Italian AgustaWestland to Assembly Helicopters in Russia
Italian maker of helicopters, AgustaWestland, will probably become the strategic partner of Russia’s aircraft constructors, at least the negotiations on assembling A119 and AW139 helicopters in Russia and on joint design of a new helicopter are in progress.
Oboronprom, which is the subsidiary of Russia’s state-owned arms exporter Rosoboronexport, and Vertolety Rossii (Helicopters of Russia) Management Co. are in talks with Italian AgustaWestland about the license assembly of AW139 and A119 helicopters at the plant in Ulan-Ude. The takeoff weight of AW139 equals 6.5 tons, while light A119 has just 2.7 tons.
The negotiations with Oboronprom are underway but they are of preliminary nature, AgustaWestland President Giuseppe Orsi specified. According to Oboronprom GD Denis Manturov, they sealed an understanding memorandum with AgustaWestland far back in May.
Another joint project of the partners could be creation of a new helicopter with the takeoff weight of 4.5 tons, though the Italians are still rather cautious about this portion of cooperation. When it comes to the joint design, the first thing to do is to understand what to design and for what purposes, Mr Orsi made clear.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of June 22, 2007
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