Valery Voskoboinikov, deputy director at Industry and Energy Ministry’s Department of Defense and Industrial Complex
Photo: Ivan Shapovalov
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The G5 Deviation
The tender for choosing a designer to create an engine for the G5 fighter jet has born no fruit. In the end, the RF Defense Ministry decided to give money to both bidders, Saturn Research & Production Association and federal-run Salut, committing them to make prototypes that will be eventually compared. In sober fact, that move of Russia’s defense leadership could be viewed as the victory of Salut. Initially, the authorities didn’t want to accept its application at all.
The decision of Defense Ministry is that the bidders should be able at least to demonstrate technical opportunities, if not to reach the stage of prototype creation, said Valery Voskoboinikov, who is the deputy director at Industry and Energy Ministry’s Department of Defense and Industrial Complex.
“The decision of customer to confirm technological implementation of proposals submitted by the companies [Salut and Saturn] is quite justified,” the official went on. “Creating an engine costs roughly $3 billion to $5 billion, depending on the class,” Voskoboinikov said, without specifying the prototype budget.
”The government can allow itself to fund R&D before the demonstration stage and choose amid actually operating prototypes,” a source with Air Forces Chief Command echoed the words of ministry’s bureaucrat.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 17, 2007
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