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Antonov 225 Mriya, production resumption

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  • Antonov 225 Mriya, production resumption

    Don't know if it's alreaddy discussed here but could not find anything on this topic.


    Yes the old heavy 6 engines beast will get a new shot at life with a production line planed to open in China.


    ch-aviation report that the second Mriya frame will be completed and later a new production line will open in China under license from Antonov.


    Article:
    Ukraine's Antonov Design Bureau (ADB, Gostomel) is set to resume production of the An-225 "Mriya" ultraheavy transport aircraft after it signed a joint-cooperation agreement with the Aerospace Industry Corporation of China (AICC) earlier this week. Under the first phase of the agreement, the partially finished hull of the second aircraft of the type will be completed ahead of its handover to the AICC. Under the second phase, full-scale production of the type will then be resumed in China under license from Antonov. Antonov Airlines (ADB, Gostomel) operates the only operational An-225, UR-82060 (msn 19530503763), on special ultra heavy lift missions across the world. Featuring six ZMKB Ivchenko-Progress D-18 turbofans with a Maximum Take Off Weight of 640,000 kg, the 28 year-old An-225 was originally designed to carry the Soviet Union's Buran Space Shuttle. However, following the collapse of the USSR in 1991, the aircraft was subsequently converted to commercial use.

  • #2
    Originally posted by Mumrik View Post
    Don't know if it's alreaddy discussed here but could not find anything on this topic.


    Yes the old heavy 6 engines beast will get a new shot at life with a production line planed to open in China.


    ch-aviation report that the second Mriya frame will be completed and later a new production line will open in China under license from Antonov.


    Article:
    http://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/ne...ction-in-china
    Sadly, with petrochemical/natural gas prices low, note;
    Weakened economies in:
    - Canada {U.S. fracking, and an inability to cheaply transport fuel to U.S. markets effectively via a pipeline limit the U.S. apetitie for a commodity that was also more difficult to produce than 'conventional sources', thus always making it a premium over sources from competitors anyway}.
    - Russia {even past the Macro-Russian case of the international sanctions, the entrenched and cancerous corruption, and then the added fuel of low fuel prices, note the effect on Turkmenistan and the effected Russian monopoly of natural gas sales to Europe}.
    - Brazil {even past corruption, and mis-management of state owned companies, the economy has seen other commodity prices slide, and a weakening overall Chinese demand - all over, the economy is shrinking}
    - Saudi Arabia {even essentially announcing Aramco's IPO to demonstrate their financial strength. This is historically, unprecedented in Saudi history - not only because of the effect that Aramco can effectively funnel the control of Saudi Arabia. Admittedly, the subsidized standard of living produced by the Saudi state, is from these profits).
    - Iran {removing the sanctions, only released the billions trapped in foreign banks. Iran will still effectively remain handicapped by the lower fuel prices}.

    Then we progress to the unnecessarily scary situations;
    -Venezuela {insert library here}
    - South China Sea {where one 9-dashed line could effectively start WW3, and sitting below this contested region are some lucrative and massive sources of carbon based fuels - but militarization, and confrontation making accessibility truly expensive on the domestic and international political levels, while also making infrastructure much more expensive as well. You're going to have to turn that reef, into an island, to land the plane, to bring the drill core...}
    - Sudan/South Sudan {more tragic than I care to explain here}
    - Libya {where are we now?}


    and the mining and raw commodity markets also cooled;
    -Australia (where mining has taken a sharp recession).
    -Brazil (if you understand this connection, 1000 points to you!)
    -China (which is honestly, it's own Field of Study, not only because of demand/supply, but of sheer effect on other markets such as Australia, Brazil, and many African Nations).

    the need to carry large freight has also slumped.

    The AN-225's sole purview was that market - the ability to transport large equipment.

    Apart from military operators (and even the cost of overt war actions has risen significantly, see the Russian intervention in Eastern Ukraine, and Crimea; where even 'covert' actions and support, effected with crippling sanctions).
    An AN-224 is demonstratively large; and by definition too large - thus limiting, range, performance, and stealth (hard to hide it...).

    Plus, in the absence of production, both Boeing and EADS have produced examples much better suited (more technologically advanced cockpits, engines with greater maintenance reliability, support, and longer waits between maintenance intervals - lower costs of operation, smaller and more nimble to accommodate greater mission range, et al) to the needs of both the civilian and military operators needs.

    http://www.airbus.com/company/worldw...rbus-in-china/
    Airbus, TJFTZ and AVIC are expanding their successful cooperation with an agreement to set up an A330 completion and delivery center in Tianjin – taking into account the need to support Chinese air traffic’s rapid growth with larger aircraft.
    A better investment to the PRC, in their moves to diversify, would have been to further invest in EADS. With a FAL in Tainjin (and now expanded to the widebodies production as well) - this would have enabled much greater Chinese/European corporation to the Chinese sector (access to specialized training, and expertise of EADS) which is where the PRC needs to grow positively, to support their domestic consumption, and production - and access to a wider range of products and technologies that will benefit the greater range of Chinese needs.

    Consider another example; the Chinese invested in another product that was too large, too fuel hungry, and despite being that large, was soon outclassed by newer technologies and competitive market of products designed to fill the capacity right below said product. Building the Hummer in China did not make it any more valuable.
    Whatever is necessary, is never unwise.

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