Aerospace Industry Corporation of China (AIC) has reportedly signed an agreement with Antonov Company to restart production of the aircraft.
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The agreement gives China access to the aircraft’s designs and technologies to facilitate the serial production of the aircraft in China, UNIAN news agency reported.
The Sino-Ukrainian agreement, this week, calls for the completion of the second AN-225 by Antonov and its delivery to AICC.
Antonov and AICC signed the An-225 cooperation agreement in Beijing on August 30 to finalize the construction of a second “Mriya” plane in Kyiv for the Chinese customer and to start joint licensed production of the heavy-lift jet in China.
Both phases would be initiated after the signing of separate contracts.
The Antonov AN-225 Mriya (NATO reporting name “Cossack”) is now the biggest aircraft in the world.
A number of foreign media outlets said that the agreement allegedly stipulated free reassignment of An-225 “Mriya” property rights, including documentation and specifications, to China. It is powered by six turbofan engines and is the longest and heaviest airplane ever built, with a maximum takeoff weight of 640 tons and a working load of 250 tons.
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The first stage of this cooperation consists in the construction of a second modernized AN-25 Mriya by Antonov. The 28 year-old aircraft was originally created to carry the Soviet Union’s Buran Space Shuttle, but following the collapse of the USSR in 1991, the aircraft was subsequently converted to commercial use. It also has the largest wingspan of any aircraft in operational service.
