MOSCOW. Dec 18 (Interfax) - Russian defense industry employees, together with specialists from Italy's AgustaWestland, will early next year be working on the creation of a new helicopter, Deputy Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees the country's defense industrial complex, said in an interview with the paper Izvestia published on Tuesday.
"Agusta and we are now moving to more serious and deep cooperation. We will not simply by assembling a finished helicopter, but designing a new one. For this, Russian and Italian designers will be jointly designing a machine able to carry from two to three tonnes. The work begins at the end of January or beginning of February," Rogozin said.
The first test version of the aircraft will appear in two and a half to three years, he said.
"It needs to be taken into account that we are starting from scratch, and that we, and they, have preliminary work. And that needs simply to be combined and synthesized," he said.
Rogozin visited Italy last week, where he "traveled around several key Italian enterprises in the most varied sectors of industry - Iveco Oto Melara makes armored vehicles and weaponry, AgustaWestland helicopters, Fincantieri is engaged in shipbuilding." "There were also some political meetings," he added.
AgustaWestland, he said, "is in a good mood because it has dealings in Russia." "If there is someone who doesn't know, at the enterprise HeliVert outside Moscow AW139 helicopters have been being assembled for almost a year now, perhaps the Ka-62, but it will go serial only in a year and a half to two years. This is a lighter machine than the Mi-8, and bigger than the Ka-226 and Ansata," Rogozin said.
It should be born in mind that "the Agusta 139 is in fact the same Kamov, because at the start of the 1990s - few know this - several of our helicopter pilots gave over this technology to the West, and in fact our Kamov helicopter of the basis for the 139th Agusta project, it even looks like the Ka-62," he said.
Asked about the kind of agreements with the Italians were reached as to shipbuilding, Rogozin pointed out that "Fincantieri is in the Italian USC [United Shipbuilding Corporation]," so talks with them were held by USC President Andrei Dyachkov, who was with the delegation.
Dyachkov said that the Italians have great interest in working with Russia, Rogozin said.
"This means the Italians being involved in the creation of new technological wharves in Russia," he added.
In this regard, "they have an excellent line of cargo and passenger vessels, and we are working towards our [defense industry] producing 50% civilian product," he said.
"For example, we could create in Russia wharves for the production, together with the Italians, tankers, large cruise liners, that sooner or later USC will begin to seriously engage in. And the Italians - as the representatives of an ancient maritime power - will be very useful to us in this. Furthermore, they are very interested in cooperation in this area," Rogozin said.
"In the next couple of months, we await a delegation from the company Fincantieri, whom we invited to look over our wharves as an object of investment," he said.