FARNBOROUGH, England, 12 July 2012. Leaders of global interconnect technology specialist TE Connectivity in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, are working to expand the company's operations in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), beginning with a TE Connectivity partnership with aviation wiring expert Promtechkomplekt Co. Ltd. (PTK) in Moscow.

TE Connectivity is in final negotiations to license the company's SPEC 55 airframe wire to PTK for manufacturing within Russia, TE Connectivity announced Wednesday at the Farnborough International Airshow in Farnborough, England. The agreement should be finished in August, company officials say.

The licensing agreement will enable PTK to manufacture TE's SPEC 55 airframe wire for military and commercial aircraft manufactured in Russian and the CIS -- the nations of the former Soviet Union.

"We want to make TE a master distributor in the CIS and Russia," said Frank Breslin, vice president of global sales at TE Connectivity during a news conference at Farnborough Wednesday afternoon. "TE sees growth in the CIS and Russia for commercial and military aircraft."

Locating SPEC 55 airframe wire manufacturing in Russia will support Russia's defense market, which is a key growth market for TE, company officials say.

"We decided to team with PTK in the manufacturing of SPEC 55 wire after working closely with them on previous value-added opportunities within the Russian market," Breslin says. "As one of our authorized Russian channel partners, PTK has worked with and has supported TE in the growth of this emerging region."

Also spurring on the agreement is a growing eagerness in Russia and Eastern Europe to get access to the most advanced technologies available throughout the world to enhance the Russian aviation industry.

"Our decision was based on the instructions of the president of the Russian Federation, as well as directives of the government of the Russian Federation on the use of the most advanced foreign technologies in aerospace industry," says PTK President Valery Shardin.

Using TE Connectivity SPEC 55 airframe wire in Russian aircraft "will enable the industry to decrease the weight and cost of onboard electrical wire interconnect systems of the modern and perspective aircraft, as well as increase manufacturability of the aircraft and hence, make the products of the Russian aircraft industry more competitive in domestic and foreign markets," Shardin says.

TE's SPEC 55 airframe wire is deployed on the vast majority of aircraft flying today, TE Connectivity officials say. More information on TE's SPEC 55 airframe wire is online at www.te.com/catalog/feat/en/s/24875?BML=10576,23176,23177.

For more information contact TE Connectivity online at paste link phrase here, PTK at www.ptkgroup.ru, or the Farnborough International Airshow at www.farnborough.com. Also follow Military & Aerospace Electronics and Avionics Intelligence daily Farnborough show coverage online at www.militaryaerospace.com/farnborough-report.

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