The destroyed Ukrainian Antonov An-225 “Mriya” cargo aircraft, which was the largest plane in the world, among the wreckage of Russian military vehicles at the Hostomel airfield on April 8, 2022 in Hostomel, Ukraine. (Photo by Alexey Furman/Getty Images)
FARNBOROUGH 2024 — Boeing and Ukraine’s Antonov Company have signed an early agreement that could pave the way for the two planemakers work together on unmanned systems support Ukraine’s embattled defense industry.
The memorandum of understanding, unveiled today at Farnborough Airshow, lists training, logistics support and maintenance of drones like Boeing’s ScanEagle as potential areas for collaboration, and opens up the possibility for Antonov to provide engineering support to Boeing, the US aerospace giant said in a news release.
“We’re pleased to continue working with the Antonov Company to support Ukraine development and economic growth,” said Boeing’s defense CEO Ted Colbert. “This agreement demonstrates our ongoing efforts to find more opportunities to work with Ukrainian industry, which was underscored by our signing of the Ukrainian Defense Industry Compact earlier this year.”
RELATED: Northrop Grumman finalizes deal to coproduce ammo in Ukraine
Antonov was previously best known as the maker of the world’s largest cargo plane, the An-225 Mriya, which was destroyed in the first days of the war in Ukraine. In the wake of Russian attacks on Antonov facilities that further weakened its ability to work on the cargo planes that were the backbone of the company, Antonov laid out plans to expand into drone production, Reuters reported last year.
Antonov CEO Ievhen Gavrylov said today’s agreement could help enable the continued development of Ukraine’s defense industry, adding that the company was “extremely excited” to work with Boeing.
“This agreement brings a whole new level of opportunity to implement the latest and most effective solutions — in addition to the possibility of future projects with Boeing in the aerospace and defense industry,” he said.
The new agreement isn’t the first tie up for Boeing and Antonov. In 2018, Boeing agreed to provide aircraft parts to Antonov that could no longer be procured from Russia after the 2014 invasion of Crimea in an agreement that was meant to allow the Ukrainian planemaker to restart stalled jet production, CNBC reported then.
