It even will be cheaper/easier to make some more IL-476s & use An-124s &/ Slons for outsize loads like helos, UAVs, vehicles, tanks, S-300/400s, Pantsir S-1s, BMs, boats, construction equipment, generators, etc.
They are not going to need an enormous number of Il-106 or Slon aircraft, but they certainly need to start making some... the 60 ton Il-476 will be hard pressed to replace the existing Il-76 aircraft it needs to replace let alone the 100 odd An-70s they were going to buy for the VDV but clearly are not getting now... so the idea they could make a few extra instead of an An-22 replacement or to supplant An-124 numbers doesn't make sense... they are too small for a start anyway.
Most vehicles would be better moved by Rail or ship anyway... it is not faster but is much cheaper...
OTH, a slow rate production of renewed An-22s & their engines is still possible if it's justified & feasible;
It is not justified or feasible... the An-22 was a useful aircraft but it is old and has not been in production the last 40 odd years.... they need a replacement... they developed a replacement.... they are about to put the replacement into production... and while they are doing that the An-124s they have in service can do the job, though not as efficiently... which is why they need replacement.
They could still order a civilian version of it from Ukraine & then modify them.
The Ukraine would be in a vastly worse position to be able to make the aircraft... Russia could easily afford it if it was necessary... Ukraine can't even make the new planes they are making let alone an old plane they are not.
if the tooling was preserved, they could produce it.
Why would the tooling for a plane that has not been produced for 40 years be preserved in the Ukraine?
When the oligarchs sold everything in the 1990s and again in 2014... what possible reason would they have for keeping the tooling to make ancient transport planes they don't have any engines for?
AFAIK, the modernized An-22 has even more market potential than the An-188.
With modern engines it might, but I would say both are beyond the capacity of the Ukraine... note the An-188 doesn't use props because they don't have the skills to make the props...
Even with drawings available for the aircraft many parts would need to be redesigned or reverse engineered.
At the very least digitised... which will cost millions and take 4-8 years...
it may still be worth it since it's a proven design & time will be saved updating the design & testing it.
Not for Russia because they wont be using a Ukrainian design no matter what happens. And also they will soon have the Il-106 which will be a much better performing aircraft.
The Ukraine can't afford to fund it on their own.
The US already has the C-17 and would not want cheap competition for that from any other country.
Surely the Chinese have a copy of the C-17 for their own use already or at the design stage...
And Europe wont buy it from the Ukraine... why would they?
Also, if more An-22s r built, less An-124s/Slons/IL-476/106s & their engines will be needed.
The number of An-22s built will be unrelated to the number of Slons and Il-476s and Il-106s built... Russia wont be buying any An-22s no matter who makes them.
Specialized tanker/CM/UAV carrier/amphibious/water bomber variants could be built.
If such aircraft are needed Russia has a range of types they could base such aircraft on that are not about to be retired and scrapped.
With new computers they can design an aircraft that is easily 10 times better, carries more, longer range for less consumption ...
X2... and with new engines they will actually be 10 times better...
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