Posted on 11/18/2010 9:02:32 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry will not fund the joint Russia-Ukraine Antonov An-70 transport aircraft project, the Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily said on Thursday.
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 Ukrainian state funds, and political disputes between Moscow and Kiev have prevented large-scale production of the aircraft.
Several international military-technical projects with Russia were suspended in the new Ukrainian draft military budget.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily said the cut in funding affects, aside from the Antonov An-70 program, the construction of a corvette for the Ukrainian Navy, as well as Mil Mi-24 helicopter modernization programs.
"If the An-70 project goes ahead in the nearest future, it will be carried out thanks to Russia's good will and support," Konstantin Makiyenko, an expert from the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST), told Nezavisimaya Gazeta.
(Excerpt) Read more at en.rian.ru ...
Too bad. By all accounts I’ve read, that is an excellent aircraft design.
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