OREANDA-NEWS. October 20, 2008. Russia is planning to return to the implementation of the Ukrainian-Russian An 70 project. Ukrainian First Deputy Industry Minister Vitaliy Nemylostyvy was speaking at a roundtable entitled "Ukraine-NATO: the potential for cooperation in the military-industrial complex".

In his opinion, this project will become "more ambitious than joint projects between Ukraine and France on helicopters and a corvette." He said that that are all prerequisites for the signing of the necessary agreements with Russia by the end of this year.

Nemylostyvy said that Ukraine had proposed to Russia to involve European companies in the project, in particular, in the question of creating certain systems that are common for EU countries. He also said that the project would be successful if it becomes interesting for European partners.

An 70 aircraft is a medium-distance transport aircraft, which can transport a cargo of up to 47 tons, with its cruiser speed being 820-870 kilometers per hour.