t's fricking real!!!

http://www.janes.com/article/63341/c...225-production

China and Ukraine agree to restart An-225 production

Gareth Jennings, London - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly
31 August 2016

China and Ukraine have signed an agreement to recommence production of the Antonov An-225 'Cossack' strategic airlifter, media from both countries have reported.

The agreement signed between the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) and Antonov on 30 August gives China access to the aircraft's designs and technologies for the purposes of domestic production, according to China's STCN news organisation and the Ukrainian Business Channel (UBR).

Powered by six Progress D-18T engines and having demonstrated a world-record payload of 253.82 tonnes, the An-225 (named Mriya in Ukraine) is the largest transport aircraft ever to have flown. Having been originally built to carry the Soviet Buran orbiter, the aircraft made its maiden flight in 1988. Only one aircraft was ever finished to an airworthy standard and flown, and while work on a second example was begun it had become clear by mid-2001 that funding would no longer be provided and the project was shelved. The sole aircraft to be completed is now chartered by Antonov Airlines to fly outsized cargo throughout the world.

According to the reports, China now plans to fly the first of an unspecified number of An-225s in 2019.