Interview of Aleksey Fedorov, director of Irkut Corporation
Interview: Aleksey Fedorov, General Director of the Irkut Aircraft Building Corporation
– How do you plan to use the money received from the IPO?
– Most of all we are investing in the purchase of the Yakovlev OKB with the money attracted as a result of the IPO. Moreover, we will be investing in programs that interest us. Basically, these projects are the same as the Yakovlev OKB, and most of all the creation of the Yak-130 training airplane. Our interest in the design bureau and the Yak-130 are generally one of the main motives of the IPO.
We also have other prospective projects which require investments – these are the multirole transport airplane program and the development of unmanned aerial systems. It is possible some part of the funds will be used for replenishment of revolving funds for the purpose of the fulfillment of current contracts. We also need resources for the renovation of basic funds.
– While carrying out the delivery and licensing contract for the Su-30MKI, Irkut has established close ties with the Indian aviation industry. In the event of the activation of the MTA (the multirole transport airplane for the Russian and Indian air forces) these ties will receive an additional push. Will Irkut in connection with this have the ability to take part in the privatization of the Indian aircraft building concern HAL?
– We already have expressed our interest in participating in the privatization of the HAL corporation, who for us is a most important strategic partner. Both the present Su-30MKI program and the future MTA project presume a large volume of cooperation, in which connection in the area not only of manufacturing, but also in the development of the equipment. For the time being plans for the privatization of HAL have no clear time framework, but in principle, Indian law permits the participation of foreign capital in such companies.
– Do you expect competition for the right to obtain HAL shares?
– HAL is an extremely attractive partner. The Indian marketplace is growing rapidly, the corporation itself is being developed dynamically, and it is seeing a growth in the volume of sales and technical equipment. Therefore, it is likely that not only Irkut has interest to be included in HAL’s capitalization. We are ready for the fact that we will have to fight for this right.
Our cooperation right now is a two-way street. At the technological level (HAL) is a fully modern enterprise. For the time being we partly are ahead of them, for example in part of the production of titanium parts and a number of other technologies. But this gap will be overcome using the deployment of the Su-30MKI’s licensed production in India. In many technologies, for example in the part of the production of composite materials, HAL already today is at a good international level and is of interest as a source technologies. Even within the framework of the current contracts we concede that HAL can be an Irkut subcontractor.
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