Ukraine says it wants to rebuild the AN-225 destroyed during fighting at Gostomel Airport in late February. “The biggest plane in the world ‘Mriya’ (The Dream) was destroyed by Russian occupants on an airfield near Kyiv,” Ukraine’s official Twitter site said. “We will rebuild the plane. We will fulfill our dream of a strong, free, and democratic Ukraine.” Meanwhile, Ukraine’s state arms manufacturer Ukroboronprom says the project will cost $3 billion and it will be sending the bill to Vladimir Putin. “Ukraine will make every effort to ensure that the aggressor state pays for these works.”
Footage from a Russian TV news report has confirmed that the AN-225 was indeed destroyed. Although most observers feared the worst when the facility went under attack ten days ago, there was some hope the aircraft survived until images emerged from under the damaged hangar cover.
To rebuild it is a nice sentiment. But is is a dream that will never be realized.
Despite the fact that there is (or was?) a partially completed 2nd airframe, one cannot simply ‘build another one’ 40 years later.
“We will rebuild the plane.”
Like we were going to rebuild New Orleans after Katrina? How’s that going?
We have a sometimes irrational tendency to want to return things to as they were before some major change/tragedy. But let’s think about this rationally.
First, what was the AN-225 used for? What is its predicted ROI, after tying up $3 billion for what – ten years? (Assuming the “war” ended today, and assuming one can obtain parts/skill laborers, not including the (hyper)inflation to come.)
Wise King Solomon said that there is a time for everything, and perhaps, like the Concorde, it’s time to let the AN-225 die.
Second, even if it were a sound investment in the long run (does it have a fatigue life limit, like our C-5?), where is the Ukraine going to get the money? (Insert a Joe & Hunter Biden joke here.)
Third, to believe that Putin is going to pay reparations aptly demonstrates that this is really just a silly fantasy, hope above all hope. Are you going to buy a bond on the expectation that Putin will pay off?
I know that we in aviation tend to be irrational as it is. (Is it rational to pay $100 for a hamburger? (1000 times?)) But just because it was the biggest airplane in the world is not a good reason to (re)build it.
Sadly, I generally agree with the previous comments here — I’m certainly no expert on aircraft restoration, but the AN-225 looks completely totaled to me. What a shame.
Pray for peace in Ukraine.
Perhaps rebuilding it is a (Mriya) dream as well, but it’s a worthy one.
There have been recent plans to complete the second airframe just in the last couple of years. Now that the first one is destroyed, there’s even more incentive to do so. Might not be so far fetched.
https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2022/01/sky-giant-turkey-mulls-to-complete.html
Surely there must have been some kind of insurance coverage on this plane. Or does an “act of war” like this void all coverage?
It usually does, Bob, at least with western companies.
The war exclusion clause is pretty well standard in all aircraft policies, so likely no coverage unless they had negotiated specific coverage with an underwriter. As to whether the plane has a reasonable ROI depends on who needs it and is willing to pay. There are some jobs that only the 225 could fulfill. I had a client that spent about $10 million dollars to have the 225 fly a huge power transformer from Turkey to the US because their power plant was shut down (losing over $10 million a month in revenue) and building a new replacement transformer would have taken at least 9 months. The 225 was the only civilian plane capable of carrying the load.
“russian occupants”……is that what they are?
How can it be possible to get the TRUE cost of finishing the uncompleted one?
Too bad the USA had not built one of this size.
just sayin