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Beriev Be-16

Similar to the An-22 in the 1960s, OKB-49 GM. Beriev drafted a transport aircraft Be-16 with four TVD NK-12M take-off power of 15 000 hp. The plane could lift up to 60 tons of cargo, the take-off weight was 173 tons. Cruising speed - 650 km / hour. The flight range is 5500 km. This project was not implemented.

The projects of the heavy military transport aircraft Be-16 (1960) and the intercontinental cruise missile P-100 "Burevestnik" (1961) stand apart among the Beriev vehicles.

The Be-16 project became the OKB's response to the VVS's requirement to develop a machine capable of transporting special cargo (intercontinental ballistic missiles, their launch equipment, etc.) and combat equipment of the ground forces, including a 36 ton T-54 tank.

According to the designers' intention, the heavy VTS-16 [VTS = Voenno Transportnii Somolyet = Military Transport Airplane] was supposed to transport ballistic missiles and their launch equipment, as well as all the standard combat equipment of the motorized rifle or tank division, or 400 soldiers (in the cargo cabin in this case the second deck was installed) or 180 paratroopers. The landing was provided in six streams, two of which left the plane through the rear cargo hatch, and four - through the fuselage doors.

The project of a heavy military transport aircraft Be-16 was developed in 1960. According to the plan, it was supposed to be capable of transporting both special cargo (intercontinental ballistic missiles, their launch equipment, etc.) and ground-based combat equipment including the T-54 tank (36 tons). The plane could carry 400 soldiers (in the cargo cabin the second deck was installed) or 180 paratroopers. The landing was provided in six streams: two - through the rear cargo hatch, four - through the fuselage doors.

The plane was a four-engine high-wing aircraft, of normal aerodynamic scheme. The dimensions of the cargo cabin were 31 x 4.4 x 4.4 meters. The wing-type "reverse gull" had a break in the internal engine. Chassis was multi-wheeled, which allowed the machine to operate from the ground. Two of the four main landing gear racks were retracted into the nacelles of the internal engines, the other two into the fuselage.

Based on the results of the review of the projects, the USSR Defense Ministry selected the OKB headed by OK Antonov, for the continuation of the work, to which the Resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR of October 13, 1960 issued the assignment for the development of the "100 product" - the future An-22. The Be-16 project was archived. However, work on heavy military-technical cooperation in the Design Bureau continued, and in 1962 a draft sketch of a military transport aircraft Be-18 with four TRD NK-8, located on pylons under the wing, was proposed by the military. But as in the case of the Be-16, this aircraft was never realized in metal.