dwarfs not only other virtual aircraft but also every real plane ever built. Here's a look at its staggering dimensions: | | Antonov An-990 (Virtual) | Antonov An-225
While it might only exist in the digital skies for now, its sheer scale reminds us why we love aviation engineering (and flight sims!).
. Inspired by the real-world legacy of the Antonov Design Bureau —creators of iconic heavy-lifters like the Antonov An-225 Mriya —the digital An-990 pushes the absolute laws of physics to their breaking point. It envisions a colossal water-bomber and strategic transport built from futuristic materials, engineered to fight catastrophic wildfires on a global scale. Real-World Counterparts vs
The An-990 concept emerged as a proposal for a next-generation "super-heavy" airlifter that would move away from the specialized role of the Mriya and toward a more versatile, mass-producible (relatively speaking) strategic transport. It was envisioned as the ultimate solution for global logistics, capable of carrying payloads that no other aircraft—including the C-5 Galaxy or the An-124—could manage. Projected Specifications and Design
The flight simulator community created the An-990 with two major objectives in mind: 1. The Ultimate Global Firefighting Tanker