Azerbaijan makes prepayment for AN-178 aircrafts
By Nigar Abbasova
Azerbaijan has made a prepayment on the purchase of the first two AN-178 aircrafts, Ukrainian media reported citing the country’s Vice Prime Minister and Minister of regional development, construction, housing and communal services.
“We have signed a contract on the delivery of 10 military transport planes. Azerbaijan made an advance payment in June. We express our gratitude to Azerbaijan, as the country is not afraid of making financing,” he said.
Zubko also said that the two countries have recently reached an agreement on the expansion of cooperation in the sphere of aviation. The agreement envisages that Antonov State Enterprise should present a draft program on the functioning of an aircrafts assembling enterprise in the territory of Azerbaijan.
He mentioned that Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and some other countries have also made requests on the purchase of aircrafts.
Earlier, President of Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) Jahangir Askerov said that Azerbaijan is interested in assembling the Ukrainian transport aircraft An-178.
Kyiv-based Antonov Enterprise and Azerbaijan's Silk Way Airlines signed a contract in May 2015 to assembly 10 transport aircraft An-178 in Ukraine. The delivery of the first two aircraft is expected to be implemented by late 2018 while eight planes will be shipped upon a mutual agreement of the parties.
AN-178 is a military transport aircraft, created by Antonov in April 2015. It is capable of delivering cargo up to 18 tonnes. The maximum speed of the plane reaches 850 kilometres per hour while its highest altitude is approximately 12 kilometres. The first flight of the aircraft was operated on May 7, 2015.
The aircraft was produced via computer-aided design and engineering and can be used for both civilian and military purposes. Replacement of four-engined turboprop by two-engined is considered to be one of the most fundamental differences of the AN-178
The Antonov State Enterprise is currently considered to be one of the few enterprises, running the complete development cycle of advanced aircraft — from preliminary design to construction, testing, certification, production and integrated logistic support.
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Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova
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