Russia's aircraft industry comes to Paris with new-found vigour after defence exports continued to recover during the past year, with experts predicting sales of $5 billion during 1997.
This represents a doubling of sales over the last five years, since they were rocked when the Soviet Union collapsed in August 1991, sales figures reaching only some $2.3 billion. Russia is now ahead of France as number three in the world arms market, after the United States and the United Kingdom.
The latest forecasts were issued late last year by Rosvooruzheniye, the Russian state arms export organisation, and they seem to be more realistic than previous claims from Moscow.
Revival
Western sources also support claims of a revival in Russian arms exports, but say they are still a long way behind their Cold War high of just under $22 billion in 1989.
The Russian export drive is led by the two enterprises based on the AVPK Sukhoi and VPK-MAPO organisations, which have scored a number of major coups over the past year, including selling 40 Sukhoi Su-30 fighter bombers to India for $1.5 billion and additional MiG-29 fighters to Iran and Syria.
Links have also been made with Israel to supply Ilyushin Il-76s as airborne early warning aircraft to China. This comes on the heels of a large sale of Su-27s to China which is expected to be followed shortly by more orders. The Ukraine's Antonov has made several sales of transport aircraft to third world countries, including Sri Lanka.
Exports
Russia, the Ukraine and Belarus have also been making large exports of second hand aircraft around the world, with the latter selling MiG-29s to Peru and Ukraine selling helicopters to Sri Lanka.
Russia has been making great efforts to sell the S-300V (SA-12) anti-ballistic missile air-defence system around the world in very public contests with America's Raytheon Patriot system to win orders in South Korea and the United Arab Emirates.
The increased foreign sales have brought much needed cash injections to Russia's aircraft industry, and both VPK MAPO and VPK Sukhoi are using the money to fund research and development, including that of the proposed LFMI light weight multi-role fighter.
Over the past year the Russian government ordered a re-organisation of the Russian aviation industry, with design bureaux and production plants being grouped under single leaderships. The VPK MAPO is based on the old MiG and Kamov design bureaux, while the VPK Sukhoi links the Sukhoi and Beriev design bureaux with three production plants.
Source: Flight Daily News
