Russia may revive production of An-124 "Ruslan"

Russian Air Force An-124 - MrSoeberg

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"Not the property of Ukraine": Russia will revive An-124 "Ruslan"


Russia can revive the production of An-124 Ruslan without Ukraine

Ivan Zhukovsky 06/03/2018, 17:02

In Russia, the production of heavy AN-124 Ruslan transport aircraft may revive, representatives of the Russian aviation industry said. Two-thirds of all Ruslanovs were built in Ulyanovsk, the task is "solvable," although extremely difficult, said Alexei Rogozin, the vice president of UAC. The commander of military transport aviation, Vladimir Benediktov, said that the An-124 was ahead of its time and "is not a Ukrainian exclusive."

In Russia, it is possible to resume the production of heavy AN-124 Ruslan transport aircraft, which are among the world's most heavily loaded aircraft. The general director of PJSC "IL" and the vice president for transport aviation of PJSC "UAC" Alexey Rogozin said on June 3 that the production of demanded aircraft of the super-heavy Antonov 124 Ruslan class can be restarted - after all, two thirds of these planes, he said, were are built at the plant in Ulyanovsk.

The primary task, according to Rogozin - maintenance of the "Ruslanov" in good repair. Restarting the same production - the problem is "solvable, but extremely difficult."

His words are confirmed by the commander of the military transport aviation of the Russian Federation Vladimir Benediktov , reports NOS . He noted that the An-124 was an airplane ahead of its time, and the issue of launching a new line of these giants remains open.

At the same time, Benediktov is convinced that the An-124 can not be called a fully Ukrainian development, since the entire aircraft building industry of the Soviet Union worked on the creation of Ruslan. Therefore, to say that the An-124 is "intellectual property - at least, wrong," he summed up.

An-124 "Ruslan" was created in the USSR in the 1980s; The first flight he committed in 1982, and the operation was started in 1987. Now, most of the Ruslanov is run by the Russian Aerospace Forces (16 units) and the Russian cargo airline Volga-Dnepr (12), the State Defense Company of the RF Ministry of Defense "224th Airborne Squad" owns 8 aircraft, and in the ownership of Ukrainian "Antonov Airlines" there are 7 An-124 units.

Recall that in early May 2018, "Kommersant" referring to the State Aviation Service of Ukraine reported on the complaint filed by the Ukrainian department against Rosaviation to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

"The State Aviation Service of Ukraine sent a complaint to the ICAO against Rosaviatsia, which approves the operation of Antonov's development aircraft with violation of procedures," the article said. According to informed sources, Kiev complains that the Russian authorities issued permits for flights of An-24, An-26, An-74 and An-124-100 Ruslan without involving the Ukrainian concern.

In Ukraine's opinion, Russian aviation officials are creating a "dangerous precedent that threatens life, health, the environment and infrastructure" of the countries in which the "An" aircraft operate. In 2016, we recall, the concern Antonov decided that it would not give the Russian side the right to service the AN-124-100 Ruslan aircraft.

The Antonov company notes that they received a lot of inquiries about Russia's desire to abandon the services of the Ukrainian company to maintain the airworthiness of Ruslan aircraft and transfer these functions to the Russian side.

At the same time, in November 2017, the Ukrainian state-owned enterprise Antonov announced that it would carry out work to assess the technical condition of the An-124-100 Ruslan aircraft of the Volga-Dnepr airline as part of its obligations and Ukrainian legislation.

"On a contractual basis, the specialists of the State Enterprise" Antonov "will carry out work to assess the technical condition of the AN-124-100 Ruslan aircraft, Volga-Dnepr Airlines, which is not included in the list of companies to which sanctions are applied under the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, - said in a statement of the Ukrainian state company.

Attempts to revive the production of An-124 in Russia began long before the deterioration of relations between Moscow and Kiev. In 2006, in October 2006, the joint committee of the Presidents of Russia and Ukraine decided to resume the serial production of Ruslan. The aircraft was to produce the Aviastar-SP plant in Ulyanovsk.

At the end of the summer of 2007, an agreement was signed to resume serial production, according to which Volga-Dnepr Company planned to purchase up to 100 modernized An-124s before 2030, and deliveries were to begin in 2013.

In mid-August, 2014, Deputy Head of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade, Yuri Slyusar, said that the Russian-Ukrainian project to resume production and modernization of the An-124 Ruslan "is no longer on the agenda due to the political situation", like other joint Russian-Ukrainian projects in the aviation industry.

Source: gazeta.ru

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