HONG KONG, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- The dispute over a deal involving China's import of 38 Russian aircraft -- 30 Il-76 transport aircraft and eight Il-78 air-to-air refueling tankers -- has not been completely resolved. The Russian side insists the price of the aircraft, agreed on in a 2005 deal, is no longer viable.
The Ilyushin Il-76 military air transport is still the mainstay export platform for the Russian Federation. Hence the Kremlin has not agreed to transfer its production technology for the large aircraft to the People's Republic of China, nor have the two sides initiated negotiations on this particular issue, according to a source from the Russian aviation industry. It is because of this that China has turned its attention to Ukraine to try to purchase the Antonov An-70 air transport instead.
Alexander Mikheev, vice president of Rosoboronexport, Russia's official defense industry exporter, told United Press International in a recent interview at a British air show that China still intended to pursue the negotiations on the Ilyushin Il-76 military air transport and on the Ilyushin Il-78 air-to-air refueling aircraft, and that the contract for both these purchases was still in effect.
"We demanded to re-discuss the price of the aircraft," said Mikheev. He denied that a price had already been agreed upon, however. "We are only demanding that the new price should be in line with the international standard," he said.
Regarding the timeline of resuming production and assembling the aircraft, he stressed that Russia had already allocated funds to build a new factory at Ulyanovsk, and the production of the Ilyushin Il-76 transport aircraft would begin in 2011.
China does not have much experience in the design and production of large transport aircraft, nor are its current projects in this area proceeding smoothly. An example is the Y8F-600 medium-sized military transport plane, for which the Antonov company in Ukraine agreed in 2002 to provide design assistance.
Even though reports from China claim the plane already has been tested, a source from the Ukrainian aviation industry told UPI that its maiden flight has been put off repeatedly and has yet to take place.
According to the original design, the Y8F-600 is powered by four PW150B turboprop engines produced by Pratt & Whitney Canada, with British R408 propellers. Test engines have been delivered to China from Canada, purportedly for use in civilian aircraft.
Yet because of pressure from the United States to restrict exports of military technology to China, it is questionable whether Canada ultimately will allow the export of enough Pratt & Whitney engines to meet China's production needs. Under this circumstance, China will have no choice but to use Russian or Ukrainian engines in its military transport aircraft.
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(Andrei Chang is editor in chief of Kanwa Defense Review Monthly, registered in Toronto.)
