MOSCOW. Oct 7 (Interfax-AVN) - Ukraine may withdraw from the Ukrainian-Russian program of the AN-70 medium-range military cargo plane.
"Ukraine may announce its withdrawal from the program due to the fact that Russia has not fulfilled its financial commitments under the AN-70 Russian-Ukrainian military cargo plane project for a long time," a source in the Russian defense industry told Interfax-Military News Agency on Thursday.
He said the decision might be made this year, following the presidential elections in Ukraine.
The source said that Ukraine's possible withdrawal would not halt the program. On the contrary, Ukraine hopes to find new partners. "There are several countries wishing to join the AN-70 program, take part in the batch production and selling of the plane," he said.
The AN-70 has a specific niche on the global market, because there is no alternative to it in the world, the source noted.
Unlike Russia, Ukraine continues funding the AN-70 development on a priority basis, he went on. "Ukraine assigns over $40 million for the first two mass-produced AN-70 planes in 2004 and 2005. The aircraft are intended for the Ukrainian Air Force. Up to 20 planes may be built for the Ukrainian Air Force before 2015," he said.
The program for the AN-70 STOL aircraft has been implemented together by Russia and Ukraine on the basis of two intergovernmental agreements of June 24, 1993, and May 19, 1999. The state customers of the aircraft are the Russian and Ukrainian defense ministries, and the head contractor is the Antonov Corporation.
Russia originally planned to buy 164 planes and Ukraine 65 planes, which corresponds to 72 and 28 percent of the R&D value.