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The expert also recalls an earlier published piece on "Ukrainian engines supplied to North Korea," full of trumped-up allegations playing along with the Russian narrative.
An extremely ambiguous article was published on Wednesday by an acclaimed newspaper, The Washington Times, dedicated to the supply of Ukrainian engines for Chinese training aircraft.
The newspaper, which, given its reputation and weight should cover international issues remaining unbiased, has slammed criticism on Ukraine over the engines allegedly supplied to the China air force, to be used at combat-training aircraft Hongdu L-15 for Chinese pilots to train liftoff and landing at aircraft carriers, Ukrainian military expert Oleksandr Kovalenko wrote in an op-ed on the Information Resistance website.
The publication refers not only to the Chinese sources but also highly emotional statements by a former Chief Counsel to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, William Triplett, widely known for his tough anti-China rhetoric, the author notes.
The expert recalls an earlier published piece on "Ukrainian engines supplied to North Korea," full of trumped-up allegations playing along with the Russian narrative.
Today, amid the recent signing by U.S. President Trump of the country's defense budget for 2019, where $250 million was laid for boosting Ukraine's defenses, the reports are suddenly coming up, accusing Ukraine of assisting U.S. "enemies."
Regarding the Hongdu L-15 and the Ukrainian engines for them, which were in fact delivered to the People's Republic of China, the expert says that it's about DV-2, AI-222-25, and AI-222-25F engines manufactured by Motor Sich.
But it is alarming that the Washington Times "woke up" only 18 years after the start of the joint work (2000) on Hongdu L-15 of the Ukrainian ZMKB Progress and the Russian OKB Yakovlev, under contract with the Chinese Hongdu, and 8 years after the first flight (2010) of the Chinese aircraft with the AI-222-25F engine.
Moreover, in 2010, production of these aircraft began, and in 2011, the Chinese side ordered the AI-222-25F engines with an afterburner from Motor-Sich.
The exact amount of Hongdu L-15 produced is unknown - varying reports say it's from 24 to 80 units. However, it's not what's interesting. The thing is that the Washington Times manipulates information and data in an attempt to blow a hit at the administration of the U.S. president, without going into details about how long has the cooperation project been ongoing.
In turn, taking such approach into account, the question arises, why the Washington Times has not reported on the American gyrostabilized optics by FLIR Government Systems installed on Russian MI-8AMTSH, or about the same company's visors installed on Russian anti-subversive boats Project 03160 Raptor, now deployed in the Black Sea near the occupied Crimea.