NATO To Fly On Ruslans.

Ukraine’s Antonov Airlines and Russia’s Volga-Dnepr signed an agreement with NATO on the transportation of the alliance’s strategic cargo using An-124-100 Ruslan airplanes. The companies beat out Boeing for the contract. Details of the new contract have not yet been disclosed. According to the preliminary information, the contract is good for 3 years, starting from 2006, and may be prolonged until 2012. NATO intends to use six planes. In related news, Ukraine and Russia plan to renew serial production of Ruslan planes. The first modernized An-124-100M-150 will be produced at Aviastar-SP (Russia) from Ukrainian-made parts in 2008. The companies plan to produce 55 of these planes by 2027, and 30 more by 2030. Presently Volga-Dnepr owns ten An-124 planes and Antonov Airlines owns seven. The An-124 can carry up to 120 mt of cargo. The carrying capacity of the modernized version will be increased to 150 mt. Concorde Capital: Motor Sich (MSICH: BUY) will benefit from the production of new Ruslans, as it equips them with D-18T engines.