Antonov An-32B of the Indian Air Force at Leh Airbase. Photo Courtesy: Wikipedia
Antonov An-32B of the Indian Air Force at Leh Airbase. Photo Courtesy: Wikipedia

Agreement with Ukraine to upgrade An-32 aircrafts

Mon-Jul 20, 2009

New Delhi / Press Trust of India

Government has signed a pact with Ukraine to upgrade Indian Air Force's fleet of An-32 transport aircraft, Defence Minister A K Antony said on Monday.

"A contract for upgradation of An-32 aircraft has been signed with State Foreign Trade Enterprise 'Spetstechnoexport' (STE), Ukraine on June 15, 2009 for total technical life extension (TTLE), overhaul and re-equipment of the aircraft in IAF fleet," Antony said while replying to a Lok Sabha query.

The Minister said that the upgrades will enhance IAF's An-32 fleet's life by another 15 years.

"The calendar life of An-32 aircraft will be enhanced from 25 years to 40 years," he said.

He added that the aircraft will be upgraded between 2009-17 and $397.7 million would be spent on the process.

IAF has a fleet of around 100 An-32s, which were procured from the erstwhile Soviet Union in the 80s.

Meanwhile, replying to another question, Antony said that the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has approved a new campus for its management academy in Bangalore.

Rate This Article:
No votes yet

Comments For This Post

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
This question is to prevent automated spam submissions.
Image CAPTCHA
Copy the characters (respecting upper/lower case) from the image.