Making its debut, the Antonov AN-132, a Saudi Ukrainian joint venture, has successfully flown over Ukraine, it was reported here today. In the presence of President Petro Poroshenko of the Republic of Ukraine, the light multi-function plane which was dedicated last December flew yesterday for one and 40 minutes, piloted by Major General (retired) Captain Mohammed bin Saeed Ayash and a crew of several Ukrainian pilots and technicians. In a press statement, the general supervisor for the special programs management office at King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) Dr. Khalid Al-Hosan, said the step paves the way for the plane's flying over the skies of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia soon. He said the joint venture between KACST and Ukraine's Antonov company for aircraft manufacturing comes as part of the city's initiative, supported by Prince Turki bin Saud bin Mohammed, President of KACST, within the national transformation program 2020 to achieve the Kingdom's vision 2030, drawing the attention that KACST owns a 50% share of the intellectual property of the plane. He added that this is the first production line scheduled for parallel-construction in the Kingdom and Ukraine in the participation of Saudi engineers and technicians with their Ukrainian counterparts. For his part, the Executive President of the Aviation Technology Company Major General (retired) Ali bin Mohammed Al-Ghamdi said the Saudi industrial rate for the plane will start with a 35% to reach 100% gradually. He said three other agreements have been signed between the company and KACST, including a multi-function Black Hawk helicopter, with the U.S. company of Sycrowski, a drone in cooperation with the Chinese company of Ellet and manufacturing carbonic-and-mineral-material-made planes' hulls. Disembarked from the plane, the crew was received by the Ukrainian president who awarded Captain Ayash a memorial shield AN-132. The one-engine Antonov AN-132 is known of its light weight and flying at an altitude of 28,000 ft with a payload of a maximum 9.2 tons. It's equipped with advanced electronic and navigation systems.
