The recent rumors about the untraceability of last five Indian Air Force Antonov An-32 airlifters send to Ukraine for overhaul and mode...
The recent rumors about the untraceability of last five Indian Air Force Antonov An-32 airlifters send to Ukraine for overhaul and modernization has been rejected by Ukraine and India.
Antonov and Spectechnoexport clarified that all the five airlifters are at various stages of upgradation at the State Enterprise "Plant 410 CA" in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Antonov Plant and Civil Aviation Plant 410 are executing the contract. Progress of work is constantly monitored by the Embassy of India in Ukraine.
The contract, worth some USD 400 million, for the repair and upgrading of 105 IAF An-32s was signed in July 2009 between Indian Defense Ministry and subsidiary company of Ukrspecexport State Company – Spectechnoexport. Earlier, 35 modernized aircrafts were successfully handed over to IAF.
As part of the deep upgrade, the Indian aircraft is to be fitted with modern equipment made in Ukraine and other countries. In particular, these are aircraft collision warning equipment, collision with ground early warning equipment, satellite navigation system, aircraft rangefinders, modernized height finders, new radar set with two multifunctional indicators, new oxygen equipment, and modernized crew seats.
The upgraded An-32 will be able to land on an ICAO category II approach. Whereas, fuel consumption and the mass of the empty upgraded aircraft will be lower than for the basic model. The upgrade will increase the payload capacity to 7.5 tonnes from 6.7 tonnes.
In addition, in line with a three-year contract worth $110 million signed in December 2009 by Motor Sich OJSC (Zaporizhia) and the IAF, the AI-20 engines of the Indian An-32s are being upgraded.
The first 10 modernized aircrafts have been already transferred to IAF in 2011, and each year other 10 vehicles in 2012 and 2013 accordingly.
The ukraine is finding difficult to source parts for the upgrade following the tensions arised after Russian annexation of Crimea, as several parts for the Soviet era airlifter is sourced from Russia. The local upgrade of the remaining 64 An-32s will also get affected.
