Li-2 was a copy of DC-3
The Li-2 was a licence produced DC-3... paid for and legal.
Just check the wiki page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisunov_Li-2
4 engine IL-106 is to replace the IL-76, not directly replace AN-22 &/AN-124,
The 80-90 ton capacity Il-106 was intended to replace the An-22.
B-29s had emergency landings in the RFE while USSR was neutral vs. Japan & and interned there.
Like I said... B-29s were handed to them.
F-15 was influenced by MiG-25, not copied from it.
The F-15 was more a copy than anything else... it was a copy of what they thought the MiG-25 was. It copied the layout, which had never been used by an American aircraft previously...
Their roles are different & Belenko defected in 1975, well after the F-15 design started.
They copied the layout from photos... no previous US aircraft design had twin engines side by side and the same layout as the MiG.
They copied it.
Neither AN-22s nor AN-124s were ever produced in what is now Russia- both were made in what is now Ukraine; any new Russian made AN-124 will also need to have different engines (not Ukrainian made) that may or may not work well- for the above reason
Really?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviastar-SP
You might want to tell the Russians they never made An-124s....
And they have new engines in development that would be fine replacements...
So should many C-130s, yet they are still being flown by many AFs & firefighters!
This is not about being obsolete... it is about control of servicing and upgrades... the An-22 and An1124 are foreign aircraft designs... Russia needs Russian planes.
if they could do it, so can Russia.
They probably could but why revive an ancient foreign aircraft when they could develop a put into production a new aircraft that has better capabilities and is Russian?