The new Antonov for the Ukrainian army will take to the skies in the spring of 2022 An-178. The plane will take to the skies and will make its first flight in the spring of 2022. Such terms were announced by the director of Antonov Logistics SALIS, Andrey Chernyavsky, UNIAN reports.
In total, the Ukrainian army ordered three An-178 model aircraft from Antonov. The first of them will make a test flight, two other aircraft are now at the assembly stage.
The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine has agreed to supply new transport aircraft to the armed forces by 2023. For these purposes, “Antonov” received a loan from the state “Ukreximbank” for 3 billion hryvnia (over 8 billion rubles).
The new Antonov An-178 is a short-haul transport aircraft. The company positions it as a replacement for the An-12, developed back in the 1950s in the USSR.
Earlier in September, Antonov shared plans to phase out Russian-made components for the An-178 by the end of 2021. It is clarified that so far the plane has flown only with them.