Ukraine and Turkey to jointly work on An-188 airlifter project.

Ukraine and Turkey have agreed to jointly implement the production of the An-188 military-transport plane, Ukraine's state defense conglomerate Ukroboronprom said Thursday in a statement.

An-188 airlifter scale model unveiled at Eurasia 2018 airshow
(Credit: Antonov)

The cooperative agreement was reached during the Eurasia-2018 Airshow held in Turkey's southern province of Antalya on April 25-29, said the statement.

"The new aircraft will bring the Ukrainian-Turkish project to the list of world leaders. According to the results of negotiations with the Turkish delegation – headed by the Dr.Ismail Demir, Undersecretary for Defense Industries – it was decided to move to the practical implementation of the project in the near future," said Director General of the SC UkrOboronProm, Pavlo Bukin.

The An-188 aircraft, which is being developed by Ukrainian state-run aircraft producer Antonov, will be equipped with components produced by western countries and will meet the standards of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, it said.

The plane with a carrying capacity of up to 50 tons is set to transport military equipment of all types, construction equipment, helicopters, up to 300 soldiers, as well as humanitarian cargo, according to the statement.

The An-188 would be able to operate on unpaved airfields and land on short runways with a length of 600 meters.