18 Mar 2021 14:48

Rostec to merge all of Russia's aircraft design bureaus into aircraft building center

MOSCOW. March 18 (Interfax) - The Rostec State Corporation is establishing a unified aircraft building center of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) that will incorporate all of Russia's aircraft design bureaus such as MiG, Sukhoi, Tupolev, Ilyushin, and the Irkut corporation, the Rostec press service said.

"In Moscow, we are forming a unified management organization and a unified design center for all companies of the UAC. [...] Given the importance of this objective, I've made the decision to personally oversee these corporate reforms and to head up the UAC board of directors," the press service quoted head of Rostec Sergei Chemezov as saying.

"These systemic reforms are intended to update the company's structure, help solve issues of its financial sustainability" and boost the competitive edge of domestic civil planes, Chemezov said.

The UAC corporate aircraft building center, which Sukhoi and MiG will be a part of, will consolidate the functions of managing aircraft programs and will become the management organization for the Tupolev and Ilyushin companies and the Irkut corporation.

"Suggestions that Sukhoi and MiG will cease to exist are too radical. Indeed, the organizational form of these legal entities will change, but these brands and the people who make these brands will not disappear," a Rostec spokesperson said.

This drive for optimization will not apply to the companies' teams of engineers and designers, but will impact only their administration and management, the spokesperson said.

"The design schools will remain independent and will gain new opportunities for development and better conditions for work in the format of the unified engineering and design center. This center will be based in Moscow, which houses UAC's trial and test bench infrastructure. Relocating aircraft design bureaus to other regions is not on the agenda," he said.

The reorganization will be implemented in a stage-by-stage manner, over a period of several years, the spokesperson said.

"The combined optimization effect of these reforms is expected to be up to 130 billion rubles," the Rostec press service quoted UAC general director Yury Slyusar as saying.