30/07/2015 Sources : Etat-major des armées

Le 29 juillet 2015, sur l'aéroport international Hamani Diori de Niamey, un Antonov124 affrété par le Centre de soutien des opérations et des approvisionnements (CSOA) a acheminé fret et matériel au profit des éléments de la force Barkhane, notamment un hélicoptère de type NH90 Caïman. Ce dernier vient remplacer l’un de ces hélicoptères déployés sur le théâtre, ramené en France pour sa révision.

Suite de l’article

The AN-70 is designed for aerial delivery and air transportation of troops and tangible assets, among other missions. Photo Antonov.

27 January 2015 army-technology.com

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has signed an order to induct the AN-70 medium military freighter aircraft into service.

The decision is reportedly based on results obtained from joint state tests of the AN-70 and allows Antonov to start serial production of the aircraft and develop different modifications.

Powered by four Ivchenko Progress D-27 three-shaft propfan engines, the AN-70 is a short take-off and landing aircraft, and can be used for aerial delivery, air transportation of troops and tangible assets, as well as the provision of manoeuvres and troop activity.

Ukrainian Armed Forces state scientific test centre test pilot Mr Pakholchenko said: "The AN-70 is easy to be piloted at all difficult flight areas, including short take-off and landing.

"Optimal ergonomic decisions, applied in the crew cockpit, allow teaching an average pilot flying rather easy."

Antonov president general designer Mr Kiva said the company performed a modernisation of the AN-70 board equipment and power plant, before the final stage of joint state tests.

Developed as the AN-70T, AN-70TK and AN-112KC, the aircraft is scheduled to replace the Ukrainian military's obsolete AN-12 military transport aircraft fleet.

To date, Ukraine has received two AN-70 prototypes.

In addition to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the aircraft has been ordered by the Russian Air Force. Volga-Dnepr has also signed a memorandum of understanding to purchase up to five commercial-standard AN-70Ts, as reported by Flightglobal.

September 30, 2014: Strategy Page

Another casualty of the Russian war on Ukraine is the Russian plan to build new An-124 air transports and refurbish some of the existing ones. The An-124 is the world's largest production aircraft and can carry a payload of 120 tons. It first flew in 1986 and only 55 have been built so far. New ones will cost over $100 million each. Russia has been trying to get it back into production for over a decade but needed to work out a deal with Ukraine, where the An-124 is built.

All this is driven by Russian efforts to replace their aging Cold War era weapons and military equipment. In 2012 the Russian Air Force announced ambitious plans to invigorate their aging force of air transports. This was to be accomplished by ordering 170 new aircraft by the end of the decade. These included 20 An-124s, 39 Il-476s, 11 An-140s, 30 L-410s, 50 Il-214s and 20 An-148s. Currently the air force depends on a lot of Cold War era transports (An-124s, An-22s, Il-76s and An-12, An-72, An-24 and An-26s). A lot of the older transports cannot be used because of age, or cannot be used much because of the high cost of maintenance. Some of the older aircraft (An-124s and Il-76s) were to be refurbished, but most of the remainder will be scrapped as they become too old to be used (too expensive to maintain or simply too unreliable).

By 2103 Russia and Ukraine had worked out a deal to build 20 new commercial An-124s but the contract has not been signed yet. Apparently a contract to build ten new An-124s for the Russian Air Force was closer to signing but that deal is now on hold as well. The Ukrainian manufacturer wants to build new aircraft as An-124-150s and upgrade some existing ones to that standard. That would reduce crew size from six to four and increase carrying capacity to 150 tons. The An-124 has been very successful as a commercial transport, especially for military purposes. Even NATO leases six An-124s for moving military cargo. Ukraine needs the work and Russia needs the An-124s but until the current conflict is resolved that will all have to wait

03 Avril 2014 Par Marine & Océans

Le 1er avril 2014, le Secrétaire général de l'OTAN, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, annonçait, à Bruxelles, la suspension par l'Alliance de sa "coopération civile et militaire avec la Russie». Il n'a pas précisé quels seraient les programmes touchés même si ceux liés à la lutte contre la piraterie et le trafic de drogue ne devraient pas être concernés. L'OTAN suit ainsi l'exemple de la France qui, dès le 21 mars 2014, annonçait la suspension de sa ccopération militaire avec Moscou, notamment en ce qui concerne les échanges entre états-majors et les exercices communs. La posture n'est pourtant pas sans danger.

Pour leurs opérations extérieures d'envergure (Afghanistan, Mali, etc.), la France et l'OTAN contractent en effet habituellement avec des compagnies russe et ukrainienne pour le transport de matériels lourds par avions gros porteurs de type Antonov AN 124-100.

Moscou pourrait donc, à son tour, agir pour mettre un terme à ces contrats d'affrètement, indispensables tant pour le désengagement des troupes de l'OTAN d'Afghanistan que pour l'acheminement de matériels lourds  de l'armée française sur ses théâtres d'opérations extérieures.

En janvier 2013, dans le cadre de l'opération Serval, la France avait sollicité la Russie pour acheminer par avions Antonov des matériels lourds au Mali.

Cela n'a pas echappé au très expérimenté ministre russe des Affaires étrangères, Sergueï Lavrov, dont la réaction, goguenarde, ne trompe pas : « J'ai appris que nos compagnies privées bénéficiaient de contrats avec différents pays, y compris avec le ministère français de la Défense... ».

A suivre.

07 November 2013 by Guy Martin – defenceWeb

The Mozambique Air Force will soon receive two second hand Antonov An-26B transport aircraft, which are currently being refurbished in the Ukraine.

The An-26B-100s have been worked on for the last few months at Kiev-Zhuliany in the Ukraine, according to Air Forces Daily. One was seen in July painted in Force Aerea de Mocambique colours while a second was seen test flying in late July. It is not clear exactly how many An-26s are destined for the Mozambique Air Force or when exactly they will be delivered.

It is not clear from where the aircraft originated, but it is certain that they are not ex-Mozambican examples, as these are unserviceable. Six derelict An-26s are in open storage at Maputo, two are at Beira and one at Cuamba, reports Air Forces Daily. Mozambique’s Air Force received around ten An-26s from 1978. One crashed on March 30, 1986, whilst trying to land at Pemba Airport, killing 3 crew and 41 of 46 passengers on board.

Reports of the An-26 acquisition are the latest to emerge regarding the modernisation of the Mozambique Air Force, which until recently almost ceased to exist. Earlier this month it was reported that the country will soon receive eight MiG-21s (six Mig-21Bis and two MiG-21UM trainers) from Romanian company Aerostar once their overhaul is complete, together with an L-39 jet trainer and two Festival light aircraft.

The arrival of the MiG-21s will give the Air Force a jet capability not had in years, as its MiG-21s have fallen into disrepair and are grounded.

Another recent acquisition occurred in September when the Air Force took delivery of a second hand Hawker 850XP business jet, built in 2005.