HAMILTON STANDARD has signed a joint venture with Nauka, a Russian designer and manufacturer of environmental-control systems (ECS). The joint company, announced in Moscow at the end of November, is already set up for Westernised production of ECS units.
The venture employs 35 workers, but there are plans to expand its operations in the five-storey building, which it occupies in Moscow. Hamilton Standard invested $2 million of its own money in the project, with another $15.5 million provided by the OPIC finance group and $1 million from US defence conversion funds.
Hamilton-Standard will take a controlling 51% of the venture, adding to the extensive Russian interests of its parent United Technologies in aero-engines, elevators and air-conditioning systems.
The joint venture, delivered its first two ECS units for certification tests on the Tupolev Tu-204, which is expected to be completed by March. It intends to offer its ECS systems for all major commercial aircraft in development in the CIS, including the Tupolev Tu-334, Antonov An-70, Ilyushin Il-96 and Il-114.
The new venture faces competition from the Teploobmennik plant in Nizhny Novgorod, which is discussing the possibility of assembling ECS units in Russia in collaboration with AlliedSignal.
Source: Flight International
