Ukrainian aviation industry: are there any chances to overcome the crisis?
In November, 2016, the Prime Minister of Ukraine V. Groysman, during his visit to the state enterprise Antonov, made a statement about the government’s intention to begin and implement the medium-term revival program of the Ukrainian aviation industry at the beginning of 2017. But, neither then, nor now the government has failed to please aircraft manufacturers with such a document.
The only thing that was done was the development of a draft strategy for the revival of the Ukrainian aircraft industry until 2020. From the outside, it looks like a frank mockery of an industry capable of not only developing and conducting tests, but also mass-producing special equipment and aircraft engines, aviation units and on-board equipment, helicopters and aircraft, as well as carry out repair work and modernization of aircraft and train highly qualified specialists. The saddest thing is that it is planned to allocate just the meager funds from the state budget to support the Ukrainian aircraft industry ...
It should be noted that for the entire period of existence of the Ukrainian aviation industry, not a single development program was proposed that would be implemented and financed from the state budget. The exception is, perhaps, the secret state program "Adept", in which funding was distributed in equal parts between the Ukrainian and Russian sides. Therefore, before developing a development program, it is necessary to understand who nevertheless brought the industry to such a deplorable state. What are the reasons that drive officials when they talk for two decades about the need to make changes to the documentation to create comfortable working conditions for the aviation industry, but do nothing concrete? Why is there no funding for state programs, and officials remember about aircraft manufacturers only when there is a need to show a new "achievement" of the Ukrainian aviation industry, created at the expense of foreign customers or at the expense of the enterprises themselves?
First of all, it is necessary to take certain steps aimed at overcoming the degradation of the scientific and technical capabilities of the design direction, because the institute of general designers has been practically eliminated. Approximately the same can be observed in the sectoral science. At present, the development of promising aviation technologies is being carried out practically without government support, on the initiative and at the expense of research institutes. Therefore, it is not surprising that the lion’s share of such technologies was developed back in the 80s of the last century.
If we talk about the global aircraft industry, then there processes for a long time and effectively that are associated with the use of information technology in production cycles, from the design stage and documentation to the sales of finished products.
In Ukraine, this is not even a question. Moreover, they did not even bother to carry out an inventory of intellectual property, that is, no electronic registries of such property exist. This greatly facilitates its illegal sale, which causes irreparable damage to the national economy. Only a total inventory of intellectual property should have been a priority in government strategy. However, the need to change the management structure in the aviation industry is evident only in words ...
Of course, it would be quite naive and even foolish to believe that the five-year term indicated by the government in the development strategy of the industry will be enough to bring the domestic aviation industry out of a deep crisis. This is especially obvious if we take into account the level of corruption of the government. Nevertheless, there is still a chance to bring the Ukrainian aircraft industry out of the abyss.
First of all, according to experts from this sphere, it is necessary to remove the aviation industry enterprises from the sphere of management of the Ukroboronprom state concern, transferring them directly to the Cabinet. Thus, it will be possible to balance the personnel policy and overcome the crisis of the scientific and technical capabilities of the industry, as well as return thousands of specialists to workplaces who have long since found more promising occupations.
Creating a holding, as proposed in the strategy, is unlikely to be quite an effective step, since most of the enterprises in the industry are in a difficult financial and economic situation.
It is necessary to restructure debts with their further write-off, as well as the temporary abolition of compulsory taxation, which will allow to channel available funds for the modernization and restoration of the industry. In addition, it is necessary as soon as possible to develop a list of priority projects (including international ones) that will be implemented with active government support. These projects should cover not only the aviation industry, but also the chemical and radio-electronic industry, as well as metallurgy.
In the future, it is possible to consider the possibility of creating a special fund for the development of the aviation industry. The state could become a very serious investor in profitable and promising projects in such a fund.
Of course, there are still a lot of scenarios and tools that can help bring the Ukrainian aviation industry out of crisis and encourage it to actively and efficiently function, but you must first start to take at least those minimal steps that will push this process. Until then, the situation is unlikely to change drastically. And there will be nothing surprising in what happened with the Antonov enterprise ...
For a clearer understanding of what is happening should start a little distance. Not so long ago, the general director of the state-owned concern R. Romanov (it was in 2017) wrote a letter to A. Turchinov in which he reported on the failure of the tasks of restructuring, distributing stocks, renovating the production, testing and scientific base of Ukroboronprom enterprises due to incompetent actions of certain state structures.
The situation around the company "Antonov" began in 2014 year. The then prime minister, A. Yatsenyuk, held meetings several times in order to understand where the financial flows from the state-owned enterprise’s activities in the international market went. At the same time there was an attempt to establish control over the corporate rights of Antonov, but nothing happened, because the entire team spoke out to defend their leader, D. Kiva. The second attempt was also unsuccessful, since O. Gladkovsky initiated the transfer of the state enterprise under the control of Ukroboronprom. Then Yatsenyuk himself was asked to resign ...
And yet somehow it turned out that the Antonov State Enterprise is not governed by the state at all. And the management of the state concern did not report on those intermediary companies that currently receive a significant share of revenues from air transportation under the NATO program.
There is nothing difficult in finding out that the founders of the company "Antonov Salis GmbH", which received seven aircraft of the state enterprise for rent, mentioned P. Meichaider (a German citizen), and the enterprise itself is associated with this company only by the names of V. Movchan and A. Gritsenko, who combine positions in the Ukrainian and German companies. There are two more names in the registration documentation of the German company: A. Manziy and V. Pashko. Theoretically, it is not difficult to establish who controls the state property in reality and receives huge revenues from the use of the company's aircraft. There would be a desire ...
And somehow, the dismissal of D. Kiva, who was charged with the lack of transparency in the corporate asset management scheme of the enterprise and the lack of revenues from international traffic, seems completely unconvincing in this connection.
However, the British company was also not informed about the British company for some reason. It's about DreamLifts LTD. It is worth noting that the UK has long become a kind of base for laundering the money of the Ukrainian defense industry. The Antonov enterprise signed a contract with this company for the modernization and maintenance of An aircraft. The British company has a London registration in the place of mass registration of companies. But there is one small “but”: this company is mentioned in the investigations of journalists concerning offshore Panamanian. A lot of money laundering operations that are received in a way that is not entirely legal are connected with the registration address. And the same address is mentioned in operations related to illegal shipments. weapons to the Middle East and Africa.
Representatives of the state concern Ukroboronprom, representing Ukraine in Dubai at the International Motor Show, announced that they had an American investor who is registered in the state of Delaware and who is willing to invest 150 million dollars in the Antonov enterprise. Meanwhile, over the years, it is already in a very poor financial condition. And it is quite obvious that they could not know about him in Ukroboronprom. In the spring of 2015, the National Security Council was sent a letter to the state concern, in which the debt structure of the Antonov State Enterprise was spelled out in detail. Some contracts have government guarantees. Moreover, for certain obligations there is even a decision of the London International Arbitration Court.
It is worth saying that in this letter there are quite constructive proposals regarding the possibilities of improving the situation. Unfortunately, none of them have been implemented. Probably, the management of the state concern chose to negotiate with an unknown American partner for two and a half years instead of taking any concrete and effective steps.
It should be noted that after the public signing of the so-called 150 investment contract of millions of dollars in the Kharkov state enterprise, the site of the investor from America changed drastically within one week (and this causes considerable interest and enough questions) - millions of passengers, thousands of acquired aircraft, a substantial percentage growth in passenger and cargo traffic around the world.
It can be assumed that by the end of the year, the leadership of the state concern for the old, but not good tradition to show the results of its vigorous activity failed to convey to its new American partner the main essence of the task - to find and give for implementation to the Antonov enterprise the production of An-140 aircraft and An-74, and provide their repair and maintenance by training staff. The problem lies in the fact that the Ukrainian side has provided guarantees that the funds received will not be used to liquidate debts.
If we talk about the management structure of Ukroboronprom, we can recall how state officials at the highest level assured the public that superprofessionals work in the leadership of the state concern. In practice, it turned out that they need serious external support and advice from more qualified specialists, and they are even willing to pay millions of hryvnias from the state budget for this.
Thus, in the end, the Antonov enterprise not only lost control over the cash flows from international air travel, and, accordingly, a significant portion of the revenues that went into the development of the state enterprise and the payment of salaries. A promising market for the provision of support services for the use of An aircraft has been transferred to an American company with a very suspicious reputation, so you can certainly forget about profit. The management of Ukroboronprom cannot independently ensure the search for prospective customers for their enterprises, not to mention the implementation of measures aimed at their financial recovery. It is quite obvious that the state-owned concern does not intend to create a network of international bases to support the operation of the An aircraft, and, strictly speaking, there is no one to do this, because the state-owned concern, as it turned out, has no qualified auditors and managers ...
It seems that the government is not engaged in the resuscitation of the Ukrainian aviation industry, but in its complete destruction. Probably, few people will be able to remember when the authorities financed applied or basic research in the field of aviation, the development of new technologies or materials. Maybe worth starting? ..
Materials used:
https://zn.ua/internal/kak-vyvesti-iz-shtopora-ukrainskiy-aviaprom-284306_.html
https://zn.ua/internal/blekaut-ukrainskogo-aviaproma-280547_.html
https://zn.ua/internal/figury-nizshego-pilotazha-268055_.html
The only thing that was done was the development of a draft strategy for the revival of the Ukrainian aircraft industry until 2020. From the outside, it looks like a frank mockery of an industry capable of not only developing and conducting tests, but also mass-producing special equipment and aircraft engines, aviation units and on-board equipment, helicopters and aircraft, as well as carry out repair work and modernization of aircraft and train highly qualified specialists. The saddest thing is that it is planned to allocate just the meager funds from the state budget to support the Ukrainian aircraft industry ...
It should be noted that for the entire period of existence of the Ukrainian aviation industry, not a single development program was proposed that would be implemented and financed from the state budget. The exception is, perhaps, the secret state program "Adept", in which funding was distributed in equal parts between the Ukrainian and Russian sides. Therefore, before developing a development program, it is necessary to understand who nevertheless brought the industry to such a deplorable state. What are the reasons that drive officials when they talk for two decades about the need to make changes to the documentation to create comfortable working conditions for the aviation industry, but do nothing concrete? Why is there no funding for state programs, and officials remember about aircraft manufacturers only when there is a need to show a new "achievement" of the Ukrainian aviation industry, created at the expense of foreign customers or at the expense of the enterprises themselves?
First of all, it is necessary to take certain steps aimed at overcoming the degradation of the scientific and technical capabilities of the design direction, because the institute of general designers has been practically eliminated. Approximately the same can be observed in the sectoral science. At present, the development of promising aviation technologies is being carried out practically without government support, on the initiative and at the expense of research institutes. Therefore, it is not surprising that the lion’s share of such technologies was developed back in the 80s of the last century.
If we talk about the global aircraft industry, then there processes for a long time and effectively that are associated with the use of information technology in production cycles, from the design stage and documentation to the sales of finished products.
In Ukraine, this is not even a question. Moreover, they did not even bother to carry out an inventory of intellectual property, that is, no electronic registries of such property exist. This greatly facilitates its illegal sale, which causes irreparable damage to the national economy. Only a total inventory of intellectual property should have been a priority in government strategy. However, the need to change the management structure in the aviation industry is evident only in words ...
Of course, it would be quite naive and even foolish to believe that the five-year term indicated by the government in the development strategy of the industry will be enough to bring the domestic aviation industry out of a deep crisis. This is especially obvious if we take into account the level of corruption of the government. Nevertheless, there is still a chance to bring the Ukrainian aircraft industry out of the abyss.
First of all, according to experts from this sphere, it is necessary to remove the aviation industry enterprises from the sphere of management of the Ukroboronprom state concern, transferring them directly to the Cabinet. Thus, it will be possible to balance the personnel policy and overcome the crisis of the scientific and technical capabilities of the industry, as well as return thousands of specialists to workplaces who have long since found more promising occupations.
Creating a holding, as proposed in the strategy, is unlikely to be quite an effective step, since most of the enterprises in the industry are in a difficult financial and economic situation.
It is necessary to restructure debts with their further write-off, as well as the temporary abolition of compulsory taxation, which will allow to channel available funds for the modernization and restoration of the industry. In addition, it is necessary as soon as possible to develop a list of priority projects (including international ones) that will be implemented with active government support. These projects should cover not only the aviation industry, but also the chemical and radio-electronic industry, as well as metallurgy.
In the future, it is possible to consider the possibility of creating a special fund for the development of the aviation industry. The state could become a very serious investor in profitable and promising projects in such a fund.
Of course, there are still a lot of scenarios and tools that can help bring the Ukrainian aviation industry out of crisis and encourage it to actively and efficiently function, but you must first start to take at least those minimal steps that will push this process. Until then, the situation is unlikely to change drastically. And there will be nothing surprising in what happened with the Antonov enterprise ...
For a clearer understanding of what is happening should start a little distance. Not so long ago, the general director of the state-owned concern R. Romanov (it was in 2017) wrote a letter to A. Turchinov in which he reported on the failure of the tasks of restructuring, distributing stocks, renovating the production, testing and scientific base of Ukroboronprom enterprises due to incompetent actions of certain state structures.
The situation around the company "Antonov" began in 2014 year. The then prime minister, A. Yatsenyuk, held meetings several times in order to understand where the financial flows from the state-owned enterprise’s activities in the international market went. At the same time there was an attempt to establish control over the corporate rights of Antonov, but nothing happened, because the entire team spoke out to defend their leader, D. Kiva. The second attempt was also unsuccessful, since O. Gladkovsky initiated the transfer of the state enterprise under the control of Ukroboronprom. Then Yatsenyuk himself was asked to resign ...
And yet somehow it turned out that the Antonov State Enterprise is not governed by the state at all. And the management of the state concern did not report on those intermediary companies that currently receive a significant share of revenues from air transportation under the NATO program.
There is nothing difficult in finding out that the founders of the company "Antonov Salis GmbH", which received seven aircraft of the state enterprise for rent, mentioned P. Meichaider (a German citizen), and the enterprise itself is associated with this company only by the names of V. Movchan and A. Gritsenko, who combine positions in the Ukrainian and German companies. There are two more names in the registration documentation of the German company: A. Manziy and V. Pashko. Theoretically, it is not difficult to establish who controls the state property in reality and receives huge revenues from the use of the company's aircraft. There would be a desire ...
And somehow, the dismissal of D. Kiva, who was charged with the lack of transparency in the corporate asset management scheme of the enterprise and the lack of revenues from international traffic, seems completely unconvincing in this connection.
However, the British company was also not informed about the British company for some reason. It's about DreamLifts LTD. It is worth noting that the UK has long become a kind of base for laundering the money of the Ukrainian defense industry. The Antonov enterprise signed a contract with this company for the modernization and maintenance of An aircraft. The British company has a London registration in the place of mass registration of companies. But there is one small “but”: this company is mentioned in the investigations of journalists concerning offshore Panamanian. A lot of money laundering operations that are received in a way that is not entirely legal are connected with the registration address. And the same address is mentioned in operations related to illegal shipments. weapons to the Middle East and Africa.
Representatives of the state concern Ukroboronprom, representing Ukraine in Dubai at the International Motor Show, announced that they had an American investor who is registered in the state of Delaware and who is willing to invest 150 million dollars in the Antonov enterprise. Meanwhile, over the years, it is already in a very poor financial condition. And it is quite obvious that they could not know about him in Ukroboronprom. In the spring of 2015, the National Security Council was sent a letter to the state concern, in which the debt structure of the Antonov State Enterprise was spelled out in detail. Some contracts have government guarantees. Moreover, for certain obligations there is even a decision of the London International Arbitration Court.
It is worth saying that in this letter there are quite constructive proposals regarding the possibilities of improving the situation. Unfortunately, none of them have been implemented. Probably, the management of the state concern chose to negotiate with an unknown American partner for two and a half years instead of taking any concrete and effective steps.
It should be noted that after the public signing of the so-called 150 investment contract of millions of dollars in the Kharkov state enterprise, the site of the investor from America changed drastically within one week (and this causes considerable interest and enough questions) - millions of passengers, thousands of acquired aircraft, a substantial percentage growth in passenger and cargo traffic around the world.
It can be assumed that by the end of the year, the leadership of the state concern for the old, but not good tradition to show the results of its vigorous activity failed to convey to its new American partner the main essence of the task - to find and give for implementation to the Antonov enterprise the production of An-140 aircraft and An-74, and provide their repair and maintenance by training staff. The problem lies in the fact that the Ukrainian side has provided guarantees that the funds received will not be used to liquidate debts.
If we talk about the management structure of Ukroboronprom, we can recall how state officials at the highest level assured the public that superprofessionals work in the leadership of the state concern. In practice, it turned out that they need serious external support and advice from more qualified specialists, and they are even willing to pay millions of hryvnias from the state budget for this.
Thus, in the end, the Antonov enterprise not only lost control over the cash flows from international air travel, and, accordingly, a significant portion of the revenues that went into the development of the state enterprise and the payment of salaries. A promising market for the provision of support services for the use of An aircraft has been transferred to an American company with a very suspicious reputation, so you can certainly forget about profit. The management of Ukroboronprom cannot independently ensure the search for prospective customers for their enterprises, not to mention the implementation of measures aimed at their financial recovery. It is quite obvious that the state-owned concern does not intend to create a network of international bases to support the operation of the An aircraft, and, strictly speaking, there is no one to do this, because the state-owned concern, as it turned out, has no qualified auditors and managers ...
It seems that the government is not engaged in the resuscitation of the Ukrainian aviation industry, but in its complete destruction. Probably, few people will be able to remember when the authorities financed applied or basic research in the field of aviation, the development of new technologies or materials. Maybe worth starting? ..
Materials used:
https://zn.ua/internal/kak-vyvesti-iz-shtopora-ukrainskiy-aviaprom-284306_.html
https://zn.ua/internal/blekaut-ukrainskogo-aviaproma-280547_.html
https://zn.ua/internal/figury-nizshego-pilotazha-268055_.html
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