Joint tests of the Russian-Ukrainian An-70 military transport aircraft will be conducted in 2012, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov has said.
"Work on organizing the mass production of the An-70 military transport aircraft is continuing. Joint tests of the aircraft are scheduled for 2012," Serdyukov told reporters in Moscow on March 7.
In August 2009, Ukraine and Russia signed a protocol to amend the Russian-Ukrainian intergovernmental agreement on further cooperation in the development, joint commercial production and commissioning of the An-70 tactical military-transport aircraft and the An-70T airlifter, which was signed on June 24, 1993.
The protocol says that Russia and Ukraine will continue to develop and test the An-70 military transport plane and its various models, including those for civil aviation, which are also powered with D-27 engines. The parties pledged to provide budget funding for joint experimental and design work to develop the An-70 planes, D-27 engines, avionics systems and materials.
Russia’s state defense program foresees the procurement of 60 An-70 aircraft by 2020. The parties are currently deciding on the key parameters of cooperation.
The An-70 aircraft beats all existing competitors as of today in terms of its technical specifications. For example, the European A400M cannot compete with it in terms of the weight-lift ability and cargo hold size: the maximum weight-lift ability of the An-70 is 47 tonnes, while the declared announced weight-lift ability of the A400M is 37 tonnes; the cargo hold size of an An-70 is 425 cubic meters, while that of the A400M-is 340 cubic meters. In addition, the price and operating costs of the An-70 are half those of its European competitor. According to European experts, the cost of the A400M is EUR 145 million at present.
