The Ministry of Defence of Ukraine is looking to increase the size of its transport aircraft fleet.
According to the official of the Kharkov State Aircraft Manufacturing Company, the Armed Forces of Ukraine is to acquire two An-140 transport aircraft as a training aircraft and three An-74 transport aircraft.
The An−140 is a regional aircraft is intended for passenger and mixed cargo/passenger transportations. The An−140 is the substitute for the An−24 aircraft that has been operated for about forty years.
The AN−140 aircraft has high fuel efficiency. It can be operated in a wide range of the airfield heights and climate conditions, under good and adverse weather conditions, by day and night.
The AN−140 aircraft has a high wing position, standard tail configuration and two wing−mounted ТV3−117VМА−SBМ1 turboprop engines. The AI9−3B auxiliary power unit installed at the rear−fuselage provides the independent aircraft operation from the unpaved airfields. A high level of comfort of the passenger compartment has been achieved by selecting the optimum ratio between the volume of the compartment and the service premises, favorable climatic conditions, a well−matched lighting and other factors.
For today 12 aircraft of such a type are under operation in Ukraine, Russia, Iran.
The An-74 was designed on the basis of the An-72 military airlifter and inherited from the latter its excellent performance, self-sufficiency in operation on the unpaved airfields and the ability to fly steep flight paths with short takeoff and landing. The AN-74 is designed to carry up to 7.5 tonnes of cargo at a cruising speed of up to 700 km/h at a cruising flight altitude of 10,100 m.
The aircraft is powered with two D-36 series 2A turbofans. The engines have low fuel consumption and high level of reliability. They meet ICAO requirements for aircraft engine emissions and noise. High engine arrangement practically precludes ingestion of foreign objects into engine air intakes at takeoff and landing even when operating on pebble airfields.
The Kharkov State Aircraft Manufacturing Company (KSAMC) is one of the few Ukrainian manufacturers of aviation equipment with a closed production cycle, which allows to claim full responsibility for all stages of production process and be sure of the quality of the final product.
Modern aircraft, An-74, of KSAMC production, in demand in CIS countries and a number of other countries.
