Antonov An-124 Development Towards SALIS Contract
The use of the Antonov An-124 in international air transport since 1989 when Antonov broke away from the then monopoly of Aeroflot is a demonstration of how just a very few former Soviet assets were able to find a place and prove their quality in the international markets.
This acceptance of the aircraft, frequently and incorrectly viewed by many as a stereotypical old rust bucket but subsequently demonstrated to be a highly robust, reliable and capable machine was accelerated by the partnership of both the Ukrainian and Russian operators with their respective western airline partners.
Those partners provided the necessary marketing and commercial expertise to introduce the aircraft to frequently hesitant commercial customers. An expertise that was rapidly absorbed on the former Soviet side enabling them to dispose of their partners some 10 years later.
The most reluctant of customers was the military, despite the fact that the 1990s were dominated by discussion among the military of most European nations of their almost complete lack of strategic airlift. Indeed it can easily be argued that the various projections of military power undertaken by European nations in particular would simply not have been possible without the availability of the Antonov An-124 and the smaller IL76. Naturally, the military treated it at arms length and bought capacity through brokers thus pretending that it wasn't really happening.
The next stage in the process of market penetration was when the US Department of Defense contracted for use of An-124 services on an ongoing basis as even they, with the greatest airlift capacity of all, found themselves short due to the continued high tempo of military requirements around the world. Again, the An124 was used in a background role carrying out US domestic work and kept away from the cameras.
The next chink in the armour came when Antonov Airlines British airline partner made a bid to the UK Ministry of Defence to meet the UK Short Term Strategic Airlift (STSA) requirement in 2001/2002.
This was the first opportunity for Antonov to present the aircraft comprehensively to a knowledgeable customer and they did it most effectively. To remove all shadow of doubt about the technical capabilities both of the aircraft and it designer and operator the MOD despatched a 30 strong team of experts, the largest inspection team ever, from the Defence Procurement Agency to Antonov's facilities in Kiev.
Sufficient to say that one of the DPA's experts was heard to say that he had never seen such comprehensive evidence presented in response to their questions and "I wish all our manufacturer inspections were as good as this".
Despite meeting all the requirements and being substantially cheaper than the competing Boeing C-17, the bid was to fall at the last hurdle for reasons never satisfactorily explained. Such is life in the military/industrial/political complex, a beast just as alive and well in the west as it was in the former Soviet Union.
However, the excercise attracted substantial attention and much information was now available to military and government procurement sources in Europe. Air Foyle went on to propose a similar arrangement to the German MOD who were leading a study into joint European requirements for strategic airlift.
This requirement was eventually to firm up into the SALIS (Strategic Airlift Interim Solution) contract managed by NAMSA. Again, the Boeing C-17 was a bidder but cost effectiveness was apparently more important to the European nations than to their British friends and the joint assessment went on to select the An124 as the aircraft type.
In order to improve the availability of airframes as up to 6 aircraft may be required in a matter of a few days the Ukrainian and Russian operators came together in a cooperative agreement thereby demonstrating, yet again, that economics and mutual benefit can overcome all sorts of business and political rivalries.
The view from the Ukrainian side has recently been voiced in a lengthy article by Volodymyr Kopchak, entitled "Salis: To retain and multiply" posted on the Defense-Express website on 7 July which is optimistic, though with a somewhat rosy glow, of the future role of the Antonov An-124 in meeting NATO requirements.
