On December 17, 2015, ANTONOV Company and «ТAQNIA AERONAUTICS», Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, signed the «Memorandum of Understanding». This document confirms the parties’ intention to deliver 30 multipurpose AN-178 aircraft to Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF).

According to Retired Major General Ali Mohammed Al-Ghamdi, President of «ТAQNIA AERONAUTICS», «Signing of this Memorandum is the next significant step in development of our cooperation. We have signed the documents on interaction within the programme of the AN-132 new transport and further promotion of the AN-148 special-purpose versions. We choose the AN-178 taking into account good characteristics of this aircraft. Its price and low operational costs are important advantages of this aircraft in comparison with other airplanes of this class. Besides, we will realize joint marketing policy on promotion of the AN-178 into the markets of other countries of Middle East. In the future we plan cooperative production of this aircraft».

Oleksandr Kotsiuba, First Vice President of ANTONOV Company, said: «This event became one more confirmation of mutual aspiration of Ukraine and Saudi Arabia in development of strategic partnership in the field of aircraft industry. Signing of this Memorandum verifies that the AN-178 is a modern, reliable and effective airplane, which is requested by customers. We are obliged to our partners and ready to fulfill our obligations in accordance with the signed agreements».

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The maiden flight of the new AN-178 transport aircraft in the capital Kiev

On May 7, 2015, the AN-178 new transport, created by ANTONOV in cooperation with partners from 15 countries, performed maiden flight.

The first 1-hour duration flight performed a crew of ANTONOV test pilots, composed of: Andrii Spasibo, test pilot of the 1st class – the crew captain, Sergii Troshyn, test pilot of the 1st class, Hero of Ukraine – the 2nd pilot, Mykola Sydorenko, leading test engineer. After landing in Kyiv-Antonov airport (Gostomel) the crew reported on a successful flight task realization to Dmytro Kiva, President – General Designer.

According to Jane’s Defence Weekly, no specific details relating to the flight were revealed, neither were the timelines for the remainder of the flight test process or production plans for prospective military customers.

First revealed in February 2010, the twinjet An-178 is intended to replace the An-12 «Cub», the An-26 «Curl», and An-32 «Cline» airlifters. The An-178 is, in essence, an An-158 regional jet with a rear-loading ramp (the two types share a number of components, including the front fuselage and cockpit, and nosewheel leg).

The AN-178 with km fuel consumption practically equal to the AN-12 will have essentially higher productivity owing to cruising speed increased on 35%. Besides, the new aircraft will be able to be operated at the altitudes of up to 12,200 m/40,026 feet, while the AN-12 cruising speed is limited by 8,500 m/27,887 feet. One of the most important advantages of the AN-178 over AN-12 is its correspondence to modern standards of airworthiness, and to perspective demands taking into account further aircraft development.

The unique feature of the AN-178 is ability to carry all the types of the existing packaged freights (containerized and palletized ones), including high capacity 1C containers (sea container) with lateral sizes of 2.44×2.44 m/8×8 feet. This makes it an indispensable transport to provide logistic support in commercial operation and in armed forces, as well as operations under emergency situations. As all ANTONOV aircraft, the AN-178 inherits such necessary for military transport aircraft qualities as basing on poor equipped, unpaved airfields, autonomy, high reliability and vitality.

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The AN-178, created on the basis of wide ANTONOV experience in the field of transport aircraft design in combination with the newest aviation technologies in the world, is the further development of the AN-148/AN-158 family of regional jets of different purposes

Ukrainian state-run aircraft manufacturer ANTONOV on May 7, 2015 held the maiden flight of its new AN-178 transport aircraft in the capital Kiev, marking another step towards replacing the nation’s aging transport aircraft

ANTONOV State Company sincerely welcomes its partners on the program of the AN-178 new transport creation with finalization of an important stage – construction of this aircraft first prototype and its transmission to start the certification tests program.

The AN-178, created on the basis of wide ANTONOV experience in the field of transport aircraft design in combination with the newest aviation technologies in the world, is the further development of the AN-148/AN-158 family of regional jets of different purposes. Until present, there was not ramp transport aircraft in the family, i.e. the class that is core for ANTONOV and where the enterprise’s experience is recognized all over the world. The AN-178 refers to this class. With creating this aircraft, ANTONOV made one more important step toward realization of the enterprise development formula:

• To develop what the market needs;
• To develop with minimum expenses;
• To develop families of aircraft;
• To support and maintain own product within its full lifetime.

Decision as for start of the AN-178 program was taken basing on estimation of the world market demands. While the AN-178 designing, requests of both commercial airlines and military aircraft operators including Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Ukraine were taken in account. As a result, while the aircraft creation a replacement of the AN-12 medium four turboprop-powered transport at higher technical level was defined to be the priority task. Overall more than 1,400 AN-12 were produced. These aircraft are still widespread in CIS countries, Africa and Asia. Besides, the AN-178 is suggested as a replacement for the C-160 European twin turboprop-powered transport for customers focused on the Western aircraft (214 aircraft were assembled).

The AN-178 with km fuel consumption practically equal to the AN-12 will have essentially higher productivity owing to cruising speed increased on 35%. Besides, the new aircraft will be able to be operated at the altitudes of up to 12,200 m/40,026 feet, while the AN-12 cruising speed is limited by 8,500 m/27,887 feet. One of the most important advantages of the AN-178 over AN-12 is its correspondence to modern standards of airworthiness, and to perspective demands taking into account further aircraft development.

The unique feature of the AN-178 is ability to carry all the types of the existing packaged freights (containerized and palletized ones), including high capacity 1C containers (sea container) with lateral sizes of 2.44×2.44 m/8×8 feet. This makes it an indispensable transport to provide logistic support in commercial operation and in armed forces, as well as operations under emergency situations. As all ANTONOV aircraft, the AN-178 inherits such necessary for military transport aircraft qualities as basing on poor equipped, unpaved airfields, autonomy, high reliability and vitality.

Being a representative of the family of regional aircraft, already known worldwide, the AN-178 is also being considered as a basic platform for designing of a number of modifications of civil and military destinations. This development is possible not only in direction of development of functionally different variants and modifications, but also by the way of setting units, systems and equipment of alternative designers on it. This let extend potential aircraft market and maximally adapt it to unique customers’ requirements.

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