RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT finance for the Ukrainian-developed Antonov An-70 propfan-powered military transport seems likely to materialise following a meeting between Russian prime minister Victor Chernomyrdin, and Konstantin Titov, the governor of Russian province Samara, where a production line is to be based.
Russia and Ukraine signed a deal in 1993 covering two An-70 lines at the Aviakor plant in Samara and near Kiev in Ukraine. The programme suffered a serious blow with the crash of the only prototype earlier this year. A second aircraft is being prepared.
Chernomyrdin, with deputy defence minister Andrei Kokoshin, met senior executives of several major Volga region aerospace companies at the Aviakor plant on 23 June and pledged support to Russian aerospace and defence.
The An-70 and its engines are developed by the Antonov design bureau of Kiev, and the Progress engine design bureau of Zaporozhye, Ukraine, respectivelyThe Tashkent plant in Uzbekistan is scheduled to supply some parts.
The Aviakor plant is the only one in the Russian industry to have been declared bankrupt (in September 1994). Under new management, the enterprise has paid back more than half its debts and is steadily recovering, intending to deliver 25 Tupolev Tu-154M airliners under existing contracts. The roll-out of the first series-production An-70 is planned for the first half of 1997, if financial backing is obtained.
Source: Flight International
