MOSCOW. Sept 28 (Interfax-AVN) - Implementation of the Russian-Indian Multirole Transport Aircraft (MTA) program is slowed down by the Russian government's uncertainty concerning the number of planes it is going to buy, Sergei Tsivilev, senior vice president of the Irkut corporation for corporate economy and finance, said on Tuesday.
"The Russian government has not yet made a basic decision concerning procurement of the plane that is being developed by the Irkut research and production corporation, the Ilyushin aircraft corporation, and India's Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) in the framework of the MTA program. This slows down implementation of the project," Tsivilev told Interfax-Military News Agency.
India is the sole initial customer of the aircraft, it has announced its intention to buy 50 MTA pieces, he recalled.
"The Indian partners believe that the Russian party, having evaluated the project, must make the governmental decision to procure a roughly equal batch of planes, i.e. about 50 pieces, in order to share the risks on a parity basis," Tsivilev noted.
The Russian government's stance in this issue, is very important, but it has not yet been determined, he stressed.
According to Tsivilev, Irkut has invested about $5 million in the MTA development.
HAL maintains a 50 percent stake in the MTA project, while Irkut has 40 percent and Ilyushin 10 percent. In addition, Russia is represented in the project by the Rosoboronexport state-owned arms trader.
According to experts, MTA surpasses foreign analogs as far as its flight and technical specifications are concerned.
The plane's maximal take-off weight will amount to 55-60 tonnes, cruising speed to 750-870 kmph on an altitude of 11,000 m, and flight range to 2,500 km with a cargo of 18.5 tonnes and to 6,000 km with a cargo of 4.5 tonnes.