Russia's UAC in talks for joint production of An-148 airliner in India
21 Dec 2010
Russian aircraft maker United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) is in talks with Indian firms for joint production of the Antonov An-148 regional airliner in India - in its passenger and cargo versions - UAC president Alexei Fyodorov said.
"The majority of Russian-Indian cooperation projects concern military aviation. However, it is time to cooperate in the field of civil aviation," Fyodorov told a Russian-Indian trade and investments forum yesterday.
India has cooperated with the Soviet Union for decades on military aviation and with Russia later. Currently, the Su-30MKI Flanker-H multi-purpose fighters are being produced by India under a Russian licence.
Rosoboronexport, Russia's state-owned arms seller, in September, signed an agreement with India's state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd to set up a joint venture to produce a Multirole Transport Aircraft (MTA).
The Russians had offered HAL cooperation in civil aviation two years ago, but it had to decline it as military orders left it with no spare capacity.
Meanwhile, the Russian-Indian second prototype T-50 fighter aircraft will take to the skies in early 2011, Fyodorov said yesterday.
"We have put the deadline forward to the start of 2011," he said.