MOSCOW. Feb 9 (Interfax-AVN) - Director General of the Russian Aviation and Space Agency Yuri Koptev has announced that state tests of the Russian-Ukrainian AN-70 military transport plane will resume in a few weeks.
"As of today, all problems (between Russia and Ukraine - Interfax-AVN) have been settled. The scheme of further movement has been determined and a special team has been set up to supervise the whole process. I believe that the AN-70 flight tests program will be resumed in a few weeks," Koptev said in an interview with the Moskovsky Komsomolets daily published on Monday.
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine that emerged during the implementation of the AN-70 development program "was caused by some adjustments to the Defense Ministry's position, and now it is generally over," Koptev noted. "We agreed to continue the work. The priority is given to fixing the faults exposed during the previous stage, primarily regarding operational development of the engine and functioning modes of the plane," he said.
Asked whether problems in the project's implementation were caused by "somebody's personal interests," the director general said, "Such assumptions can only be made if you have facts. This is the sphere of law-enforcement agencies' competence."