RUSSIAN COMMITMENT to the Antonov An-70 military transport is collapsing, with work being abandoned on setting up the series production line at Aviacor in Samara.
Lev Khasis, Aviacor president, says that the company has stopped preparing for production because the Russian Government has withdrawn financial support.
The Russian Government has recently funded the acquisition of two upgraded Ilyushin Il-76MF transport aircraft. It appears increasingly likely that Moscow will use scarce finances to support Russian design bureaux, rather than the Ukrainian Antonov.
Antonov claims that the second An-70 propfan transport will be flown by the middle of 1996. The first prototype was lost in a crash early in the test programme.
Aviacor is refocusing its plans on series production of the Tupolev Tu-334 twin-turbofan.
Source: Flight International
