LE BOURGET, France, June 19 (AVN) - Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov visited the Russian section of the Paris Air Show and met French President Jacques Chirac at the unified bench of the Sukhoi aircraft corporation on Tuesday.
Chirac praised development of co-operation between Russian and French aircraft makers and hailed Russian exhibits. After the meeting Klebanov noted that the French president was very competent in Russian-French co-operation in the sphere of aircraft making, in particular, under the auspices of the project of the MIG-AT trainer development.
The Sukhoi bench has a very favourable position at the show, near leaders of the global aircraft industry, Klebanov said. Such companies as General Electric and Rolls Royce should be proud that Sukhoi is exhibiting products near them, he stressed.
"We managed to bring a lot of new stuff this time, I mean, powerful developments in the space sphere, in civil and military aviation," the deputy prime minister went on. However if Russian enterprises do not pool efforts this year they will face serious problem in five to seven years, he claimed.
Klebanov said research, production and finance should be consolidated to design a fifth-generation fighter. The Sukhoi company is appointed leader in this programme, but the MIG aircraft corporation and other Russian companies will be fully involved in the project. "The shape of the plane has been designed, and we have a very complicated task - to bring the plane to life in no more than 10 years, as this is a critical term. Then we will be able to come to Le Bourget as leaders for a long time," the official noted.
He said that establishment of the Sukhoi consortium would be completed in the near future. "This is a key issue. No country exhibits as many new ideas as Russia at the Paris Air Show. We are on top of the global technologies and our most powerful sectors are space and combat aviation," Klebanov stressed.
Speaking about civil aviation, the deputy prime minister said that the tender for first leasing operations was to be announced this month. After that the system will start working, as Russian airlines will get IL-96, TU-204 and other new aircraft. TU-324, TU-234 and other planes will be put up for leasing in 2004.
Asked by the Military News Agency to comment on development prospects of naval aviation, namely seaplanes, ground-effect machines, vertical take-off and landing aircraft, Klebanov said that it was not very convenient to exhibit naval aviation in Le Bourget. It should be demonstrated where water is, for instance, in Malaysia or in Russia's Gelendzhik, he stressed. Nevertheless, Russia exhibits its BE-200 amphibian here and real orders have been received for this aircraft.
Speaking about ground-effect machines, Klebanov said that they developed slowly but surely and that Russia was not planning to abandon works in this sphere. "As to vertical take-off and landing aircraft, it is a global tendency. These aircraft are being designed by not only Russia, but by other countries as well," he concluded.