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Entering the production of the Belarusian-Russian aircraft will be twice as short as the traditional period

One of the most intriguing statements of the current international exhibition INNOPROM-2023, which took place in Yekaterinburg, was undoubtedly the statement of the Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Golovchenko that Belarus could soon be rightfully classified as an aircraft manufacturer. At the main strategic session, Sustainable Production. Upgrade Strategies, he announced the implementation of a project for the serial assembly of a twin-engine aircraft in Belarus, and a little later, he shared the details.

During the interview   belta

 At the plenary session, the head of the Belarusian Council of Ministers said that our country is already fulfilling a number of orders for the Russian aviation industry for the manufacture of parts, assembly units, services, “Having worked in this area, having better understood each other’s capabilities, we came to a joint decision that it is necessary to expand the horizons of partnership.”
And here it is worth saying that a comprehensive programme of cooperation between Belarus and Russia in the field of aircraft manufacturing was signed within the framework of the exhibition, which, in the opinion of the Belarusian Prime Minister, will give even greater impetus to this work.
He also informed the session participants that the parties had decided to implement a joint project in Belarus for the production of a twin-engine light multi-purpose aircraft, “This major project will mark the transition of our country to the club of aircraft manufacturing countries with the support of Russia.”


Roman Golovchenko shared the details of the implementation of this project in an interview with RBK television, “Building an airplane is always a long and troublesome business. But nevertheless, we all want to do it quickly,” he intrigued everyone by the timing, and also told how the idea of serial assembly of aircraft was born in our country. “In fact, the republic has never had its own production of aviation equipment, but for decades we have had very large aircraft repair enterprises for military and civil purposes: the Minsk Civil Aviation Plant repaired the entire line of Tupolev aircraft, respectively, the Baranovichi Aircraft Repair Plant — a large family of Sukhoi, Mikoyan aircraft etc.”
The Prime Minister stated that serious competencies in this area were developed quite a long time ago, “And when the Russian Federation made the right decision to concentrate its efforts on the development of its own aviation industry, of course, the help of technology partners was required (because the task is very ambitious and it was necessary to seriously increase the capacity).”


The Head of Government said that Belarusian enterprises (having certain competencies in this area) are actively involved in the programme for the production of units, assemblies, components for Russian aircraft manufacturing enterprises.
Visiting at the head of the government delegation Kazan, Ulyanovsk aircraft plants and similar production in Ufa, in the opinion of the Prime Minister, a package of orders was actually accumulated, “And now we have become one of the manufacturers of equipment for Russian military and civil aviation. But then we thought: ‘Why don’t we go further?’ After all, the task now facing Russia is the creation of a huge line of aircraft (from the MC-21 to small aircraft of the Baikal type, which will soon be mass-produced in Yekaterinburg).”


According to Roman Golovchenko, the proposal on the readiness of the Belarusian side to participate in an ambitious programme for the development of aircraft manufacturing was announced to the Russian colleagues, “We are ready to provide the Russian aviation industry with technical and technological assistance, and at the same time to realise our long-standing dreams of becoming a full-fledged aircraft manufacturing power. We are ready and willing to produce our own aircraft, developed in cooperation with Russian partners, and the Russian side is actually outsourcing, so to speak, its development. Therefore, now we are in the active phase of developing the so-called business plan in this area.”
The Belarusian Prime Minister also said that the aircraft would be developed jointly with specialists from the Ural Civil Aviation Plant, 

“We set ourselves the goal of completing development work in three years, including the manufacture of four prototypes and the start of flight tests.”

He clarified that the aircraft will not be developed from scratch: it will use the developments of Russian aircraft manufacturers as part of the Baikal and Ladoga aircraft, so many components will be interchangeable.
Roman Golovchenko drew attention to another important detail of the project implementation, “We are entering the experimental design, i.е. we do not buy a license: Belarusian and Russian designers will jointly develop the aircraft. In parallel, we will report to the Head of State and seek funding sources for the construction of an enterprise that will be engaged in the serial production of the aircraft.”
In conclusion, Roman Golovchenko expressed confidence that in four years the first Russian-Belarusian aircraft would take off into the sky of the Union State.



Denis Manturov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industrial Development and Trade of the Russian Federation, agrees with this optimistic forecast. Answering the question of Belarusian journalists about how much time, in his opinion, it would take to release a joint product, he explained, “The creation of any aircraft depends on what stage the technological level is at, whether there is a school. Today we can say that Belarus has developed a technology for the production of components and elements. There is a school in Russia, including schools for the production of all systems and engines. Therefore, together we will be able to reduce the terms from the traditional 8 to 4—4.5, maximum 5 years.”
As for the interaction of the parties in the space segment, the parties are working on all aspects — from sending a Belarusian cosmonaut into space to joint production of satellites, a microelectronic component, what is in demand today, the head of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade noted, “Piotr Aleksandrovich (Parkhomchik, Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus — editor’s note) and I have consolidated a new direction — machine-tool building.”
It should be noted that within the framework of the business programme under the auspices of the Government, in addition to a comprehensive programme of co-operation in the field of aircraft manufacturing, an agreement on co-operation in the field of machine tool industry was also signed.
“Without own fixed assets it is impossible to talk about the development of the manufacturing industry. It is the basis for all industries. Therefore, we will actively develop this joint project,” he concluded.

LIST IS OPEN

Piotr Parkhomchik on investment projects with Russia, “17 projects have been prepared for implementation, four more are under development”

Deputy Prime Minister Piotr Parkhomchik spoke in more detail about the implementation of investment projects within the framework of a $1.5 billion loan allocated by the Russian side at the Innoprom international industrial exhibition.
The Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister reminded the participants of the business forum Industrial Dialogue: Russia — Belarus, which was held as part of the international exhibition INNOPROM-2023 in Yekaterinburg, that the Russian Federation has provided a credit facility in the amount of $1.5 billion, and our country has prepared to the implementation of 17 investment projects, the data sheets for which are agreed with the Russian government, “These investment projects are being implemented on the scale of the Union State and address issues of mutual co-operation, import substitution and technological sovereignty.”
We are talking about the implementation of joint projects in the field of agricultural engineering, aircraft manufacturing, quarry equipment and others.
However, the list of projects is still open.
In a conversation with journalists, Piotr Parkhomchik said that four more promising projects, which are in a high degree of readiness, are under development with the Russian side, “This process (achieving technological sovereignty — editor’s note) is necessary for both the Belarusian and Russian sides, and we find mutual understanding.”

By Olga Anufrieva