According to a source in the Ukrainian military industry, the basic design concept of the aircraft already has been finalized. The Chinese military transport aircraft will adopt different design concepts and technologies than the Antonov An-70 transport aircraft designed by the former Soviet republic of Ukraine and the Russian Federation, the source said, and will be powered by four jet engines. Additional technical details of the transport aircraft are to be finalized after the signing.

In recent years the People's Republic of China has greatly reinforced its strategic military ties with Ukraine in a variety of areas, but this is the two countries' first collaboration in developing a large aircraft. A source from the Russian aviation industry told United Press International that China did not ask for Russian assistance on this project, suggesting that China is shifting its design cooperation away from Russia and toward Ukraine. It also indicates that the new aircraft will be an upgrade of the Antonov An-70 air transport rather than a duplication of it.

China expressed keen interest in the Antonov An-70 air transport as early as the mid-1990s, when the aircraft was undergoing flight tests in Russia and Ukraine. The aircraft did not get off to an auspicious start, however. The first Antonov An-70 prototype was tested in Kiev, Ukraine, in December 1994, but the same plane crashed the following year. The second prototype was damaged in an accident at Omsk, Russia, in 2001.

In 2002 Russia and Ukraine agreed to each take a 50-percent stake in the project, and two more prototypes were manufactured. But by April 2006, following the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, Russia decided to withdraw from the project.

The Antonov An-70 air transport is still being tested. The Ukrainian air force appears to be the only buyer, having announced its intent to procure five of the An-70 aircraft. China's decision to design its own large military transport aircraft on the foundation of the Antonov An-70 technologies is apparently intended to take advantage of the extensive testing the aircraft already has undergone, to save research and development time.

The Antonov company source has confirmed the Chinese military transport aircraft will not be fitted with the Antonov An-70's D-27 engine, though it did not disclose what type of engine will be used. The D-27 engine has an output thrust power of 14,000 horsepower, maximum payload of 47 tons and a flight range of 4,050 miles with a payload of 20 tons.

China recently imported 240 D-30 KP-2 engines from Russia to use in upgrading its own, home-produced H-6K bombers. It is unlikely that this engine would be used for the military transport plane, however. Russia is already replacing some of the D-30 KP-2 engines on its Ilyushin Il-76 air-lifter with upgraded D-30 KP-3 or PS-90 engines. The D-30 KP-2 does not meet Europe's latest noise control standards, so the Ilyushin Il-76 military air transport powered by these engines are not allowed to land at European airports.

Why China still can't get its Russian Il-76 air transports
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.

(Andrei Chang is editor in chief of Kanwa Defense Review Monthly, registered in Toronto.)

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