The cooperation between EADS and the Russian aerospace industry is taking increasingly concrete form and developing into a real partnership in all areas.
At the international aerospace salon MAKS 2003, which is to be held at Zhukovsky near Moscow from 19 to 24 August, EADS and its Russian partners will discuss the progress of a whole series of projects.
Shortly after the Kaskol Group became Airbus’ leading partner in Russia, Airbus’ first engineering centre in Europe outside its home countries was opened in June 2003. Recalling this, Rainer Hertrich, CEO of EADS, confirmed that production for Airbus programmes is scheduled to start before the end of this year in Nizhny Novgorod-based Sokol plant
"Working together with Irkut, EADS is also preparing the marketing campaign for the amphibious airplane Be-200, the inauguration of a research and technology centre for EADS in Moscow, continuing the successful research on rocket engines and, from 2006 on, Russian Soyuz launchers will be lifting off from the Kourou launch site," he said.
"Despite the crisis in the aerospace industry that seriously affected the situation after EADS had signed the strategic cooperation agreement with Rosaviakosmos in 2001, we still stand by those agreements," Hertrich emphasized. "Our cooperation is of fundamental strategic significance and therefore remains unaffected by the cyclic fluctuations in the business."
Hertrich also stressed that it will be possible to realise further programmes foreseen in the 2001 agreement. Among these is the participation by Russian companies in the construction of the A400M military transport aircraft, for which 180 orders have already been received and EADS has identified a market totalling 400 aircraft. "The Hydromash company of Nizhni Novgorod, already a supplier to the civil Airbus programmes, has now announced its interest in contributing to the A400M," Hertrich continued. "However, as this is a military programme, we have to wait for an official decision on this from the Russian State Committee on Military Technical Cooperation."
EADS is the second largest aerospace and defence company in the world and achieved revenues amounting to € 29.9 billion in the year 2002 and has a workforce of over 100,000. It is a market leader in almost all segments of the business. In it role as systems integrator, EADS is one of the few companies worldwide capable of combining various products and technologies to form complete systems and providing the associated services. The EADS Group includes the aircraft manufacturer Airbus, the world's largest helicopter supplier Eurocopter and the joint venture MBDA, the second largest guided missile producer in the global market. EADS is the major partner in the Eurofighter consortium, is the prime contractor for the Ariane launcher, develops the A400M military transport aircraft and is the largest industrial partner for the European satellite navigation system Galileo. The company has over 70 sites in Germany, France, Great Britain and Spain. It is active in many regions worldwide, including America, Russia and Asia.
Gregor von Kursell
Tel.: +49 177 / 725 30 27
