MOSCOW. May 30 (Interfax-AVN) - Military transport aviation commander Lt. Gen. Viktor Kachalkin says there is no need to buy West European A400 jetliner for Russia, but does not rule out the prospective deliveries of Russian-Indian MTA.
"Why do we need A400, which is a prototype of Antonov An-70? These are similar aircraft. Why should we buy the Western A400?" he said.
Russia and India have been working on a medium military transport jet, MTA, for several years, he said. "Yet this project is not yet accomplished," he remarked.
Russia and Ukraine are working on the An-70 jetliner with a short takeoff and landing under intergovernmental agreements of 1993 and 1999. The Antonov Corporation based in Kyiv is the designer of the jet. It carries D-27 engines, which will be built serially at the Motor Sich plant in Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine.