Moscow investment heavyweight backs Lukhovitsky Plant on high technology projects

Published: 9/2/1999

  Dmitry Rokotayev, Vice President of AFK Sistema, has announced that Sistema and the Lukhovitsy Plant have signed an agreement to cooperate on high technology projects. According to Rokotayev,reported in Rossiya 27th August, these projects include assisting Lukhovitsy, which is part of the VPK MAPO group, to produce 30 Il-103 light aircraft and helping it market the Aeroprogress/Roks-AeroT-101 Grach, a turboprop general utility aircraft. The latter was first initiated in 1993 and, to date, only has a prototype flying, which was recently displayed at MAK-99. It also has a planned Westernised variant, known as the T-101E, with Pratt & Whitney (P&W) engines. Created in 1993, Sistema is a holding company, controlled by the government of the City of Moscow that manages over 20 companies involved in telecommunications including mobile and fixed line networks in Moscow. It also has interests in industry, construction and real estate, oil and oil products, mass media, insurance, tourism, and trade. In the last 6 years, the company has invested more than $585m in a number of investment projects. The City of Moscow's involvement in investment in the aerospace industry has been seen in many of the industry's projects either through its bank, the Bank of Moscow or through the provision of funding to the industry itself, as in the case of space vehicle manufacturer Molnia (www.concise.org 26th May 1999) or by the creation of broader industry initiatives.

Article ID: 820