A foreign company has approached Ukraine’s state-owned Ukroboronprom to provide the country’s Air Force with six Antonov AN-158 twin-engine passenger aircraft.
The company and country to which it belongs has not been identified.
Although these aircraft cannot participate in combat, they can perform special flights to deliver everything the Air Force needs under wartime conditions, Ukroboronprom’s head Yuriy Husyev said in a statement. The aircraft will first undergo maintenance and repair.
AN-158 Operators
The former aircraft were delivered to the Cuban flagship airline Cubana de Aviación in 2013, but they were grounded in 2018. The official reason given by the Cuban National Aviation Authority was “multiple and repeating failures have been found in complex systems, built by mechanical, hydraulic and electrical components, as well as computer performance algorithms,” in addition to “evidence of design and manufacturing flaws, serious issues in flight control system, cracks in the structure and engine temperature increase above normal parameters.”
There is no official data available on the provision of AN-158 aircraft to any other party, although it is a possibility.
