MOSCOW. March 30 (Interfax-AVN) - According to preliminary calculations, the defense product output of the Almaz-Antey Air Defense Consortium amounted to $1 billion in 2004, which exceeds that of 2003 by a quarter, Yury Baykov, Press Secretary of the Almaz-Antey director general, told Interfax-Military News Agency on Wednesday.
"The results of the consortium's economic activities in 2004 are yet to be summed up, but preliminary estimates show positive dynamics in the consortium's operation in 2004," he said.
According to Baykov, in the first half of 2004 the sale proceeds increased 1.5-fold y-o-y 2003, while the output of an average worker increased by over 50%.
"The positive trend held true for the second half of 2004 as well," Baykov said.
The Almaz-Antey Air Defense Consortium was established in 2002. It comprises 46 enterprises, plants, research and development institutes, and design bureaus, employing a total of about 100,000 people. The consortium assigns priority to developing, manufacturing, upgrading, selling, providing after-sales services to, repairing, and scrapping air and missile defense systems.
At the present time Almaz-Antey is the largest holding company in the Russian defense industry.