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World Aviation Defense & Security Industry News - Antonov Company
 
 
China reportedly got rights to locally produce An-225 strategic cargo aircraft
 
According to the Chinese newspaper "Economic Information Daily" published today August 31, the Hong Kong-based company China Airspace Industry Group Ltd signed a collaboration agreement with the Ukrainian company Antonov, on August 30 in Beijing to establish production sites of the An-225 heavy lift aircraft in China.
     
China reportedly got rights to locally produce An 225 strategic cargo aircraft 640 001An Antonov An-225 Mriya strategic cargo aircraft
(Credit: Antonov Company)
     
China Airspace Industry Group Ltd would get, according to the text, all technologies, plans and production license of the cargo plane, the largest in the world. The D-18T engine would also part of the agreement.

The Chinese group plans to build two production sites, one in Luzhou in Sichuan Province, and the second in Guigang which lies 300km west of Guangzhou.

The new An-225 manufatcured in China, of which the first could come out of the assembly line in early 2019, will be mainly used for cargo transportation.

China Airspace Industry Group Ltd have been registered in Hong Kong on June 7, 2012 for a capital of HKD 500 million, or about US$65 million.

The Antonov An-225, initially developed for the task of transporting the Buran spaceplane, was an enlargement of the successful Antonov An-124. The An-225 is powered by six ZMKB Progress D-18 turbofans (51,600 lbf each). The airlifter holds the world records for an airlifted total payload of more than 253 tons.