Russian presidential/government aircraft

Russia will purchase two Airbus jets for its leadership in a deal worth $235 million with a European aircraft manufacturer despite promises to help its own struggling aeronautical industry.

The Russian government announced on Thursday it is buying two Airbus A319ACJs from EADS, headquartered in Toulouse, France, as well as building two Russian Ilyushin Il-96-300 airliners for President Dmitry Medvedev.

The entire deal, including the building of four Mi-8 MTV-1 helicopters, will cost the Kremlin's property department 18.6 billion rubles ($652.6 million).

Last year, Kremlin property manager Vladimir Kozhin said Russia may buy Ukraine's Antonov An-158 jet for Medvedev, and was eyeing the purchase of Sukhoi's most up-to-date Superjet 100 airliners.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev criticized on Friday Russian aircraft makers for failing to provide competitive and electronically advanced planes.

"Clearly all our products need to be electronically based but not all our design bureaus are ready for this, which is a big and separate problem," Medvedev told a session of the Russian aviation security council.

Medvedev said Russian planes should be competitive with their foreign rivals in terms of engine noise, fuel economy and flight distance.

"You need to work better instead of demanding money," he said.

The Russian government announced on Thursday it was buying two Airbus jets from Europe and is building two Russian Ilyushin Il-96-300 airliners for the president.

Last year it was suggested that the Kremlin was looking at buying the new Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional airliners, which are currently undergoing certification. The company has received more than 100 orders from Russian airlines and around 200 in total.

The president called for bringing in new passenger aircraft, while National Security Council head Nikolai Patrushev said the focus would be on the provision of regional jets. "People should not be flying from one part of the country to another via Moscow," he said.

A plan to develop the country's aviation industry through 2020 is being drawn up and would be presented to the president, Patrushev said, adding that the development would occur in cooperation with foreign partners.

"We are not going to reinvent the wheel," he said.

Medvedev said state support for the industry was possible, but only at the initial stages.

He added that new advanced models need to be designed and put into operation by means of innovative development of the aircraft building industry, encouraging design efforts and closer cooperation with traditional and new partners alike.

He also criticized the network of military aerodromes and said he had given instructions to build several large military aviation bases on strategically essential routes. He said they should be re-equipped, including with unmanned aircraft, in a bid to raise military potential of the current aviation groups.

GarryB wrote:I am sure they will work better when they are actually building aircraft.

Having actual money flow does wonders for most companies trying to be at the leading edge of technology, and certainly the fact that most of their avionics need to come from outside Russia should be considered more of a problem.

Moscow. On 25 March. Interfax-AVN - Ulyanovsk Aircraft Factory in 2016 to appoint special flight detachment "Russia" party modernized medium-range Tu-204SM, "Interfax-AVN" a source in the aviation industry.

"In the near future the first purchase order are deeply modernized aircraft Tu-204 - a batch of three Tu-204SM," - a spokesman said.

He clarified that the customer is special flight detachment "Russia".

"Production of the first production batch of Tu-204SM at the Ulyanovsk aircraft plant will not meet difficulties, as the aircraft will be built from the existing production backlog. It is expected that the order will be implemented aircraft factory in 2016," - said the source.
Tu-204SM is a modernized and the latest version of the basic Tu-204-100. Tu-204SM installed PS-90A2 differs from the basic PS-90A higher rates of lifetime and reliability. Tu-204SM is also installed a new on-board equipment, assemblies and systems, reduced the number of crew members.

George1 wrote:According to December 30, 2016 the agency TASS manager of the Russian Federation Presidential Administration Alexander Kolpakov, FGBU "Special flight group" Russia "Department of the Russian Presidential Administration as part of the program update the fleet of domestic aircraft in 2016 received five planes, one Tu-214SR two IL-96-300, two SuperJet SSJ100 "Today received a second IL-96-300", -. A. Kolpakov said.



http://bmpd.livejournal.com/2357335.html

Svyatoslavich wrote:.....
I guess they are buying so many Il-96 only to support VASO. How many are there in the presidential fleet, I guess around 6. When 3 would be more than enough for the long haul needs of the president and the VVIP.