AI-24

Ivchenko-Progress AI-24

The AI-24 is a Ukrainian-designed Soviet turboprop engine rated at 2,820 shaft horsepower (SHP), developed by the Ivchenko Design Bureau (now Ivchenko-Progress) in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. Entering service in 1962, the AI-24 became the standard powerplant for the Antonov An-24 short-haul regional turboprop, and subsequently for the military derivatives An-26, An-30, and An-32. Thousands of AI-24 engines were manufactured at Motor Sich in Zaporizhzhia, and significant numbers remain in service across Russia, Ukraine, and former Soviet republics, although the engine is no longer in new production.

Technical Specifications

Design and Variants

The AI-24 is a single-shaft, axial-flow turboprop designed for reliability in diverse Soviet operating environments — from Arctic Siberia to the high-altitude airports of Central Asia. The gas generator and power turbine share a common shaft, driving the propeller reduction gearbox. This single-shaft architecture is straightforward to maintain and tolerant of the rough handling inevitable in Soviet regional aviation operations of the 1960s through 1980s.

The AI-24VT variant introduced water injection capability, enabling the engine to maintain takeoff power in hot-and-high conditions — critical for An-32 operations in the Hindu Kush and Himalayas, where Indian Air Force aircraft regularly operate from airfields above 10,000 feet in temperatures exceeding 35°C. Without water injection, turboprop engines suffer significant power loss in such conditions; the AI-24VT's water injection system partially compensates by cooling the combustion gases and restoring lost mass flow.

Operational Legacy

The An-24 and its AI-24 engines built an enormous operational legacy across the Soviet Union and its allies. At peak, over 1,000 An-24s were in service with Aeroflot alone. The engines were produced in quantities that made them ubiquitous throughout the Soviet bloc's regional aviation network. Today, surviving AI-24-powered aircraft continue to operate in parts of Africa, Southeast Asia, and the former Soviet Union, maintained by an aging but still active support infrastructure at Motor Sich — despite the profound disruption to Ukrainian defense industry caused by the war with Russia beginning in 2022.