Betair say substantial sums have to be found to continue Be-200 certification and build second prototype

Published: 10/27/1999

According to Vladimir Serov, Deputy General Director of JSC Betair, the company founded in 1991 to produce and sell the Be-200 amphibian and jointly owned by Beriev and the Irkutsk factory (IAPO). The continued flight & certification tests and construction of second prototype aircraft on the Be-200 programme will require 30% of the total development funding, although he was unspecific about the size of development funding other than to suggest a range of between $250m-$450m (www.concise.org 7th October 1999). The Irkutsk aircraft plant is currently building four Be-200s (in addition to the second prototype): three for the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations and one for South Korea. To date, $160m according to Serov, has been invested, with 70% of this funding coming from the IAPO from funds generated by the export sales of Su-27UBs and Su-30 aircraft. This figure is however, considerably higher than the $60m suggested by other sources. Additional funding has been provided by the Irkutsk regional administration that took over the plant's social functions and exempted it from tax payments, with direct funding being provided in the research and development of the project. According to reports, IAPO should be able to produce six aircraft a year, but is capable of increasing production in response to demand, in fact Serov has said production could be doubled. The price of the aircraft will be $30m says Serov, considerably above the $20-25m quoted in earlier reports.

Article ID: 1026