Paul Duffy/MOSCOW
The Russian Government has unveiled ambitious plans to consolidate the airframe design and manufacturing sectors into two groupings involving most of the major names in the country's aerospace industry.
The plans, announced by deputy prime minister Ilya Klebanov on 12 May, call for one group to be formed, consisting of MiG, Tupolev and Kamov along with the Ulyanovsk assembly factory, Aviastar, and Aviakor, the Samara aircraft manufacturing plant. The two factories have long had close ties with Tupolev. Progress, the Kamov-associated helicopter factory at Arseniev in Siberia, is also included. MiG is already involved with Tupolev, having secured production of the Tu-334 airliner. Kamov is a surprise, as it was previously part of AVPK Sukhoi.
The second group is led by Sukhoi and includes Ilyushin, Beriev, Mil and Yakovlev. It also includes the Voronezh aircraft factory and the helicopter factories at Kazan and Rostov-on-Don, both builders of Mil designs, and military aircraft factories already part of the AVPK Sukhoi group.
Initial reaction has been mixed. The decision to merge airliner, combat aircraft and helicopter operations is causing concern at industry level. Some observers question whether the scheme will have any more chance of success than earlier abortive attempts at restructuring. However, the government has been under pressure to act to arrest the wholesale decline of the industry.
The remainder of the industry is likely to be merged into "six or seven" groups, including engine designers and manufacturers, "weapons and avionics", and other targeted groupings.
Klebanov expects only three factories to continue large commercial aircraft production - Aviastar, Voronezh and Russia's strongest producer, the Kazan Aircraft Production Association (KAPO). KAPO appears not to have been included to date, but has close ties to Tupolev.
Rusaviakosmos, the Russian aerospace agency and effectively the industry's "holding company", had requested a nine year restructuring , but the government rejected this in favour of a 2004 deadline.
It is unclear where other prominent organisations will fit into the structure. No mention was made of Myasishchev, the experimental aircraft design bureau or TsAGI, the Central Aero and Hydrodynamics Institute, or many others of the industry's 316 companies.
Alexei Tupolev died in Moscow on May 13th, aged 75. The son of the founder of Tupolev, he was appointed general designer of Tupolev from 1972 until 1997.Source: Flight International