Antonov

Antonov Company (Державне підприємство «Антонов»), formerly the Aeronautical Scientific-Technical Complex named after Antonov (Antonov ASTC) (Авіаційний науково-технічний комплекс імені Антонова, [АНТК ім. Антонова]), and earlier the Antonov Design Bureau, for its chief designer, Oleg Antonov, is a Ukrainian aircraft manufacturing and services company. Antonov's particular expertise is in the fields of very large aeroplanes and aeroplanes using unprepared runways. Antonov (model prefix "An-") has built a total of approximately 22,000 aircraft, and thousands of its planes are operating in the former Soviet Union and in developing countries. Antonov Company is a state-owned commercial company originally established in Novosibirsk, Russia. In 1952, the company relocated to Kyiv, Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union. On 12 May 2015, it was transferred from the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade to the Ukroboronprom (Ukrainian Defense Industry). In June 2016, Ukraine's major state-owned arms manufacturer Ukroboronprom announced the creation of the Ukrainian Aircraft Corporation within its structure, to combine all aircraft manufacturing enterprises in Ukraine. The company was established in 1946 at the Novosibirsk Aircraft Production Association as the top-secret Soviet Research and Design Bureau No. 153 (OKB-153). It was headed by Oleg Antonov and specialised in turboprop military transport aircraft. The task was to create an agricultural aircraft CX-1 (An-2), the first flight of which occurred on 31 August 1947. The An-2 biplane was a major achievement of this period, with hundreds of these aircraft still operating as of 2013. In addition to this biplane and its modifications, a small series of gliders A-9 and A-10 were created and built in the pilot production in Novosibirsk. In 1952, the Bureau was relocated to Kyiv, a city with a rich aviation history and an aircraft-manufacturing infrastructure restored after the destruction caused by World War II.