MOSCOW, June 7 (AVN) - Russia and India will have to spend USD300m on development of the IL-214 multirole military transport plane, Igor Katyrev, chief constructor of the Ilyushin aircraft corporation, said on Thursday.
The joint programme of IL-214 development is intended for five years, Katyrev told the Military News Agency when asked to comment on the agreement between Russia and India signed the day before. It envisages development and production of the IL-214 pilot batch, flight and certification tests and mastering of mass production. The programme is to end with the beginning of the plane's first serial supplies.
The Irkutsk aircraft production association will carry out mass production of IL-214 in Russia. India has not yet decided which of the five facilities of the HAL corporation would produce the plane.
According to Katyrev, the programme will be financed on the parity basis. As Russia's 2001 budget has been approved, funds for the plane's development will be allocated only in accordance with the law on the 2002 budget. Experts believe that the Indian party would start financing its sector of the programme in 2002 too. All the works have been financed by the Ilyushin company so far, Katyrev stressed.
The Russian Defence Ministry is interested in replacement of AN-12 Cub military transports with planes of the new type that have the cargo capacity of 15 to 20t, the constructor went on. A joint Russian-Indian venture will be established for implementation of the IL-214 development programme. It will comprise the Ilyushin corporation, HAL corporation, Irkutsk enterprise and Aviaexport company. The latter will carry out marketing research of the global market for IL-214 type aircraft.
Russia and India will develop two variants of the plane. The IL-214-100 passenger liner will be intended for carrying about 100 people, while the IL-214T transport will have the cargo capacity of 15 to 18t. The plane's take off-weight is 55t, cruising range up to 5,000km at the cruising speed of 850km/h and price USD15m to 17m.