Sukhoi to reorient its production of civil aircraft

In the civil aviation sphere the Sukhoi concern of Russia intends to focus on producing small regional aircraft, head of the famed Russian company Mikhail Pogosyan said in the interview with RIA Novosti on Tuesday at the ILA-2004 international aerospace exhibition which is being held in a suburb of Berlin.

"This segment of the market is the most profitable to us - we bank on the development and production of a whole series of regional aircraft Russian Regional Jet (RRJ) carrying from 60 to 95 passengers, which Sukhoi has been working on jointly with the Boeing company and French engine manufacturers," he noted.

"More than 70% of components for this family of aeroplanes will be made in Russia, which will make the aircraft 10-15% cheaper than that manufactured by the competitors," the head of the company said.

According to Pogosyan, ideally, Sukhoi would like to achieve equal-in-volume production of military and civil airplanes.

"That is why the Su-80 GP multifunctional freight-passenger aircraft and the Be-103 light amphibian made by the plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur (the Far East) are on display at our show in Berlin," the company's general director went on to say.

Asked by RIA Novosti why Sukhoi does not display its military products at such a representative forum as ILA-2004, Pogosyan said: "We have studied the specifics of the world air shows well, and believe with ample reason that our military aircraft more gainfully look at the exhibition in Farnborough where greater interest is traditionally shown in us." As Pogosyan said, Sukhoi intends to use its experience of international cooperation in developing together with French manufacturers a new pilotless flying vehicle, as well as a hypersonic administrative aircraft.

"We reached agreement on setting up a joint working group on these themes with a leading French firm, Dassault Aviation, which builds warplanes," he said.