Ан-71: Советский самолёт дальнего радиолокационного обнаружения

The Antonov An 71 (NATO reporting name: Madcap) was a Soviet AWACS aircraft intended for use with VVS FA (Fighter Bomber) forces of the Soviet Air Force, developed from the An 72 transport. Only three prototypes were built before the program was cancelled.

Prior to the fall of the Soviet Union, the Air Force was divided into three aircraft based groups of units. They were the VVS DA (Voenno Vozdushnye Sily Dal'naya Aviatsiya) or Long Range Aviation (Bombers), the VVS FA (Voenno Vozdushnye Sily Frontovaya Aviatsiya) or Frontal Aviation (Fighters, Fighter Bombers and Attack aircraft), and the VVS VTA (Voenno Vozdushnye Sily Voenno Transportnaya Aviatsiya) or Military Transport Aviation. The PVO (Voyska protivovozdushnoy oborony or Voyska PVO) which was the primary fighter / interceptor and surface based defensive force was not part of the VVS; as a result, the A 50 Mainstay AWACS aircraft and its predecessor the Tu 126 Moss served exclusively with the Voyska PVO and did not assist in the direction of tactical aircraft. The An 71 was designed to be used overland to support the VVS FA in tactical operations. This doctrine of each force having its own AWACS planes is contrary to most Western air forces' use of land based AWACS aircraft; this doctrinal difference lead in part to the fallacy that the An 71 was designed to be used by the Soviet Navy on its aircraft carriers.

Its design was based on An 72, with a completely redesigned rear fuselage supporting the radar dome (rotodome) atop the broad chord forward swept fin. The cargo hold contained the electronic equipment and six operators stations. Development never progressed past the prototype stage, the first of which flew on 12 July 1985. The program was cancelled with the fall of the Soviet Union when issues with the radar Vega M Kvant could not be resolved. In 2010, one example was transferred to the Ukraine State Aviation Museum for restoration and display.

The An 71 Madcap is often erroneously cited as a carrier based AWACS aircraft, which it was not, as is already described above under AWACS doctrine. However, a highly modified design, the An 75, was proposed for use on the Soviet aircraft carriers under construction, but the AV MF (Soviet Naval Aviation) cancelled its development when it was realized that too much of a redesign would be needed to make the An 75 safe to operate off any of the proposed aircraft carriers. The AV MF decided to seek a second purpose built AWACS proposal using an improved Kvant M version of the existing An 71/An 75's Kvant Radar by the Vega M design bureau. The An 75 would have had engines mounted under the wing rather than above, similar to the later An 74TK 300, and would have had many other structural and aerodynamic changes. In the end, the An 75 would have shared only slight commonality with the An 71/An 72 aircraft families and was deemed too costly to continue, considering the clean sheet design of the Yak 44E.