Ukraine's giant Antonov An-70 airlifter may make its first foreign visit at the Show by the end of the week.
It was due yesterday, but when it failed to arrive at the expected time representatives at the Antonov stand had no information on a revised schedule.
This happens just two years after a fatal mid-air collision with a chase aircraft prevented the first prototype from attending the last Paris airshow.
The visit to Paris by the second An-70 prototype comes barely a month after its first flight at the company's Gostomel airfield, near Kiev.
Much rests on the success of Antonov's new transport, with potential orders for 500 from Russia and 100 from the Ukraine. Political uncertainty and defence cutbacks in Russia have raised question marks over the Russian order and made the Ukrainians look to export markets outside the former Soviet Union.
The Ukrainian aircraft is entering a highly-competitive market; Antonov is offering it to European countries wanting aircraft in the Lockheed Martin C-130J or Airbus Future Large Aircraft (FLA) class.
The Tupolev Tu-330 transport is the An-70's main East European rival in the contest to gain Russian air force orders in spite of the Antonov being selected by the Russians in the summer of 1995.
Flight testing of the An-70 began again on 24 April with a 26min flight. Antonov plans to produce a number of versions, including the An-70-100 with new avionics to reduce crew sizes; the An-70PS search and rescue version; An-70T commercial transport; and An-70TK convertible civil passenger/transport.
A twin-engined version is also proposed, utilising a variety of engines including the Kuznetsov NK-93 or CFM56-5C4s. A stretched, heavy lift version with increased wing span, the An-170, is also being considered.
Source: Flight Daily News
