RYBINSK (Yaroslavl region). Dec 9 (Interfax-AVN) - The Saturn Scientific Industrial Association has signed a contract on procuring a batch of cutting-edge equipment, produced by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Mori Seiki, Sergey Chuklinov, Saturn Deputy Director General, told Interfax-Military News Agency on Tuesday.
"Within the framework of the earlier agreement between Saturn and Sumitomo Corporation on corporate crediting of the Saturn modernization program, the Saturn Scientific Industrial Association has signed a contract on the first credit grant. Under this contract Saturn will receive the first batch of cutting-edge equipment, manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Mori Seiki," Chuklinov said.
According to him, a delegation of Saturn officials, headed by Director General Yury Lastochkin, visited Japan in late November, where it paid a visit to largest Japanese engineering corporations, including Sumitomo Corporation, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Toshiba, and Hitachy.
"In the course of the visit the delegation signed a contract on procuring equipment from Japan, which not a single Russian enterprise has as of now. It is worth mentioning that the conditions of crediting and the quality of the equipment delivered are unprecedented for the national power engineering industry," Chuklinov said.
He noted that in 2003 CEOs of Sumitomo Corporation and Saturn signed a baseline agreement on corporate crediting of the Saturn modernization program for a total of USD60m for 2003-2008, while in July Saturn, Sumitomo Corporation, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries signed a paper on global partnership in the Russian power engineering market until 2010-2015.
Saturn is one of Russia's flagship developers and manufacturers of aircraft and commercial gas turbines. Its main workstreams include developing and manufacturing power plants for combat and civil aircraft, including a power plant for the fifth generation fighter, as well as designing gas turbines and power plants for Gazprom, Unified Energy Systems of Russia, and other customers.
The Saturn Scientific Industrial Association incorporates the Lyulka Scientific Center, the Industrial Center, comprising a gas turbine plant, a commercial gas turbine plant, a pilot plant, and engineering plant, the Lytkarino engineering plant, a marketing and a financial centers, and the maintenance and after- sale services directorate. The Saturn Scientific Industrial Association employees in excess of 19,600 highly qualified workers.