Antonov An - 12 The Antonov An - 12 ( NATO reporting name : Cub ) is a four - engined turboprop transport aircraft designed in the Soviet Union . It is the military version of the Antonov An - 10 and was made in many variants . Design and development . The first prototype flew in December 1957 . Over 900 had been built , in both military and civilian versions , before production finally ended in 1973 . The An - 12BP entered Soviet military service in 1959 . In terms of configuration , size and capability , the aircraft is similar to the United States - built Lockheed C - 130 Hercules . Military Soviet and former - Soviet examples have a defensive tail gun turret . Chinese production . In the 1960s China purchased several An - 12 aircraft from the Soviet Union , along with a license to assemble the aircraft locally . However , due to the Sino - Soviet split , the Soviet Union withdrew their technical assistance . It was not until 1974 that the first Chinese - assembled An - 12 had its maiden flight . The Xi ' an Aircraft Company and Xi ' an Aircraft Design Institute worked to reverse - engineer the An - 12 for local production . In 1981 , the Chinese copy version of the An - 12 , designated Y - 8 , entered production . Since then the Y - 8 has become one of China ' s most popular military and civilian transport / cargo aircraft , with many variants produced and exported . A Tu - 16 / H - 6 bomber navigator cockpit design was chosen for Y - 8 instead of the original An - 12 shorter navigator cockpit design , as the H - 6 bomber had been in serial production for some time . Although the An - 12 is no longer made in Russia or Ukraine , the Y - 8 continues to be upgraded and produced in China . The latest Y8 - F600 is a joint venture between Shaanxi Aircraft Company , Antonov Aeronautical Scientific - Technical Complex ( ASTC ) , and Pratt & Whitney Canada . The Y8 - F600 has a redesigned fuselage , western avionics , PW150B turboprop engines with an R - 408 propeller system , and a two - crew glass cockpit . It is unknown whether the Shaanxi Y - 8 remains in production , yet many determine it will remain in production for the foreseeable future . Operators . Currently the An - 12 is very popular with cargo operators , especially those in the CIS , Africa and the Indian subcontinent . Civil operators . In August 2006 some Antonov An - 12 aircraft remain in airline service . Major operators include : Air Guinee ( 4 ) , Alada ( 5 ) , British Gulf International Airlines ( 7 ) , Avial Aviation ( 4 ) , Heli Air Service ( 4 ) , Tiramavia ( 4 ) , Aerovis Airlines ( 5 ) , Veteran Airlines ( 4 ) , KNAAPO ( 5 ) and Vega Airlines ( 6 ) ATRAN Cargo Airlines ( 4 ) . Some 77 other airlines operate smaller numbers of the type . On 12 January 2009 , the United Arab Emirates ( UAE ) issued a temporary ban of the An - 12 from flying over their airspace following runway incursion s at Sharjah International Airport and the GCAA has advised operators to stop using the aircraft . This ban was converted into a permanent one in Feb 2010 . Accidents and incidents . As of August 2011 , more than 190 Antonov An - 12s and Shaanxi Y - 8s have crashed since the first prototype of the An - 12 was severely damaged during a landing in mid - 1958 . Bans from airspace . In 2010 , the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority ( GCAA ) announced an indefinite ban on the Antonov An - 12 aircraft from the UAE ' s airspace , to be enforced from 1 March 2010 . This followed a temporary ban on the aircraft in 2009 following an Antonov An - 12 skidding off the Sharjah International Airport runway . Commercial operation of the An - 12 was prohibited in Russia following the Avis Amur accident on 9 August 2011 . The ban was stated to be pending the completion of a risk assessment programme .