The Ukroboronprom state defense concern has won the Peruvian Ministry of Internal Affairs’ tender for supply of a number of military transport aircraft.

Ukroboronprom announced this in a statement, the CFTS portal reports.

The Ukrainian-made An-178 military transport aircraft will replace the Ukrainian-made An-32B military transport aircraft in this Latin American country. This was announced by Ukroboronprom’s General Director Pavlo Bukin.

According to Bukin, the Ukrainian-made An-178 aircraft beat the C-27 Spartan aircraft (USA-Italy) and the C-295 aircraft (Airbus) in the Peruvian tender.

“Peru could become the first export destination for the new aircraft created at Antonov state enterprise. In this case, both the professionalism and perseverance of Ukroboronprom’s contractors and the legendary reliability of the Antonov brand worked in our favor,” Bukin said.

According to him, LLC GKhVP Spetstekhnoexport, which is part of the Ukroboronprom state concern, participated in the tender. The an An-178 aircraft beat all its competitors in the tender, in which performance of the aircraft, delivery time, extended warranty, personnel training, as well as social and production preferences were assessed.

The An-178 multi-purpose military transport aircraft was developed at the Antonov state aircraft manufacturing enterprise, which is part of the Ukroboronprom group of companies. About 200 companies from 15 countries are involved in the cooperation program under which the An-178 was created.

The An-178 is an upgrade on the An-148/An-158 family of regional jet aircraft. It has a flight altitude of 12 kilometers, a range of 5,500 kilometers, and a maximum speed of 825 km/h. The aircraft has a modified fuselage and a ramp for loading and unloading oversized cargo. It is capable of transporting up to 18 tons of cargo, including heavy shipping containers. The aircraft is capable of landing and taking off from any airfield, including unpaved airfields.

The An-178 performed its maiden first flight on May 7, 2015, and it is currently undergoing certification. The Ukroboronprom group presented the An-178 at the Farnborough international air show, where it performed a demonstration flight, in July 2018.

It was reported in 2017 that Antonov intended to deliver 50 An-178 aircraft to China. Antonov also aimed to supply a large batch of aircraft to India. However, none of these plans was implemented.

As the CFTS reported earlier, the Ministry of Internal Affairs plans to buy 13 new An-178 aircraft for the State Emergency Service and the National Guard. Production of aircraft for a domestic customer is considered a key condition for resumption of its serial production in Ukraine.