MOSCOW. May 23 (Interfax-AVN) - The Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant, which forms part of the Russian Helicopters holding company, will complete the supply of 34 Mikoyan Mi-171 transport helicopters to China in August.
"The contract for supply of 34 Mi-171 transport helicopters to China is being implemented strictly to schedule. We are planning to complete this contract in August," the aviation plant's General Director, Leonid Belykh, told Interfax-AVN in Moscow on Friday.
The contract was signed in 2010, he recalled. "This is the not first, and hopefully, not the last contract with our Chinese partners. Today, China is already operating more than a hundred of our helicopters," Belykh said.
China is actively developing its own helicopter building, so the emphasis is shifting from direct supplies to services, timely supply of spare parts and joint projects, he said.
In the future, a joint venture could be opened in China to assemble Russian helicopters, he said. "Such talks are underway," he said.
The Mi-171 multi-purpose transport helicopter is part of the Mi-8 helicopter family and is an upgraded version of the Mi-17 helicopter.