President of the State Enterprise Antonov Oleksandr Donets says his enterprise plans to build from 5 to 10 aircraft in the next five years under a base-case scenario.
“The An-178 is my priority, because Antonov has always been famous for its transport aircraft. Then we will launch the manufacture of the An-158 aircraft. We would also like to continue work on unmanned aerial vehicles. However, much depends on a customer here,” he said.
Donets also added that the serial An-178 would be equipped with new D-436FM engines manufactured by Ukraine’s major machine-building enterprise Motor Sich. According to the official, Antonov has a firm contract with Azerbaijan for the production of 10 An-178 aircraft, which will be manufactured after full import substitution of Russian components, and testing.
“Two weeks ago an Azerbaijani delegation came to us for talks. I should note that they are professionally addressing the issue, being well versed in the situation and aware that we cannot build and supply the aircraft with Russian components. They need the aircraft, so they are ready to wait until import substitution is complete,” Donets said. (UNIAN/Business World Magazine)