TR-188 transport

The Turkish-Ukrainian project An-188 was presented to the press at the Eurasia Airshow 28 April 2018. Antonov Acting President Aleksandr Los informed that work on this programme began about 2 years ago at Turkey's initiative, a series of memorandums were signed and the roadmap was developed. It was stated that work was continuing on the new plane at the fair held in Antalya. It was stated that the ongoing work between the two countries will yield a positive result.

Ukraine's state-owned defense industrial group Ukroboronprom announced in a statement that it has held talks with Turkey for the joint production of the new AN-188 military cargo plane. The aircraft will be produced by Kiev-based defense company Antonov with a capacity of 50 tons and the Turkish delegation will visit its facilities in Kiev in this regard, according to Ukrainian media.

Ukroboronprom and TAI officials met again at the Farnborough International Aviation Fair in England on 16 July 2018, and that the interest in continuing cooperation in this direction continues. According to the statement, a delegation from TAI will soon visit the Antonov company's facilities in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, to prepare official documents to form a partnership for the design, production and testing of the AN-188 cargo plane.

"In the near future, a Turkish delegation will visit the state-run Antonov to finalize the drafting of legal documents on establishing a joint venture to develop, build and test the AN-188 aircraft. According to the legislation, the documents will be submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine for consideration. The Turkish side will carry out the relevant procedure as well," the press service of Ukraine's state-run military, Ukroboronprom, said in a statement on 17 July 2018.

Ukroboronprom said that they aim to establish a partnership with Turkey to bring together the Antonov aircraft manufacturing company operating under its roof and Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) for the design, production and test flights of the AN-188 military cargo plane. Ukroboronprom General Director Pavlo Bukin and the Undersecretary for Defense Industries Ismail Demir came together in April at the 2018 Eurasia Airshow in Antalya to discuss this issue. It was noted in the statement released by Ukroboronprom that the interest in maintaining cooperation in this direction continued.

Turkey aims to carry out joint projects with Ukraine, which has significant knowledge and experience in the defense field. As the relations between Turkey and the US were increasingly tensioned, Ukraine defense cooperation with Turkey accelerated. Ukraine's Ambassador to Ankara, Andriy Sybih, said 24 December 2019 he recorded serious progress in recent years in cooperation in space technology from the ground up to supply Ukraine with Turkey. Sybih said, "through the Antonov company with Turkey, the AN-188 aircraft, including commonairplanewe would like to start production. We attended a fair 2 years ago with AN-124 'Ruslan', one of the biggest cargo planes in the world. However, the Antonov air show in the world, in Turkey, the largest cargo aircraft AN-224 'Mriya' with Turkey may surprise viewers. Negotiations on this issue continue. We want to bring the win-win formula to life. We are ready to accept any model of cooperation with Turkey, "he said.

Sybiha said, “Joint working groups have been created. Under the current circumstances balls in Turkey. We expect the Turkish side to return. This project is strategically important for both sides. We like ASELSAN's avionics system. In this project, Turkey's experience in the avionics field is attracting the attention of Ukraine. Turkey's avionics field studies in the change of the Russian AN-type alternative systems in aircraft and flight characteristics also will provide unfolded seriously, "he said.

Sybiha said, " it is important to say that joint aircraft manufacturing activities open up great perspectives for common products in the world market. There is now a production of war cargo aircraft on our agenda ”.

It aims to develop Antonov's AN-188 military cargo plane, based on the AN-178 platform, which it is currently producing, according to NATO standards. With a load carrying capacity of 50 tons, the AN-188 turbojet military transport aircraft will be able to carry a wide range of cargo, from all kinds of military equipment, military and construction equipment, helicopters, humanitarian aid and containers with up to 300 soldiers. Equipped for precision air extraction and equipped with 4 turbojet engines, the aircraft will be able to land and take off on any runway 600 meters long, including soil.