MOSCOW. Sept 17 (Interfax-AVN) - The Oboronprom united industrial corporation is enhancing the production of civil and military helicopters, and plans to start making 300 aircraft annually by 2015.
"The 2007 plan is 150 helicopters, but by 2015 we are going to start making 300 aircraft annually," Denis Manturov, the Deputy Minister for Industry and Energy, who was Oboronprom's director general until recently, told the Kommersant newspaper.
The Kazan and Ulan-Ude aircraft plants have 2008 plans closed, and they are taking orders for the very end of 2008 and 2009-2010 now.
"The situation is a bit more difficult with the Kumertau plant as a result of its narrow specialization. However, with commercial orders in place, it has started forming order portfolios for 2009 and 2010," he said, noting that the major problem of the holding is supply of spare parts and subassemblies.
"The amounts of gear boxes and other parts, produced for helicopters today, are limited. The corporation is going to sign long-term contracts with its subcontractors for three or five years," he said.
As for the negotiations with Agusta Westland, Manturov said that to sign documents will take about half a year. "We have differences in legislation, and they are primarily interested in customs bonuses and spare parts. However, I believe that Augusta will possible have 49% in the joint venture under the Russian laws. We may even go 50/50 because the matter falls into the commercial sector," he said, noting that Oboronprom has also signed a memorandum of cooperation with Eurocopter, which envisions accessory production for the European company, developing the HTH heavy helicopter and its lighter version with 2.5 tons of payload. "We are negotiating Agusta about other weight categories, so the projects do not intersect," he said.