Breaking news
Ukraine Air Force to get three military transport aircraft AN-70 in the very near future 0610111.
| 2011
| a | |||
World
Air Force News - Ukraine |
|||
Ukraine Air Force to get three military transport aircraft AN-70 in the
very near future. |
|||
The
Ukrainian Air Force will take delivery of three An-70 military transport
aircraft, Defense Minister Mikhaylo Yezhel said on Wednesday. The first
plane will be delivered "in the very near future," he said. |
|||
 AN-70 Antonov military transport cargo aircraft at MAKS 2009 (Photo Copyright Vitaly Kuzmin) |
|||
Asked whether Ukraine would be able to make An-70s without Russia, the
minister said: "It's already making them." He stressed, however, that he did not mean series production and this was a question not for the Defense Ministry, but for the Antonov design bureau. The An-70 is a medium-range turboprop military transport plane developed by Ukraine's Antonov design bureau. The Antonov company first tested a prototype of the An-70 in 1994, but a lack of funding, and political disputes between Moscow and Kiev have prevented series production. Antonov decided to proceed with self-funding. The first plane was lost during its fourth flight in February 1995 in a mid-air collision that killed the seven crewmembers. In 2002, Russia and Ukraine agreed on a 50-50 risk-sharing production deal, but in April 2006 Russia announced its complete withdrawal from the project. |
|||