Antonov betting on Western technology

Thursday, July 14, 2016 - 22:10 (EEST) Section: Latest news

The company, which is now part of the state giant Ukroboronprom, is set to transform into a Western style market-driven business, having completed the split of business ties with Russia, LeehamNews reports.
The air freighter company is what keeps Antonov afloat, for it has been hit hard by the fall of the Soviet Union and Ukraine`s decision to split with the Russian Federation and orient itself to the West, according to LeehamNews.
Super-heavy transporters Ruslan and An-225 Mriya are the world`s largest transport aircraft, both flying daily for the Antonov companies own airline, transporting outsize cargo for companies like Boeing, Airbus, GE, Rolls-Royce and others.
Antonov has traditionally operated in the Soviet model of a design bureau, which has licensed its designs to contract manufacturers in Russia and Ukraine.
Consequently, Antonov, with its 3,000 engineers, has been dependent on new development projects from the Russian and Ukrainian states. When these dried up because of the Ukrainian-Russian crisis, things turned bad for Antonov but the company has changed a lot from 2015.
Having ceased to exist as an independent unit under the Ukrainian Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, it became part of the Ukroboronprom.
President of Ukroboronprom, Roman Romanov, talked with the publication at the Farnborough Air Show, to discuss the way ahead for Antonov, giving a comprehensive presentation of the transformation project he is leading.
The company CEO says Ukroboronprom is changing the mindset of 80,000 people in more than 100 companies, teaching them that one develops and produces what the market wants, not what some minister, political or military leader thinks is the suitable thing to do. The total group is now profitable after years of losses and cooperation with Western partners is sought in all fields.
For Antonov, this means their Soviet-era designs An-32 and An-178 are now being ”westernized.” This involves finding replacements for all Russian-developed and produced parts. This has taken the form of a cooperation with Saudi-Arabia where the An-32 is brought to an An-132 specification, featuring western-built avionics and engines. The Saudi-assembled An-132 will be powered by Pratt & Whitney Canada PW150 turboprop engines and have Honeywell avionics, Liebherr air-conditioning and UTC Aerosystems APU.
A similar transformation is underway with the Embraer KC-390 and C-130 Hercules-sized An-178. From containing 42% Russian-made components when it was conceived from the An-158 airliner three years ago, it is now devoid of any Russian dependencies.
Cooperative sales and production projects are now actively sought for the An-178 with the first agreement signed with India`s Reliance Defence Ltd. The aim is to replace the Indian-Russian state`s ailing Ilyushin Il-114 project.
There are no plans to seek an immediate cooperation to restart production of the An-124. The existing aircraft will be upgraded with Western avionics (FMS, ADS-B etc) to make the operating fleet more efficient. Then the possibilities for producing further aircraft will be explored, should an interested partner be found.