MOSCOW, April 27 (RIA Novosti's Olga Semenova) - The latest passenger jet liner A-380, making its maiden flight on Wednesday, is a multinational doing.
Of course, the merit for creating this state-of-the-art plane belongs to Britain, Germany, Spain and France as members of the European Airbus consortium, making the famous A airbus family.
It turns out that a drop of Russian blood is in the A-380. It is in titanium round stock and flat products, without which a modern airliner cannot do.
"Russia's Verkhnesaldinskoe steel-making association is covering over 55 percent of Airbus's demand for titanium", press manager of the Airbus Russian office Alexander Bocharov told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.
He said that the A-380 also has a contribution from the Airbus Engineering Center ECAR, based in Moscow. ECAR is the first design office set up by Airbus in Europe beyond its member countries' territory in June 2003.
"Russian specialists do much work in designing parts of the fuselage, making strength analysis, placing on-board equipment, doing post-sale mass manufacture work on Airbus. The center has finalized a set of responsible tasks on programs of the A family -- A-320, A-330/A-340 and the latest A-380", Bocharov said.
