Analisi difesa posted an additional article concerning the
ESOCA airlifter program, adding some reply from Ukraine.
I am just reporting for curiosity, it is obvious that nothing will be able to be done with the ukrainian Antonov.
Actually the idea would not have been absurd, since Airbus already build the parts for their aircrafts in many countries (and the airbus aircrafts wings are made in Bristol, England, even if the UK left the European Union).
At the end this is mostly what Russia is going to do, i.e. modernising the An-124 with new modern avionics and new engines, transfer design and technological documentation from paper to digital and replace some old soviet internal systems with new more modern (Russian) ones.
The interesting point, and here Kiva is right, is that even him completed ignored the french engine manufacturer
(Safran Engines (previously called Snecma)).
They do not have experience with large engines and they do not produce any high bypass turbofan alone (for the CFM56 and Leap GE is responsible for more than half of the engine and in the SaM146 of the SJ100 most issues were due to the French half of the engine.
They make decent engines for small to medium helicopters, however.
https://www.analisidifesa.it/2024/07/programma-europeo-esoca-le-reazioni-in-ucraina-allarticolo-di-analisi-difesa/
European ESOCA programme: reactions in Ukraine to the Defense Analysis article
6 July 2024 by Maurizio Sparacino
The recent Defense Analysis article has awakened Ukrainian minds regarding the clear decision of the European Union not to involve the Antonov aeronautical company in the ESOCA program (European eco-System for Outsized Cargo Airlift), a multinational project which should lead to the creation of a new heavy transport aircraft.
Despite the moment in which the EU partners support Ukraine in the war, the ESOCA program which aims to replace the large Antonov An-124 freighters, paradoxically does not include the involvement of the JSC Antonov, a Bureau founded in the USSR in 1946 and constantly engaged since then in the development and construction of transport aircraft exported to every corner of the globe and holders of aeronautical records that have still never been broken.
After complaints expressed on the Ukrainian aviation portal Krila, the former president and general designer of Antonov, Dmytro Kiva, addressed an open letter to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, warning against the risk that the company and Ukraine they lose the ability to produce transport aircraft.
«European countries have announced the launch of the ESOCA program for the creation of a heavy transport aircraft to replace the An-124-100. This program involves an analysis of the possibilities of creating a heavy transport aircraft requested by the EU (without the participation of Ukraine) to replace the An-124, the number of which has significantly reduced over time."
«At the same time, as a long-standing developer and manufacturer of transport and military aircraft, Antonov has successful experience in creating a large number of types of transport aircraft.
The An-124-100 – continues Kiva – was intended to replace imports (Russian editor's note) with European and Western materials, equipment, engines and other components. The designers determined that the updated aircraft would have a significant advantage over the existing aircraft in terms of technical and economic characteristics (cargo range, fuel consumption, empty weight, etc.). In particular, thanks to the use of European-made materials, components, engines and equipment, the updated An-124 can have a maximum take-off weight of 450 tons with a maximum payload of 170 tons.»
Kiva therefore proposed the following steps to participate in the program with the European Union for the creation of a heavy transport aircraft with equal involvement of Western and Ukrainian countries:
– The basic aerodynamics and layout of the aircraft should be based on the An-124-100.
– The engines should be British Rolls Roys or American General Electrics.
– Install a modern “glasscockpit” cockpit with navigation equipment for the pilot (Thales, Honeywell).
– Replace some equipment and systems with European and Western ones. Transfer design and technological documentation from paper to digital.
– The 28 meter long pressed wing panels must be replaced with European-made structures.
– Work on new modernized aircraft should be carried out by Airbus, Antonov and other European companies.
– The wings of the plane should be produced in the UK, parts of the fuselage in Germany, parts of the units at Antonov and final assembly in France.
– The development of this updated aircraft will take 4-5 years and will cost approximately $3 billion.
In general, the development of a new European aircraft of this class will cost at least 10 billion dollars and take 8-10 years.
The focal point of Dmytro Kiva's request (in the photo alongside), as reiterated for years by the Defense Analysis dossiers on Antonov published in 2014, 2016, 2019 and 2021, is the fact that since 2015 the Ukrainian company has not developed or mass-produced only one aircraft, losing opportunities, according to existing contracts with European and non-European partners.
Such a European project would tend to exclude, not even so subtly, the dependence of the European and NATO Armed Forces on the use of Ukrainian Antonov An-124s.
A step that could cost dearly to the already too precarious future of the historic aeronautical company.
Home
Latest images
Register
Log in
Weight reduction to 50 tonnes - more compact design
Mobility, mobility, mobility - high power to weight ratio 
System of systems approach - common platform with different types including gun tank, missile launcher, and uncrewed air defence wingman 
Likely to have a larger gun - 130 mm / 140 mm and capacity to fire NLOS ATGMs
Uncrewed turret 
Three-person crew located in the hull 
Integral APS / SHORAD capability 
Hybrid electric drive with 1,800 hp 
Passive and Reactive protection 
Front-mounted engine 
