Trials of Belarusian-Russian Osvei aircraft due in 2025-2026 - Belarusian State Military Industrial Committee

MINSK. Aug 14 (Interfax) - The trials of the Belarusian-Russian Osvei plane are due in 2025-2026, the Belarusian State Military Industrial Committee said on Tuesday.

"This is the engineering design stage. The aircraft complex is almost ready. The trials are due in 2025-2026," committee department head Dmitry Stefanovich said on the Belarusian state-run channel Belarus 1.

"An agreement has been reached. An aircraft-manufacturing program has been signed with Russia. About 178 planes are due to be designed by 2030," he said.

"The program is likely to be extended, so serial production [is planned]," Stefanovich said.

Russia's Ural Works of Civil Aviation has been designated the lead contractor for experimental development of the Osvei twin-engine light multipurpose aircraft for 19 passengers, while Belarus's 558th Aircraft Repair Plant is a co-contractor. The developers have been tasked with making an aircraft competitive with foreign analogues, such as Cessna-408 SkyCourier, L-410NG, Indonesian Aerospace N-219, and DHC-6 300 Twin Otter.