 |
| Indian AirForce AN-32 (Wiki Info - Image: Wiki Commons) |
On March 29, 2014 the representatives of Ukroboronprom, PLANT 410 CA and Spectechnoexport have supplied to the Air Forces of India the seventh batch of An-32 Transportation Aircrafts, which were upgraded in Kyiv in the framework of the contract concluded in 2009.
That very day the vehicles were departed from Kyiv to Kanpur (India). Taking into consideration the events in Crimea, the European partners, as an exceptional case, have opened the sky for the military transportation aircrafts, so that the vehicles will be able to arrive at destination place in time.
As Yuriy Tereshenko, Temporary Director General of Ukroboronprom, reported, Ukrainian and Indian parties are satisfied with the progress of contract implementation and count on development of cooperation within the Program.
“We are sure that our Indian partners are satisfied with a high quality of our works, conducted by Ukrainian enterprises. India was and remains to be a strategic Ukrainian partner in the area of military technical cooperation. We admit a mutual interest in further development of aviation program. We expect in the nearest future the bilateral cooperation will be continued by new contracts,” Yuriy Tereshenko stressed on.
The contract, worth some USD 400 million, for the repair and upgrading of 105 units of An-32 vehicles of the Air Forces of India was signed in July 2009 between Air Forces of Ministry of Defense of India and subsidiary company of Ukrspecexport State Company – Spectechnoexport.
In accordance with the contract, that have become the largest in the history of Ukrainian Indian bilateral military technical cooperation, 40 aircrafts are to be modernized in Ukraine and the rest of the aircraft at the BRD-1 aviation plant of the Indian Air Force in Kanpur (North India). Ukraine’s Antonov Plant and Civil Aviation Plant 410 are executing the contract.
As part of the deep upgrade, the Indian aircraft is to be fitted with modern equipment made in Ukraine and other countries. In particular, these are aircraft collision warning equipment, collision with ground early warning equipment, satellite navigation system, aircraft rangefinders, modernized height finders, new radar set with two multifunctional indicators, new oxygen equipment, and modernized crew seats.
The upgraded An-32 will be able to land on an ICAO category II approach. Whereas, fuel consumption and the mass of the empty upgraded aircraft will be lower than for the basic model.
In addition, in line with a three-year contract worth $110 million signed in December 2009 by Motor Sich OJSC (Zaporizhia) and the Indian Air Force, the AI-20 engines of the Indian An-32s are being upgraded.
As of today, 35 aircrafts, out of those that are to be upgraded in Kyiv, have been already upgraded and transferred to the Costumer.
The first 10 modernized aircrafts have been already transferred to the Costumer in 2011, and each year other 10 vehicles in 2012 and 2013 accordingly. The next 5 transportations were sent to India in August of the last year. The supply of the final batch of aircrafts, the modernization of which is carried out in Kyiv, is planned for the summer.