Ukraine has an experience of possible cooperation with the U.S. company Boeing, in particular, on the localization of their aircraft, Deputy Prime Minister for Strategic Industries Oleh Urusky said in an interview on Army FM radio.
“I do not exclude that during my visit to the United States we will contact Boeing with these proposals, in particular regarding the possible localization of the production of this company’s aircraft at our Antonov,” he said.
Urusky said that due to the coronavirus crisis, Boeing, like many companies, has significantly decreased the number of orders.
“Now everyone is looking for new markets and opportunities. We are setting ambitious goals for ourselves to develop our military aviation. I hope that cooperation with Boeing will be useful for us in this direction,” the deputy prime minister said.
He also said that in addition to the contract signed by the Defense Ministry with Antonov at the end of 2020 on the production of three An-178s, an order for four An-74s is being prepared in 2021. Urusky said that the delivery date for the first An-178 is 2023.
By the end of 2020, Ukrainian manufacturers of metal structures increased production by 6.5% compared to 2019, to 147,000 tonnes, according to a report of the Ukrainian Steel Construction Center (USCC).
“Key manufacturers of metal structures have increased production, and the number of metal imports to Ukraine has also increased. The influence of the commercial sector – nonresidential construction has decreased, but at the same time we note a significant increase in infrastructure construction. For example, in Poland, 50% of orders are exactly infrastructure, and we are going exactly in this direction,” Executive Director of the USCC Viacheslav Kolesnik said at the IX National Conference of Steel Construction Market Participants held in Kyiv on Tuesday.
According to him, quarantine restrictions did not significantly affect the results of the enterprises. Consumption of metal structures increased due to state-funded programs and projects Big Construction, Roads to Borders, Travel around Ukraine, Small Carpathian Ring, the program of restoration of bridges, etc.
“Shipments in the segment of road safety fence have significantly increased. More than 16,000 tonnes of metal were shipped to the Zaporizhia Bridge alone,” Kolesnik said.
At the same time, Ukraine follows the European trend of increasing the specific share of large manufacturers of metal structures – in 2020, the share of enterprises that produced more than 5,000 tonnes of products grew by 5% and amounted to 48% of the total.
Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Dmytro Razumkov met with Ambassador of the Republic of China to Ukraine Fan Xianzhuan on Tuesday, the press service of the Rada apparatus said.
During the meeting, the sides reportedly paid attention to the discussion of economic cooperation between the two countries. Razumkov stressed that Ukraine invariably supports the position of comprehensively deepening relations with China.
“Few countries can boast of economic growth in the past year. China’s economy was the first to be hit by the coronavirus, but you have successfully passed this challenge,” the speaker said. He also thanked China for its assistance to Ukraine in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
JSC Ukrzaliznytsia expects to launch a concession project for high-speed traffic in Ukraine with the help of investors from China, Korea and Turkey, Ukrzaliznytsia board chairman Volodymyr Zhmak has said.
“I believe that the only tool for building high-speed train networks is concession, and in order to realize this, Ukraine needs a powerful investor,” he said at the Ukraine30. Infrastructure forum in Kyiv.
According to Zhmak, there are currently interested investors from China, South Korea and Turkey.
“Today, these potential investors are just looking at Ukraine in terms of organizing high-speed traffic,” he said.
Earlier that day, at the forum, Minister of Infrastructure Vladyslav Krykliy announced the ministry’s plans in 2021 to start work on a project for the implementation in Ukraine of a European format railway network (1,435mm) with a train speed of over 250 km/h.
“These are four sections with a total length of almost 2,000 km of railway track. The first section is Kyiv-Lviv and the border, 896 km, and we are already starting to build and prepare one of these stages this year,” the minister said.
The Ukrainian-U.S. Antares launcher rocketed into orbit, deploying a ship carrying cargo to the International Space Station (ISS), the press service of the State Space Agency of Ukraine has reported.
“The launch vehicle rocketed into orbit the Cygnus supply ship, carrying about 3,629 kg of NASA payload to the International Space Station – packaging for the crew, materials for scientific research, equipment for the station and spacewalk, computers and components, CubeSats,” the agency said last week.
The launcher took off from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island, Virginia, the United States at 19:36 Kyiv time on February 20 and it is the first launch of the Antares LV in 2021.
The preparation of launch vehicle Antares, its tests and start-up were carried out by specialists of SOE Design Bureau Pivdenne (Yuzhnoye), SOE Pivdenmash (Yuzhmash) and Hartron-Arkos scientific-production association. From the territory of Design Bureau Pivdenne, the launch support was provided in real time, telemetric information was processed.
According to the space agency, the Antares launch vehicle consists of two stages and the Cygnus supply ship (third stage). The main design of the first stage was developed by SOE Design Bureau Pivdenne and manufactured by SOE Pivdenmash in cooperation with the Ukrainian enterprises Khartron-Arkos (Kharkiv), Kyivprylad (Kyiv), Hartron-UCOM (Zaporizhia), CHEZARA (Chernihiv Plant of radio equipment), RAPID (Cherhiniv-based sensor enterprise), etc. The main designer of the launch vehicle is U.S. Northrop Grumman.
“I hope that soon the Ukrainian cooperation of enterprises will produce a fully domestic product – a medium-class launch vehicle, which will become the flagship of our rocket industry for the coming years,” acting head of the agency Mykhailo Lev said.
The state concern Ukroboronprom presents new military equipment and armaments of its own production at the International Defence Exhibition & Conference (IDEX 2021) in Abu Dhabi (the United Arab Emirates), which opened on Sunday.
“The exhibition will showcase a number of promising developments and products of the concern, such as a model of the Neptune ground anti-ship missile system and Vilkha high-precision jet system from the Luch design bureau,” the press service of Ukroboronprom said.
Neptune is a modern Ukrainian model of armament, which guided missiles are inconspicuous to enemy radars and are capable of destroying both ships and ground targets.
The Vilkha high-precision heavy multiple rocket launcher is considered one of the most powerful in the world in its class.
“Also, the visitors of the exhibition are offered natural samples of the Skif and Corsar anti-tank missile systems and a model of the Sokol-300 reconnaissance and strike drone, the concern said in the statement.
The concern said that IDEX-2021 will present the capabilities of the Oplot tank, which is the best in the world in a number of characteristics, the BTR-4 combat vehicle and other advanced developments of the concern member companies.
In total, more than a dozen natural and mock-up (large-scale) samples of military and dual-use products are planned to be presented at the Ukrainian stand. During the exhibition, a number of talks are planned with official delegations of various countries and international companies on further partnerships.
The exhibition will end on February 25. The concern’s delegation is headed by its General Director Yuriy Husev. The head of the Ukrainian delegation is Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Minister for Strategic Industries Oleh Urusky.
IDEX is one of the largest international military exhibitions, which is held under the auspices of the President of the United Arab Emirates.
More than 900 leading defense companies from 59 countries will present their stands in the pavilions of the National Exhibition Center in Abu Dhabi.
Ukraine is represented by nine defense industry enterprises, seven of which are part of Ukroboronprom.
