LONDON. July 21 (Interfax-AVN) - The Irkut Research and Production Corporation features the largest contracts portfolio among Russian defense industry enterprises, Irkut President Alexei Fyodorov told Interfax-Military News Agency at the Farnborough International 2004 air show.
"At the moment the overall cost of the contracts amounts to about USD4bn," he said.
Fyodorov also said that Irkut derived about 90% of its profits by selling military aircraft. However, in order to reduce market and political risks, it plans to produce an equal number of civil and military aircraft by 2006-2008.
The Irkut Corporation is one of flagship manufacturers of the SU-family fighters. Delivery of the SU-30MKI multi-role fighters to India and their licensed production by the HAL Corporation is the most big-ticket international project, being fulfilled by Irkut. The total cost of the contract exceeds USD4bn.
"At the moment our major objective consists in fulfilling the third stage of the contract, which envisions a delivery of ten combat aircraft to India. After than we will embark on modernizing fighters, delivered earlier. It is not just a commercial event, but also the completion of all tests and the final definition of the fighter's technical characteristics," Fedorov said.
According to him, from 2005 on Irkut will be able to export certified products.
Fedorov also said that the first batch of spare parts, designed to launch the SU-30MKI into licensed production in India, was shipped off to India this June. "The aircraft will be launched into licensed production in India in the near future," he said.