Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade Ruslan Korzh has admitted that Ukraine is unable to promote its aircraft abroad.
Korzh visited the Dubai air show, where the Antonov aircraft manufacturing company presented its new An-178 transport aircraft, and shared his impressions.
"Ukraine is represented much more modestly than it was in Paris. However, on the contrary, interest in us has increased, in my opinion. There are more joint projects, some of which go into practical implementation. The main thing now is to be able to implement them. We are still not fully ready in the organizational and managerial sense. Our An-178 is again not participating in demonstration flights. They are not ready for them. Potential customers are already milling around and visiting actively since morning, but we are not ready. Again, it is a shame," Korzh wrote on his Facebook page.
Bloggers earlier said that it was impossible to obtain photographs from Antonov’s stand anywhere, that the press service of the company did not send out anything, and that there were no pictures as of the end of the first day of the air show. A fresh photo report is also currently unavailable on the website of the company.
Meanwhile, there is interest in the aircraft. Aviation Week, one of the most influential industry publications, included pictures of the air show’s debutant in its photo gallery, but there was no detailed information about the airplane.
The An-178 is medium-range transport aircraft designed to replace the outdated An-12 transport aircraft. The An-178 was created in cooperation with companies from 15 countries. It has a speed of 825 kilometers per hour, a maximum payload of 18 tons (two standard shipping containers), an altitude of 12 kilometers, and a range of 5,500 km. The aircraft is capable of landing and taking off from any airfield, including unpaved airfields, making it useful for defense purposes.
