Published: 6/19/1998

Boeing and the Ministry for Economics of the Russian Federation signed a memorandum on 9 June on co-operation in the area of civil aviation development. This document provides a basis for expansion of co-operative efforts in several specified areas. The memo was signed by Andrei Svinarenko, deputy minister for economics and Tom Schick, executive vice-president and deputy president of Boeing Commercial Airplane Group. Having applied his signature, Svinakenko said: "We are happy that our co-operation with Boeing has grown to such an extent that the Russian enterprises now are now getting involved in supply of not only raw titanium, but also parts and units for Boeing airplanes." The memo specifies several areas in which the parties will develop co-operation further. The first is the supply of titanium. In the last five years, Boeing purchased over 2 million kilograms of titanium from VSMPO factory of Verkhnaya Salda. According to Robert Spitzer, Boeing Commercial's vice-president for engineering, 25% of all titanium parts in the 777 are made from Russian titanium. This year the US company ordered Russian titanium worth $200m. Earlier, on 2 April 1997, Boeing awarded VSMPO a the two-year contract for the supply of 4.8 million pounds of titanium alloys. Commenting on this, Tom Schick pointed out that with assistance from Boeing, VSMPO has recently achieved certification of its titanium alloys to US standards. Before that the factory supplied Boeing with titanium allows made to US technologies. The second activity is using engineers from various Russian establishments in design work on some parts in Boeing airplanes. Specialists at the Ilyushin design bureau are now involved in re-design of arch beams for the 777 model, using the CATIA computer software. In all, the 777-200 has 42 arch beams, each of them featuring a unique design. Ilyushin was contracted to re-design those on 18 August 1997, in an effort to reduce the manufacturing costs by making use of high technologies amassed by the Russian aircraft developer. On 9 June, the US company opened its Design Centre equipped with ten CATIA workstations as part of its Scientific-Technical Centre in Moscow opened five years ago. The workstations in the Centre will be used by Ilyushin engineers working on the arch beams for the 777. Thirdly, the US and Russian sides cooperage on working out technologies for the second-generation supersonic transport aircraft (SST-2). Next year Tupolev pilots will perform eight more flights on the Tu-144LL supersonic flying laboratory. Gradually, Boeing will expand co-operation with Russian factories specialised in civil aircraft production. It awarded Aviacor of Samara a contract for delivery of tooling, which will be used in manufacture of Boeing airplanes. Another sphere mentioned in the newly-signed agreement is joint projects on working up new technologies, involving the leading Russian scientific research establishments. And, lastly, Boeing undertook the job to continue taking lectures for students of Moscow Aviation Institute and other institutions. Boeing's Tom Schick and the Chairwoman of MAK, (the Interstate Aviation Committee) Tatyana Anodina, signed an MoU on 3 June, calling for new steps in the sphere of flight safety, such as sharing data bases and technologies, joint research efforts on the influence of "human factor" on flight safety, and working out a common approach to classification of air incidents.(IN698.6) (VK)  

Article ID: 193