Russian Ministry of Defense removed An-70 military-transport aircraft developed by Russia and Ukraine from the State Arms Program, Izvestiya reports with reference to the ministry. Russian Ministry of Defense was going to purchase 60 aircraft of the type during a period until 2020. However, Ukrainian party put the joint research-and-development work on hold. Antonov State Enterprise (Kiev) completed the development and testing of the aircraft by itself; Ukrainian Ministry of Defense put the first An-70 into service this year.
Joint development of An-70 was started by Russia and Ukraine in 2010. According to Russian Ministry of Defense, Russia invested 2,95 billion rubles in the project.
In April 2011 Russian Minister of Defense, Anatoly Serdukov, said that the State Arms Program for 2011-2020 includes purchase of 60 production aircraft of the type. In June 2012 Commander-in-Chief of the Russian military-transport aviation, Lieutenant General Viktor Kachalkin, confirmed that the air forces will take delivery of 60 An-70s during the period from 2014 to 2020. The price of one An-70 was $67 million.
“Russia and Ukraine, — he said, — are developing An-70 military-transport aircraft. Development should be completed this year. We hope the new military-transport aircraft designed for transportation of personnel and other missions will be delivered to our air forces. In August Anatoly Serdukov announced the start of the next stage of An-70’s flight test program”.
In February 2013 ambassador of Russia to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov delivered a speech at Rossotrudnichestvo and said that the order for An-70 may be cancelled, because Russia started mass production of Il-476 jets. Later Ukrainian Minister of Defense Pavel Lebedev confirmed that Russia put the joint development and testing of An-70 aircraft on hold.
In October 2013 prime ministers of Russia and Ukraine agreed to complete the joint testing of An-70 by February 1st 2014. The parties stated that decision on starting mass production of the vehicle would be made following the results of the testing.
After driving Viktor Yanukovich from power the Ukrainian party finished the work by itself. Last April Antonov completed the test program and in January 2015 An-70 was put into service by Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.