Russia to Build 4,500 Aircraft by 2025

Russian aircraft-makers plan to build about 4,500 planes by 2025 as part of an ambitious program to revive an industry that fell on hard times after the Soviet collapse, officials said Wednesday.

The government will spend about $250 billion (187 billion euros) to boost the industry, said Alexei Fyodorov, president of state-controlled United Aircraft Corporation, an umbrella group for Russia's plane makers.

"Russia must become one of the global leaders in aircraft-making," Fyodorov said at a news conference.

He and other industry leaders spoke in the run-up to the Moscow International Air Show that opens next week. It will feature several new Russian designs, such as the MiG-35 fighter jet, and the world's top plane builders _ such as Boeing Co. and Europe's Airbus-maker EADS _ are expected to attend.

President Vladimir Putin's government has pledged to support the nation's aircraft-makers, which saw once-generous state funding come to a near-halt after the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union.

The industry has survived, thanks mostly to export orders for Sukhoi and MiG fighter jets, but civilian aircraft makers have struggled to find a market for their products as Russian carriers have opted increasingly for Boeings and Airbuses.

Russia's civilian air sector now has some 2,500 aircraft. Only about 100 are Western-made, but they currently carry nearly a third of all passengers.

As Russia benefited in recent years from high energy prices, the government has drafted ambitious plans to invest windfall revenues to revive the aviation industry and other high-tech sectors of the economy. One of the initial steps was the creation of the United Aircraft Corporation.

Progress has been slow. State-sponsored leasing schemes intended to lure Russian carriers to acquire domestically built aircraft have failed to achieve their aims, largely due to red tape.

Fyodorov said leasing programs would be streamlined this year to cut bureaucracy. The government also plans to earmark funds to modernize aging industrial equipment and attract young workers.

Builders need to modernize and cut costs to compete with Western aircraft-makers, Konstantin Makiyenko of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies said in an industry survey released Wednesday.

Makiyenko said Russia's engines lag far behind Western designs.

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