Kharkiv State Aircraft Manufacturing Company or Kharkiv Aviation Factory (KSAMC or KhAZ; ) is a Ukrainian aircraft manufacturing company. During the Soviet era, the plant was known as Aircraft Production Plant 135 and the Central Intelligence Agency classified it as Kharkiv Airframe Plant 135.[1]
History
KhAZ was established on September 17, 1926, following the foundation of Kharkiv aircraft repair facilities, which had been established in 1923.[2] These facilities were originally constructed by the German aviation company Junkers Flugzeug und Motorenwerke AG prior to Adolf Hitler's rise to power. This undertaking was part of Weimar Germany's strategy to conceal its military cooperation with the Soviet Union, aiming to circumvent the limitations imposed on the German Armed Forces by the Treaty of Versailles.[3]
The manufacturing facility has its own aerodrome, known as Kharkiv North Airport (ICAO: UKHV), alternatively recognized as Kharkiv Sokilnyky Airport.