NOVOSIBIRSK, June 6 (RIA Novosti) – Russia has reached an agreement with China on the joint construction of a long-range, wide-body passenger plane and a modern helicopter, with a cargo capacity of up to 15 tons, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Friday.
“[We] achieved agreements on the creation of a long-range, wide-body plane jointly with the People's Republic of China. China’s market is immense, its population is 1.3 billion people, the country occupies vast territories, but has no aircraft industry,” Rogozin said, adding that the aircraft design is to start in the near future.
According to the deputy prime minister, Russia is interested in producing the whole range of passenger airplanes. Russian Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Yuri Slyusar in turn stressed that the volume of investment in the project was estimated at $7-$8 billion.
The second joint project with China, according to Rogozin, is the creation of a modified Mi-26 heavy transport helicopter. The new helicopter is to be lighter than the previous version, but retain its predecessor’s cargo capacity of up to 15 tons.
