Ukraine approves An-70 production, commits to fielding airlifter
Gareth Jennings, London - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly
26 January 2015



The An-70 seen during its Paris Airshow debut in 2013. Ukraine has now approved production of the airlfiter, and has committed to introducing the type into service. Source: IHS/Patrick Allen





Ukraine has approved production of the Antonov An-70 transport aircraft and will introduce it into service with its armed forces, the company announced on 22 January. The decision to adopt the An-70 was taken by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) following a test programme that was concluded in June 2014. Serial production will now begin, although the company did not specify numbers or timelines.

The An-70 is a four-engined propfan that has been jointly developed by Ukraine and Russia. With a cargo hold measuring 22.4 m in length, 4.80 m in width, and 4.40 m in height, the airlifter has a hold volume of 425 m cubed. This, combined with a range of 6,598 km (with a 20,000 kg payload) and a maximum payload of 47,000 kg, place the An-70 in the same category of airlifter as the A400M Atlas from Airbus Defence and Space.

With a forecasted global heavy-lift market valued at about USD30 billion over the next decade, the An-70 is likely to find itself competing not just with the A400M, but against the Embraer KC-390 and the Lockheed Martin C-130J-30 Hercules also.

ANALYSIS
The An-70 has been a troubled project from the outset, with development dating back to the Soviet-era. With the programme being led by Ukraine but largely financed by Russia, Moscow's involvement has been intermittent throughout - withdrawing its support on a number of occasions. In recent years, the effort had looked to be getting back on track, with Russia once again investing and technical work progressing.

However, just at the time that the financing and technical aspects of the project appeared to be all in order, relations between the two partners of Ukraine and Russia broke down in spectacular style over the ousting of President Viktor Yanukovych, and the subsequent invasion and annexation of Crimea. While the An-70 programme has appeared to remain oddly immune to these deteriorating relations, the continued crisis in eastern Ukraine is bound to have an adverse effect on Ukraine's and Russia's ability to work together to the good of the programme.

As if this wasn't enough of a problem, the delays in development have meant that Antonov's primarily competitors in the medium- to heavy-lift transport market have already stolen a march on the An-70 in securing sales for their respective platforms. Antonov is already playing catch-up to the likes of Airbus, Lockheed Martin, and Embraer, and it cannot afford anymore set-backs if its An-70 is to avoid becoming just an expensive white elephant.

http://www.janes.com/article/48315/ukraine-approves-an-70-production-commits-to-fielding-airlifter



Btw....
In October 1997, the German defence minister Volker Rühe announced the intention to study whether the An-70 could be the basis for the Future Large Aircraft (FLA)/Airbus A400M. Evaluation was in competition with the newly designed, paper-only A400M proposed by Airbus Military Company. The An-70 participation in the 1998–2000 tender process for the FLA was very successful and was the best bid from a financial, technical and operational point of view.[citation needed] The plane was checked thoroughly by MBB Munich, and presented to Air Transport Command in Cologne after Le Bourget airshow in 1999. However, for political reasons and under pressure both from the newly founded EADS company and the French government, the A400M was selected for the FLA. The French claimed that their projected Airbus A400M, although more expensive, would have lower life cycle costs (LCCs) than the An-70. Antonov lost this opportunity to sell its An-70 to Western European nations.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-70




Apakah ada yg berminat dg An70?
Siapa tahu bisa ToT di PTDI krn situasi lbh aman n kondusif, trus mesinnya n jeroan mungkin sj diganti yg produk barat, krn Ukraine kan mulai deket NATO.

An70..... pesawat dg harga bersaing, bisa setengah lbh harga A400, daya angkut n jarak lebih gede dikit... walau menurut Prancis life cycle costs (LCCs)nya lbh gede dr A400....