Putin pledges revival of aerospace might

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Aug 21: President Vladimir Putin said Russia will challenge Europe and the US in aerospace as the country rebuilds an industry that once rolled out a quarter of the world's commercial aircraft fleet.

Russia "has new economic possibilities'' to gain a greater share of the global market for civilian passenger and transport planes and "keep its leadership in producing combat aircraft,'' Putin said on Tuesday at the opening of the Moscow Air Show.

More than 780 domestic and foreign producers from 110 countries are participating in the biennial event, Putin said at the once-secret Zhukov airfield near the Russian capital.

Putin pushed Russia's aerospace manufacturers and designers to merge into state-controlled OAO Unified Aircraft Corp. to create a business with the scale to compete abroad. Russian companies aim to build and sell 4,500 civilian and military planes valued at $250 billion over the next 18 years, Unified Aircraft Chief Executive Officer Alexey Fyodorov said Aug. 15.

Indonesia signed a contract on Tuesday for six Sukhoi Su-30 fighters valued at as much as $350 million, Valery Kartavtsev, a spokesman for Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport, told reporters at the air show. Russia is the biggest arms supplier to developing countries. "Unified Aircraft Corp. plans more active entry into the world market for competitive civilian and transport aircraft,'' Putin said.

Unified Aircraft is Putin's effort to restore Cold War production levels and compete with Toulouse, France-based Airbus SAS and Chicago-based Boeing Co. Russia has as much as $8 billion in orders for combat jets and expects to more than double the airliner backlog to $3.5 billion this year from $1.5 billion. That effort received a boost today with Russian airlines including GTK Rossiya, whose customers include the Kremlin, ordering about $600 million of aircraft from domestic manufacturers.

Rossiya signed an accord with Ilyushin Finance Co. for one Il-96-300 long-range plane and 12 Antonov An-148 short-range aircraft, Ilyushin Finance Chief Executive Officer Alexander Rubtsov said in an interview at the show.

"The Il-96 is for the presidential administration'' and costs about $75 million, Ilyushin Finance spokesman Andrei Lipovetsky said. The An-148s sell for about $22 million each.

Billionaire Alexander Lebedev's new low-cast carrier Red Wings signed a $250 million contract with Ilyushin Finance for six Tupolev Tu-204 mid-range airliners.