OREANDA-NEWS. March 15, 2010. On March 4, 2010, the first batch of 5 military transport aircraft of Indian Air Force arrived to “Kyiv” airport. They will be overhauled and modernized at facilities of 410 Plant of civil aviation State Enterprise (Kyiv). The representative office of India has been established at the Plant 410.

On June 15, 2009, the contract on modernization of 105 AN-32s fleet of Indian Air Force was signed. According to this agreement, the first 40 airplanes will be upgraded in Ukraine, the other 65 ones – at BRD-1 aviation plant of Indian Air Force in Kanpur (Northern India).

Till present, ANTONOV’s specialists completed issue of design documentation as for modernization of the Indian AN-32. The airplanes will be fitted with up-to-date equipment providing higher level of flight safety, including air collision avoidance system, ground proximity warning system, satellite navigation system, distance measuring equipment, upgraded radio altimeters, new radar with two multifunctional indicators, new oxygen system and improves seats for crew members. As a total, 25 positions of new equipment will be installed. As D.S.Kiva, General Designer, noted “achieved agreement on modernization of Indian AN-32s is the result of big preliminary work. Certainly, it is a very important step in strengthening of cooperation between our countries. Besides according to the contract thousands of people will be engaged in fulfillment of these works during more than 5 years”.

After modification the trials with the installed equipment will be carried out. On the results of the tests, the airplanes will be shown to the Indian customer.

It was decided to modernize AN-32 because at present it can not be replaced with the other one. This airplane was especially designed on the order of Indian government to be operated from/to the elevated airfields (up to 4500 m above sea level) and under hot climate conditions. Often AN-32s are the only aircraft able to provide connection between mountain settlements and big cities. In India AN-32 was called “Silver Hourse” for its high maneuverability and reliability.