Ukraine finishes state tests of An-70, aircraft ready to be adopted by army

The press service said that the final stage of state tests, the
program of which includes 82 flights, was conducted by pilots and
technicians of the state combined arms test activity jointly with
specialists from Antonov State Enterprise.

“In general, after the completion of the modernization in Sep.
2012, in the period until March 31, 2014, the aircraft performed 122
flights of 220 hours. Under the state test program the aircraft
performed 735 flights of 930 hours and 48 minutes,” the press service
said.

“During the final stage of state tests in the process of ground tests
and tests in air the correspondence of the checked parameters and
regimes set in the requirements of the customer was received at the
modernized aircraft. This concerns the following requirements of the
customer: the functioning of modernized systems and equipment, STOL
specifics, precision characteristics during the fulfillment of
navigation tasks; durability and resource characteristics, system and
equipment reliability and the possibility of carrying the whole range of
cargo required,” the press service said.

After the state tests the aircraft is recommended for adoption by the
Ukrainian army and for the launch to mass production, the press service
said.

The development of the An-70 tactical military-transport STOL
aircraft was foreseen in bilateral intergovernmental agreements of 1993
and 1999. The state customers are defense ministers of Ukraine and
Russia.

Russia did not take part in the final stage of state tests, although
the An-70 was included in the state armament program of Russia until
2020, and the state order for An-70 was to be 60 aircraft.