KYIV
Antonov, Ukraine’s iconic aircraft manufacturer, plans to produce An-74TK-200 aircraft alongside specialists from the Canadian province of Quebec, in a move to support and develop the ex-Soviet country’s aviation sector and reduce its dependence on supplies from Russia.
Ukraine’s Antonov State Enterprise, formerly known as the Antonov Design Bureau, was founded in the late 1940s and is famous for designing and producing aircraft of the same name. It currently also produces building materials, household products, auto components, spare parts for agricultural machinery and railway transport equipment.
The parties agreed on a cooperation plan, Ukroboronprom state company said. The future model aircraft will make maximum use of the latest aviation technologies, such as a glass cabin, among others. It is planned to develop a number of modifications of the basic model of civil and special aircraft. Ukrainian aircraft builders have already been producing this model of aircraft at the Kharkiv Aircraft Plant.
Currently, a significant number of components for AN-74TK-200 is produced in Russia. Those components don’t meet modern requirements, which creates an obstacle for the aircraft to obtain mandatory certification in the European and American markets.
The final assembly of the model will be organised at production facilities in Ukraine and Canada.
“At the ongoing design stage, the emphasis is on the project’s compliance with the Canadian Aviation Authority’s certification criteria, which could significantly accelerate the future certification process,” Antonov said in a statement.
“Successful certification of the aircraft model and its production will allow the Ukrainian aviation industry to emerge from the protracted crisis.”
It also said that parties aimed at establishing the work of the design bureau for research and development, preliminary processing and testing, on the basis of which the aircraft model for flight tests was made.
The An-74TK-200 aircraft model was developed by the Antonov Design Bureau and mass-produced by the Kharkiv State Aviation Production Company.
The aircraft is designed to carry 52 passengers, cargo weighing up to 10 tonnes, as well as mixed passenger and cargo transportation on international short and medium distance air routes. The maximum takeoff weight of the aircraft is 36.5 tonnes, the maximum flight altitude is 10,100 m, the cruising speed is 600-700 km/h, the flight range with a payload of 10 tonnes is 950 km, with a load of 1.8 tonnes it is 4,250 km. The crew consists of two people.
The aircraft can be used in particularly harsh operating conditions, such as arctic or alpine, temporary, natural, limited runways with minimal or no technical support infrastructure, which is certainly a market advantage of this aircraft model.