Russian legislation could see helicopter manufacturer return to Euromil joint venture
Kazan Helicopters and Mil are eager for Eurocopter to return to the Euromil fold after a Russian proposal to allow foreigners to hold a 50% stake in Russian aerospace companies completed the first round of parliamentary hearings.
In 2003, Eurocopter pulled out of the Euromil joint venture to produce the 30-seat Mi-38 twin-engined helicopter after nearly 10 years of work with its founding Russian partners, because Russian legislation enacted in 1998 caps foreign ownership at 25% and prohibits foreigners from performing executive and managerial functions.
Eurocopter was also blocked from sharing intellectual property rights to the Mi-38 despite having helped design the cockpit and avionics. "After the Russian government restricted the upper limit of the foreign share, Eurocopter handed over its 33.3% stake in Euromil to the other project participants," says Kazan Helicopters general director Aleksandr Lavrentiev.
Eurocopter remains responsible for the helicopter's sale outside the former Soviet Union and continues working on Mi-38 avionics on a contractual basis, Lavrentiev says.
Conceived in the late 1980s, the Mi-38 acquired international status when Eurocopter accepted responsibility for the cockpit and cabin interior and its Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127 series powerplant. The engine has been developed under risk-sharing terms by the United Technologies-owned Pratt & Whitney-Rus design house in St Petersburg, based on a turboshaft variant of the turboprop.
The aircraft will be available in 30-seat and 44-seat variants and priced between $12 million and $15 million. An executive version seating up to 16 passengers is under consideration, while a military-transport variant is being evaluated by the Russian defence ministry and state-controlled arms company Rosoboronexport.
Kazan says it plans to assemble 10-12 Mi-38s a year. Certification to CIS airworthiness requirement AP-29 is planned for 2007, with first deliveries earmarked for the following year. Sources close to the programme say Kazan and Mil will proceed with Western certification only if Eurocopter returns.
VLADIMIR KARNOZOV / MOSCOW
Source: Flight International
