Abstract:

  A Russian company is investing $100m in the construction of a new joint venture plant in Tatarstan to manufacture composite airframe components for commercial aircraft.

  AeroComposite, part of Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), is to locate the production complex at the premises of Tupolev plane maker Kazan Aircraft Production Association (KAPO) in the Tatarstan capital Kazan.

  The complex is due to produce composite structures for up to 140 planes including the Sukhoi Superjet 100 and UAC’s next generation narrow body MS-21 airliner.

  AeroComposite, formed jointly by UAC with a 48% stake and plane maker Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Corp. and Russian engineering services group Progresstech, said it aims to join forces with a foreign partner in the project.

  Its industrial complex is expected to be commissioned in either late 2012 or early 2013 and plans to reach design capacity by 2016 or 2017, the firm was quoted as telling Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency.

  This month (Aug) it reported AeroComposite as saying that composite material will comprise 30% - 40% of the airframe of the MS-21, on a par with the planes of Airbus and Boeing.

  A partnership with a foreign firm will help develop Russian composite technology and bring it up to international standards, Novosti quoted AeroComposite’s president Leonid Gaidansky as stating.

  AeroComposite is set to concentrate on composite production for aircraft wings and set up series production of parts and sub assemblies in composite materials for all new planes launched by UAC.

  The Russian company is also likely to try to export some of its products to the world’s largest aerospace groups.