ANTONOV Company via its agent Antonov Logistics SALIS GmbH has been awarded a five-year contract with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)’s Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) to continue working on its Strategic Airlift International Solution (SALIS) programme.
Ukraine and NATO have been co-operating under the SALIS programme since January 2006, during which time ANTONOV has provided strategic airlift for NATO and the the European Union (EU).
Under the programme, ANTONOV ensures two AN-124-100s are available around the clock for SALIS, with additional AN-124-100 planes available on request.
ANTONOV’S AN-22 Antei, the world’s largest turboprop-powered aircraft, as well as the AN-225 Mriya, the world’s largest plane, have also been used for the SALIS programme and they can be used for future operations.
An ANTONOV representative said this new long-term contract “confirms that NATO appreciates the high level of services provided by our company and trusts its Ukrainian partner.”
The contract was awarded following successful negotiations between ANTONOV Company, Antonov Logistics SALIS GmbH (ALS), and NSPA, and this is the first time it has been signed for a five-year period.
Since 2006, contract extensions for ANTONOV’s SALIS work have been made for two or three year periods.
NSPA organised a meeting in September in Prague, Czech Republic, to review ANTONOV’s/ Antonov Logistics SALIS GmbH’s performance under the SALIS programme for the last three years, as well as to discuss the new five-year contract.
ANTONOV’s SALIS programme team were represented at the meeting by Dr Sergiy Bychkov, director general of ANTONOV Company, Mykhaylo Kharchenko, acting deputy director general of ANTONOV Company, and Oleksandr Gritsenko and Andrii Chernyavskiy, managing directors of ALS.
Dr Bychkov gave a presentation at the meeting explaining ANTONOV’s outlook on transport and cargo aircraft efficiency during which he emphasised the fact that ANTONOV’s fleet of aircraft would be fit to fly for the SALIS programme for the next five years and that service life of AN-124-100 aircraft would extend further.
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