MOSCOW. Oct 14 (Interfax-AVN) - The funds, earmarked by the draft federal budget for 2004 for future aircraft development, should be considerably increased, says a special appeal, drawn up by heads of Russia's leading aircraft-building enterprises, who constitute the Expert Council on legal problems pertaining to national security under the State Duma's chairman, to Russian MPs. The appeal was discussed at the State Duma session on Tuesday.
Members of the Expert Council section for legal support of the aircraft industry development state that the budget funds for 2004, allocated by the Russian Finance Ministry for research and development within the framework of the federal special program "Development of Civil Aircraft in Russia in 2002-2010 and until 2015", which total RUB2.46bn (USD81.38m), correspond to the funds, defined by the program, calculated as of 2002, but do not take into consideration deflation indices, specified by the Russian Ministry of Economic Development and the Russian Finance Ministry, which have to be taken into account to calculate the required budget funds with respect to 2004 prices.
"Such a funding volume jeopardizes strategic measures, facilitating development of new aircraft," the appeal states.
Sponsors of the appeal suggest that the aircraft industry funding should be considered top priority, when discussing the draft budget for 2004, and that specialized enterprises should be financed by the state within the framework of the federal special program at the 2003 level, taking into account inflation, with a total of RUB3.52bn (USD116.54m).