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World Defense & Security Industry News - Antonov
 
 
Antonov seeks US partners for An-77 airlifter development project
 
A delegation of the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure visited the Ukraiian aircraft manufacturer Antonov Company. During the visit cooperation between Ukraine and USA in aviation field was discussed, Antonov said on July 3rd on its website.
     
Antonov's An-70 military airlifter
(Credit: Antonov)
     
In particular, Antonov proposed to develop jointly a program of AN-77, the upgraded version of the medium STOL transport aircraft. This airplane can occupy a gap between C-130 with payload up to 21 tons and C-17 – up to 76 tons.

Antonov proposed to organize cooperation involving a number of US enterprises of the aircraft industry and equipment suppliers.

Within this project, interaction with aviation state authorities: State Aviation Administration of Ukraine of US FAA. Conclusion of the interstate BASA (Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement) has to become one of the key steps of this joint program.

According to Antonov's initial study, the original An-77 design relied on four CFM56-5A16 bypass turbofan engines; but another option would be the D-27 propfan engine, which has not entered mass production for now.