Renewed Political Interest In An-124 And An-70
Defense-Technology News reports further news of cooperation between Ukraine and Russia relating to the Antonov An-124 as well as the An-70. The success of the Ruslan SALIS project is sparking further thinking.
The repeated efforts to bring the An-124-100-150 to production are well documented and the difficulties are mostly economic. i.e. whether a business case can be made based on the dramatically increased acquisition cost.
One wonders about Russia's increased interest in the An-70, ownership of the which is reported to be split equally between the two countries. This was due to the investment of the USSR in the development costs before the USSR broke up.
Whereas previously Russia has pulled out due to the lack of money in the military budget, perhaps now with torrents of cash flowing into the economy from the dramatically increased oil price, and the political desire to keep Ukraine in Russia's sphere of influence there may be a political will to spend cash in order to build additional economic and industrial links between the two countries.
The full article on both the An124 and the An70 is published over at Defense-Technology News.
Renewed Political Interest In An-124 And An-70
Defense-Technology News reports further news of interest in cooperation between Ukraine and Russia relating to the Antonov An-124 as well as the An-70.
The repeated efforts to bring the An-124-100-150 to production are well documented and the difficulties are mostly economic. i.e. whether a business case can be made based on the dramatically increased acquisition cost.
One wonders about Russia's increased interest in the An-70, ownership of the which is reported to be split equally between the two countries due to the investment of the USSR in the type before it broke up.
Whereas previously Russia has pulled out due to the lack of money in the military budget, perhaps now with torrents of cash flowing into the economy from the dramatically increased oil price, added to the policy attitudes of central government and the desire to keep Ukraine in it's sphere of influencethere may be a political will to build some additional economic and industrial links between the two countries.
The full article on both the An124 and the An70 is published over at Defense-Technology News
