New AN-225 production to begin soon

5Right_5Left

Well-Known Member
More than a couple articles have been reporting it now. Would be cool to actually get to see one now that there may be more flying around.

"Ukraine agreed to start in China mass production of the
world’s largest aircraft An-225 “Mriya” (“dream” in Ukrainian),
while existing in a single copy. Agreement
cooperation on the program of the An-225 Ukrainian state
enterprise “Antonov”, part of the concern “Ukroboronprom”, signed with
Chinese Aerospace Industry Corporation of China (AICC) on August 30 in
Beijing, reported Wednesday, August 31, on the website of the concern.

The parties have agreed “long-term cooperation, which
provides at the first stage the construction of the second
modernized copy of the aircraft An-225 “Mriya” “Antonov” and
supply company AICC, and in the second stage the establishment of a joint
serial production of the An-225 in China under license of the Antonov company,
the statement said the company.

Both stages will be implemented under the terms of individual contracts. The contract
was signed on 30 August in Beijing, reported Chinese channel
CCTV. However, on the CCTV page in Facebook
it was said that “according to the contract to China goes right
ownership of the giant aircraft Transporter An-225, including
the use of drawings and specifications of the aircraft.” The Agency UNIAN , the Corporation denied reports about the sale of rights.

In may it became known about negotiations with Chinese investors who can pay three to four billion dollars for the creation of a second copy of the aircraft and the start of serial production.

“After signing the contract with the Ukrainian
company China gained access to unique technologies in the field
aircraft industry”, – said the TV channel. It is planned that the first Chinese
The an-225 should take off in 2019.

Enterprise “Antonov”, a year ago the government of Ukraine in
the “Ukroboronprom”, has completed the program of import substitution
Russian components in the manufacture of its machinery, deepen connection with
Western partners, has developed the latest An-132, the beginning of the development
domestic unmanned aviation complex, has received an order from
The Ministry of defense of Ukraine.

Heavy transport An-225 Mriya with a payload of 250 tons – the
heaviest lifting aircraft ever to fly. It
was created by the Soviet design Bureau. O. K. Antonov in 1988 to carry
the Soviet reusable space Shuttle Buran and rocket
the units of “Energy” at the cosmodrome “Baikonur”. In addition, the aircraft
planned to use as a flying launch
platform for space launches. Program on the construction
the aircraft was terminated in connection with the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In the spring of 2001, the aircraft was recovered, and then was launched
commercial operation of the aircraft with the part of the company “Airlines
Antonov”. Now it is the largest transport aircraft in the world
holding 240 world records. He delivers the goods worldwide
about twice a month, in particular, in may, he delivered
in the Australian city of Perth 135-ton power generator from the Czech Republic."

http://true-news.info/ukraine-agree...tion-of-the-worlds-largest-aircraft-an-225-3/
 
We have her little sister come in from time to time. Always amazing to see what they're loading - giant generators, flight simulators, etc.
 
Had one of the 124s come in to Charlotte and sit for almost a month just recently. They're stupid-big. Would love to see a second 225 get going.
 
I can't imagine why, with no production line, tooling, or any of the other stuff required to produce an aircraft in existence, they would decide to newly-develop that for a 30-year-old design.
 
I can't imagine why, with no production line, tooling, or any of the other stuff required to produce an aircraft in existence, they would decide to newly-develop that for a 30-year-old design.

Because the A380 has been such a roaring success, don't ya know.
 
Wonder if they can do 4 ge-90 sized engines instead of 6 little guys?

I know they more than likely will go with whatever is russian, or chinese for that matter, but just seems like a better bet to go with 4...


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I can't imagine why, with no production line, tooling, or any of the other stuff required to produce an aircraft in existence, they would decide to newly-develop that for a 30-year-old design.
Who said they don't have the tooling? There is a second An-225 already in a partially built state but they ran out of money to finish it, multiple times. It's stated to be between 60-70% completed.
 
Who said they don't have the tooling? There is a second An-225 already in a partially built state but they ran out of money to finish it, multiple times. It's stated to be between 60-70% completed.

A partially-constructed airframe is worthless if you don't have the production infrastructure, knowledge base, and personnel to run that infrastructure.

This is the same reason Boeing can't just magically re-start the 757 production lines again, despite owning all of the engineering and construction process data, as well as having employed everyone who produced the airplane in the past.

It has been 25 years since anyone actually put together that first AN-225. How many of those people are still around and able to contribute their corporate knowledge to getting it set up again?

Yes, all of this can be reverse-engineered. The question is, at what cost? And, given that cost, would it not be smarter to build a clean-sheet, more efficient design using the advances in structures, materials, engines, and avionics seen since 1988?
 
A partially-constructed airframe is worthless if you don't have the production infrastructure, knowledge base, and personnel to run that infrastructure.

This is the same reason Boeing can't just magically re-start the 757 production lines again, despite owning all of the engineering and construction process data, as well as having employed everyone who produced the airplane in the past.

It has been 25 years since anyone actually put together that first AN-225. How many of those people are still around and able to contribute their corporate knowledge to getting it set up again?

Yes, all of this can be reverse-engineered. The question is, at what cost? And, given that cost, would it not be smarter to build a clean-sheet, more efficient design using the advances in structures, materials, engines, and avionics seen since 1988?

You forget, the Russians are the kings of reverse-engineering airplanes :D
 
A partially-constructed airframe is worthless if you don't have the production infrastructure, knowledge base, and personnel to run that infrastructure.

This is the same reason Boeing can't just magically re-start the 757 production lines again, despite owning all of the engineering and construction process data, as well as having employed everyone who produced the airplane in the past.

It has been 25 years since anyone actually put together that first AN-225. How many of those people are still around and able to contribute their corporate knowledge to getting it set up again?

Yes, all of this can be reverse-engineered. The question is, at what cost? And, given that cost, would it not be smarter to build a clean-sheet, more efficient design using the advances in structures, materials, engines, and avionics seen since 1988?

Short version: the secret sauce is the people.
 
I can't imagine why, with no production line, tooling, or any of the other stuff required to produce an aircraft in existence, they would decide to newly-develop that for a 30-year-old design.

Well, they were seven years behind on rolling out a Chinese DC-9, so ya know, whatever that logic is.
 
That small airplane company in Washington (state) is having a hard time selling 747 freighters.

Since the DreamLifters and Super Guppies will wear out eventually, the world might need a handful of Antonovs, but setting up an assembly line?

The Ukrainians must have been drinking their 'Secret Sauce.'
 
I saw one loading up something at the NASA hangar at Moffett Federal. They covered the entrance to the hangar all the way to the aircraft so you couldn't see what they were loading.

Ramp dude said it was a satellite going to China. This was in 2007 or so. He spit on the ground and muttered something about Clinton.
 
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