Will Collaborate On A Series Of Light Utility Aircraft

Ural Works of Civil Aviation (UWCA), a Rostec subsidiary, and Austria's Diamond Aircraft Industries (DAI) have signed an agreement for the joint design and production of a series of light utility aircraft (LUA) in Russia. The signing took place at the Le Bourget Paris Air Show.

Russian market demand for these aircraft is currently estimated to exceed 200 units. The companies say the project will help connect remote communities, and will provide sustainable development of regions that are nearly inaccessible by surface transport. Effective and low-cost LUA will make domestic operations more profitable, attracting small air carriers to the market.

“Today, local aviation in Russia (is undergoing) a severe crisis, as there are no state-of-the-art quality light airplanes of affordable prices," said Sergey Chemezov, CEO of Rostec. “(The) An-2 and L-410 currently in service have low fuel efficiency and high operating costs. Creating a principally new aircraft will fulfill this niche and allow to replace the obsolete fleet. Rostec plans to establish leasing programs of its own in order to boost the exploitation of the new aircraft in the future.”

Rostec joined in a partnership with Diamond Aircraft to facilitate small aircraft manufacturing, as the Austrian company has developed innovative technologies in low-cost light plane production. Meanwhile, the Russian government is to restore the country’s airfield network and allocate subsidies in developing the new routes.

“We anticipate Russia is a prospective market as it has considerable territories giving it great potential in domestic services development," said Christian Dries, the president of Diamond Aircraft. “It is generally recognized that the sector can be quite profitable once it is highly developed. For example, latest researches showed that the USA with its territories comparable with the Russia’s has up to 70 % of all the domestic operations in the world.”

The aircraft and engines will initially be entirely assembled in Austria. Later, partial component production will be located in Russia, with the LUA components and diesel engines eventually being manufactured exclusively in Russia at the facilities of UWCA. The first Russian light utility airplane is expected to enter service in 2016.

The companies said the initial plan is to produce small commercial airplanes with a capacity of 19 seats. "The aircraft ... will meet the requirements of local air carriers operating within 400-1000 km flights," said Aleksey Fedorov, Rostec managing director on aviation projects. “Russia doesn't produce new LUAs. Although there are foreign analogues in commercial aviation, they are jet-prop unpressurised aluminum structures. We would like to offer diesel engine (airplanes) made of composite materials. They will be powered by kerosene jet fuel." Federov said the airplanes would offer 2.5 times the fuel efficiency of comparable aircraft.

The agreement also provides for the eventual local manufacture of 190 hp rotary engines for UAVs for civil and military purposes, as well as diesel aviation engine production.

(Pictured: 2nd row (f.l.t.r.) Liliana Schmidt (Head of Sales CIS, Diamond Aircraft), Alexey Fedorov (Head of Technological Research, ROSTEC), Vladimir Artyakov (DDG, ROSTEC), Mr. Lelikov (GD, Oboronprom); 1st row (f.l.t.r.) Christian Dries (CEO Diamond Aircraft), Vadim Badekha (DG, UWCA))

FMI: www.diamondaircraft.com