This document was drafted by the Ministry of Trade and Industry per decisions of the 27 June 2012 9th Meeting of the Economic Cooperation Committee of the Russian-Ukrainian Inter-State Commission and the 12 July 2012 5th Meeting of the Russian-Ukrainian Inter-State Commission.
The draft agreement sets forth the cooperation procedure and main tasks for state agencies and legal entities of the Russian Federation and Ukraine for the implementation of a project to resume the manufacture of the Antonov An-124 Condor heavy strategic airlift aircraft and D-18T type engines, as well as for the joint modernisation, maintenance, repair, general service and service life contracts.
The 2011-2020 State Armaments Programme includes plans to purchase ten An-124 planes for the Defence Ministry. The Volga-Dnepr company, which specialises in heavy and bulky cargo delivery, is set to buy 20 civilian versions of these airplanes.
As far back as the 1980s, Russian and Ukrainian aircraft companies have cooperated extensively in the development and manufacture of the An-124. Given the plane’s unique freight capacity, tonnage and range, it is now impossible to resume production without this cooperation. The directive creates the conditions for the coordination and implementation of this Russian-Ukrainian programme, the resumption of the manufacture of the unique An-124 airplane. This will help create technical production jobs in the Russian aircraft industry and affiliated Russian industrial sectors.