ZHUKOVSKY, Moscow Region. Aug 22 (Interfax-AVN) - Russia and India have launched a joint project to develop a multipurpose transport airplane, the head of one of the organizations involved in the project said on Friday.
"Based on an agreement signed on June 6, 2001, the Irkut research and manufacturing corporation, the Ilyushin aircraft corporation and the Indian company HAL have completed an advance project, developed the general technical characteristics of a joint multipurpose transport aircraft and begun work on its preliminary design," Irkut President Alexei Fyodorov told Interfax-Military News Agency.
"A joint design bureau has been established and is using the most up-to-date methods of electronic design in the work on the military transport plane project," Fyodorov said during the MAKS 2003 international aerospace show in Zhukovsky.
According to him, a series of important meetings, conferences and talks was held at the show.
"The meetings were aimed at attracting famous foreign supplies of aircraft engines, avionics and aircraft components to the military transport plane project," Fyodorov stressed.
He said an analysis of the world market has shown that these planes are in considerable demand.
"The marketing studies that have been carried out suggest that developing a multipurpose transport aircraft will be promising. Forty-five such craft may be bought by the Indian Air Force, 60 by the Russian Air Force, 15 by the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry and 25 by Russian and Indian transport companies," he said.
"The market capacity of third countries that are soon to put AN-12 Cub military transport planes out of use is estimated at about 60 multipurpose transport craft," Fyodorov said.
The two-engined turbojet tactical multirole transport plane with a cargo capacity of up to 18.5 tonnes is being designed for operation in the mountains, from unprepared airfield and in any weather. It is intended for transporting large-size military and civilian cargo and airdropping personnel and military hardware. Production of prototypes for static and service life tests will start in 2006. The aircraft is expected to take to the air in 2008, and its mass-production is to be launched in 2009.