Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




AEROSPACE
Russian air force replacing transports
by Staff Writers
Croydon, England (UPI) Jan 25, 2013


disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only

The Russian air force is undertaking a decade-long program to replace its aging transports.

More than 100 new transport jets are scheduled to be purchased.

The problem facing Russian air force commanders is whether they should buy indigenously built Russian aircraft or include in the purchase order Antonov transports, now built in the neighboring country of Ukraine.

Russian-Ukrainian relations have been strained since the December 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, with two major issues being the final disposition of Russian Black Sea Fleet continuing to use the Ukrainian Crimean naval port of Sevastopol and Gazprom natural gas deliveries to Ukraine and Gazprom's use of Ukraine's soviet-era pipeline network to reach lucrative European markets.

The dispute over Sevastopol, the finest deep-water port in the Black Sea, is ongoing and the issue of Gazprom natural gas deliveries to Ukraine has been vexed by Moscow's determination gradually to raise gas prices to world prices. There are also accusations by the Russian side of Ukrainian diversions of significant amounts of gas.

In the last several years unresolved issues have resulted in Gazprom arbitrarily reducing shipments via the Ukrainian Druzhba pipeline network, much to the consternation of European customers.

For the Russian air force, the problem is whether it should buy 40 Ilyushin-476 transports, the latest modification of the Ilyushin-76, assembled at the Russian Federation's aviation plant in Ulyanovsk, with the remainder to come from Ukraine's Antonov aircraft manufacturing works, or seek alternatives, Zhurnal BSR website reported Thursday.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, it left the country's military industrial complex split among 15 new countries.

Antonov, formerly the Antonov Aeronautical Scientific/Technical Complex, is a state-owned commercial company, which has headquarters in Kiev. Antonov is the most common aircraft worldwide, with thousands of planes operating in the former Soviet Union and the Third World.

The company's website states, "Our enterprise built more than 22,000 units of more than 100 types and passenger, transport and special-purpose aircraft models."

The Russian air force is interested in acquiring Antonov-70s and heavy-lift Antonov-124s.

The Antonov An-70 is a high-wing monoplane with four wing-mounted propfan engines with fly-by-wire controls medium-range transport aircraft, and the first large aircraft to be powered by propfan engines, with the maiden flight of the first prototype taking place in Kiev nearly three years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

The Antonov An-124 (NATO codename "Condor"), is a strategic heavy airlift jet aircraft and is the world's second largest serially manufactured cargo airplane and world's third largest operating cargo aircraft, having received civil certification on Dec. 30.

More than 40 An-124s are in service in Ukraine, Russia, the United Arab Emirates and Libya.

In a rare example of bilateral Russian-Ukrainian cooperation in late 2008 Russia and Ukraine agreed joint to the manufacture of a new AN-124 variant, to be known as the An-124-150, which would incorporate several improvements, including a maximum lift capacity of 150 tons, with the Russian Federation expected to purchase 20 of the aircraft in the coming years.

.


Related Links
Aerospace News at SpaceMart.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








AEROSPACE
China buys Russian bombers
Melbourne (UPI) Jan 23, 2013
China is to purchase Tupolev Tu-22M3 bombers through a contract with the Russian Federation for 36 aircraft. The agreement calls for 12 bombers to be delivered first and the other 24 coming in a second tranche. The Tupolev Tu-22M3 is a supersonic, swing-wing, long-range strategic and maritime strike bomber developed by the Soviet Union. A number the bombers remain in service with ... read more


AEROSPACE
US, Europe team up for moon fly-by

Russia to Launch Lunar Mission in 2015

US, Europe team up for moon fly-by

Mission would drag asteroid to the moon

AEROSPACE
Opportunity At Work At Whitewater Lake

Thawing Dry Ice Drives Groovy Action On Mars

Mars Rover Curiosity Uses Arm Camera at Night

Possible Clues to Ancient Subsurface Biosphere on Mars

AEROSPACE
Iran Manufacturing Hi-Tech Spacesuits

TDRS-K Offers Upgrade to Vital Communications Net

An Astronaut's Guide

Mathematical breakthrough sets out rules for more effective teleportation

AEROSPACE
Reshuffle for Tiangong

China to launch 20 spacecrafts in 2013

Mr Xi in Space

China plans manned space launch in 2013: state media

AEROSPACE
NASA to Send Inflatable Pod to International Space Station

ISS to get inflatable module

ESA workhorse to power NASA's Orion spacecraft

Competition Hopes To Fine Tune ISS Solar Array Shadowing

AEROSPACE
Azerspace And Africasat-1a "fit" for Ariane 5 launch

NASA Selects Experimental Commercial Suborbital Flight Payloads

Payload elements come together in Starsem's wrap-up Soyuz mission from Baikonur Cosmodrome for Globalstar

Amazonas 3 in Kourou for Ariane 5 year-opening launch campaign

AEROSPACE
New Evidence Indicates Auroras Occur Outside Our Solar System

Glitch has space telescope shut down

Earth-size planets common in galaxy

NASA's Hubble Reveals Rogue Planetary Orbit For Fomalhaut B

AEROSPACE
New information on binding gold particles over metal oxide surfaces

Researchers Create Method for More Sensitive Electrochemical Sensors

Phoenix Rising: New Video Shows Advances in Satellite Repurposing Program

Novel sensor provides bigger picture




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement