Taking into account the fact that Ukraine has broken off cooperation with the Russian Federation in the field of aircraft manufacturing, heavy transport aircraft AN-124 “Ruslan” will be modernized in Russia.
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The head of the transport division of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), formed on the basis of the Ilyushin aviation complex, Aleksey Rogozin, spoke about this in an interview with Kommersant, answering the question of how the issue of servicing the An-124-100 Ruslan aircraft is being resolved.
“Il is entrusted with the functions of a developer for these aircraft. This decision was made after the well-known events of 2014, when the Antonov state enterprise actually refused technical support and further cooperation on the An-124 program. These competencies are now at Ilya; work on modernizing the aircraft using the groundwork that appeared during the program to create the Il-76MD-90A is being discussed. I consider it quite possible to independently develop the Ruslan theme, since the service life of the currently existing aircraft remains very large; they will be able to operate at least until 2040,” Rogozin said.
According to him, the main task now is to ensure the safe operation of this aircraft and further development. He also clarified that the An-124-100 is serviced by Aviastar-SP in Ulyanovsk without the help of the Ukrainian Antonov State Enterprise.
“Ties between enterprises are broken today. But I would like to remind you that this aircraft was not developed in Ukraine, but in the Soviet Union. There was very broad cooperation there: central scientific institutes, design bureaus, enterprises throughout the big country. And the production itself was basically organized in Ulyanovsk. So “Ruslana” cannot be considered a Ukrainian development,” said the publication’s interlocutor.
He was also asked to answer a question about the possible resumption of cooperation with Ukraine.
“In Kyiv, many people already understand that the severance of relations with Russia has hit Ukrainian industrial enterprises. I can honestly say that we do not shy away from cooperation with Ukrainian partners and are ready for negotiations. But only in case of appropriate decisions at the state level,” Rogozin emphasized.
He also added that, if necessary, Russian industry is capable of mastering the production of engines of this class, which were created in Ukraine.