MOSCOW, 15 June 2005. Russia maintained its position as one of the world's main exporters of military aviation technology, the press service of FGUP [federal state unitary enterprise] Rosoboroneksport [state-owned arms trader] reported.
"The share of aerospace products and services was around 60 per cent of the total value of Rosoboroneksport's deliveries, which in 2004 reached a record 5.12 billion dollars," the announcement states.
Russian aircraft manufacturers have taken part in nearly all of the largest regional tenders for the procurement of multirole fighter aircraft, as well as of combat, military transport and multirole helicopters.
"The Russian bids in them have been among the favorites not just in terms of value for money, traditionally Russia's strong point. Our offset proposals, programs for the transfer of technologies and licenses, and the establishment of aircraft maintenance centers have also begun to gain in competitiveness," the announcement reads.
Russia's services in the space sector and the space-launch category are also increasingly in demand on the international market," the report says. It goes on to note that Rosoboroneksport's and Russian aerospace industry enterprises' "maturity and viability as long-term and strategic partners in the major contracts that are at the stage of implementation is now in evidence."
Thus, the delivery of the last batch of Su-30MKI state-of-the-art multirole fighter jets for the Indian air force was completed in November 2004, on schedule. "The unique feature of the project is that Russia performed export supplies of onboard avionics produced in cooperation with Indian, French and Israeli companies," the press release reads.
Work on upgrade and development programs for advanced combat, military transport, and multirole helicopters is at the center of attention. This primarily presupposes the use of new materials and the provision of modern avionics for these helicopters' round-the-clock capability.
The trend has been that of steady demand for upgraded versions of Russian helicopters, which have a reputation among their users for reliability and simplicity of operation.
There are achievements in Russian-French military-technology cooperation, such as in particular joint efforts to market the MiG-AT [trainer jet] engined by Snecma. This year, development of the LINS 2000 laser inertial navigation system has begun jointly with Sagem, Rosoboroneksport's press service reported.
