The world-famous Antonov aviation concern, which created many unique aircraft back in Soviet times, is being liquidated. And its assets are transferred to Ukroboronprom. The reason may be not only the maniacal desire of the Ukrainian authorities to get rid of the well-known brand associated with Russia.
The world famous Ukrainian aviation concern Antonov, which previously produced the world's largest aircraft An-124 Ruslan and An-225 Mriya, ceases to exist.
"The Americans, waving promises and green papers, want to reorient this enterprise, in fact, killing the school of Ukrainian aircraft construction."
According to the decision of the Ukrainian government, the concern is liquidated, and the enterprises that were part of it are transferred to Ukroboronprom. Kiev made such a decision "due to the absence of participants", since all three enterprises, which actually constituted the concern, left it last year and were included in the Ukroboronprom concern, explained the press service of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine …
The concern included the Antonov enterprise itself, as well as the Kharkov State Aviation Production Enterprise and the State Enterprise 410 GA Plant in Kiev. On September 14, 2015, the Antonov concern was already withdrawn from the Russian-Ukrainian joint venture UAC-Antonov, which was developing a number of new aircraft.
Antonov is the name of the great Soviet aircraft designer, under whose leadership an aviation experimental design bureau was created in May 1946 at the Novosibirsk Aviation Plant.
“This is a global brand that flourished during the Soviet period, primarily thanks to transport aircraft. A whole series of unique aircraft was created. An-2 was created in Novosibirsk, and only after the transfer of the battery to Kiev acquired a Ukrainian registration. Antonov's most important success in passenger aircraft construction is the An-24/26, which is still in operation in Russia, and, in fact, no replacement for this aircraft has been found,”says Roman Gusarov, editor of the Avia.ru portal. An-24 is an aircraft for flights up to 2000 km, it was produced for 20 years - from 1959 to 1979. As of January 1, 2006, there were 207 aircraft of this type in the State Register of Civil Aircraft of the Russian Federation, of which 121 were in service. An-24 installed 13 monuments in Russia and one in Uzbekistan.
In fact, we are not talking about the liquidation of the enterprises themselves that are part of the Antonov concern. But aircraft factories are now passing under the control of the state company Ukroboronprom, losing their historical brand, their connection with Soviet and Russian aviation.
This reformatting of the group may have several reasons. First, merging into a large holding company can help cut costs. In fact, the enterprise no longer exists, it is legal registration in accordance with the real state of affairs, which will reduce costs and remove the "managerial superstructure", says Ivan Andrievsky, First Vice President of the Russian Union of Engineers.
On the other hand, it will become easier for the Ukrainian state to control the work of aircraft factories, for example, in terms of cutting off cooperation with Russia. Another reason, believes Andrievsky, is the maniacal desire of the Ukrainian authorities to get rid of the Soviet legacy.“After all, Antonov is a Soviet brand that is firmly associated with Russia. In addition, the company has very close ties with Russian companies, some models were assembled by 90% at Russian enterprises,”he says.
Roman Gusarov sees another goal in the liquidation of the Antonov concern and the transfer of assets to Ukroboronprom. “It is clear that no one in the West will buy the products made by the aircraft factories that are part of the Antonov concern. For Ukraine itself, two aircraft factories are a lot, and there is no money to build planes and buy them for the domestic market. This means that these factories will be reoriented to the production of something else, and the design bureau, having no sales, will gradually degrade, Gusarov said.
For the past 25 years, export orders for An aircraft have been sporadic. And the announced plans - to reach an annual production of up to 50 aircraft per year, and “then reach the level of production of the USSR 200 aircraft per year” in cooperation with the West - look like pure fantasy.
According to Gusarov, the Antonov concern will face the same fate as the Zaporozhye Motor Sich, which produces aircraft and helicopter engines. Information appeared in the European press that the United States is going to modernize this plant in order to produce anti-tank missiles on its basis, repair and modernize the weapons of the Ukrainian army. This was reported by the French resource Intelligence online. The next day, Motor Sich itself announced that it had not negotiated with US representatives on the creation of a defense holding on the basis of its enterprises, the press service reported on Thursday.
“The goal is clear. Today in Ukraine there is a unique high-tech production of aircraft engines, this is an area of technology that few countries have, and the Americans, waving promises and green papers, want to reorient this enterprise, in fact, killing the school of local aircraft construction,”says Gusarov.
“Until recently, all Russian helicopters, which are sold in large quantities all over the world, flew only on Ukrainian engines. That is, until recently, this plant was earning currency for its country, and soon the Ukrainian budget will buy anti-tank missiles at the plant, moreover, with money that will be taken from the United States. And the Americans will be the shareholders of this plant,”the expert explains. In fact, the Ukrainians will buy missiles from the Americans and they will still owe them.
If you remember, helicopter engines were originally created at the Klimov design bureau in St. Petersburg, and it was decided to launch production in the Ukraine in the Soviet years. Now Russia has to spend a lot of money on the reconstruction of a production base for helicopter engines in St. Petersburg.
Until now, JSCB "Antonov" existed thanks to Russia. “All the same, the resources of the aircraft operating in Russia were extended, the aircraft were modernized, and new machines were created. The An-140 was developed jointly with Russia, built in Voronezh, and the Ukrainian Antonov received royalties from each aircraft. Ukrainian factories also took part in the production. The project to create the An-70, which lasted for a decade, was also financed by Russia. Now all this will not happen. The Antonova firm will no longer receive any receipts from sales from Russia, which means that it will be doomed to gradual extinction, staff will be washed out,”Roman Gusarov believes.
Even the last export sales in 2014 and 2015 at Antonov were only thanks to Russian money. For example, last year Antonov State Enterprise delivered one An-158 to Cuba and one An-148 to the DPRK under contracts signed back in 2013 and 2011, and both transactions were financed by the Russian leasing company Ilyushin Finance Co. Moreover, Cuba will continue to receive the ordered An-158, and the Russian leasing company will continue to pay. That is, the prospects for the export of AN aircraft still depend on Russian partners.
Neither Europe nor the United States needs Ukrainian planes, and they are unlikely to want to finance their sales to third countries.
“No one in the world, except Russia, needed Ukraine as an aviation power. Russia held on to this for a long time, there were many ideas for unification, deep integration. But, unfortunately, in Ukraine everyone lived one day, everyone wanted to receive more dividends for themselves personally. In no case should you give anything to the "Muscovite". As a result, they are now being given away for a pittance to Americans and Europeans. It's a shame, because the entire production base, the aviation school were created by the Soviet Union, all together and for many years,”concludes Gusarov.
Anov's prospects in foreign markets were buried back in 2013 by the European giant Airbus. Former Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov then said that the Airbus management explicitly stated that it would not allow Antonov's planes to enter world markets. NATO also ditched Ukrainian aircraft.
“Thus, the An brand is now practically worthless. It is not interesting in the post-Soviet space, since Russia, as a key potential customer, refused to purchase Anov, and he cannot enter world markets due to opposition from Airbus. Of course, "Antonov" had its own developments, and the engineering and technical base, laid down in Soviet times, made it possible to count on the development of the enterprise even without the participation of Russia. However, the Ukrainian authorities were unable to get Antonov out of the crisis. As a result, the company and the brand itself may be lost,”sums up Andrievsky.
