10-Jul-2012 Source: Helihub.com
RIA Novosti, the Russian state news agency, is reporting that Russian Helicopters CEO Dmitry Petrov said on Monday that his company would jointly produce a light helicopter with AgustaWestland. Final signatures are expected on the agreement at Farnborough Air Show this week.
Roll-out of the first example of this new model is expected in 2015, on the back of a budget of around 100 million euros, he added.
Russian Helicopters spokesman Roman Kirillov told RIAN that this would not replace the Ka226 or Mi-34, but will widen their product range – while declining to release the new model’s name or weight class.
The two companies signed a 20 million euro JV deal in June 2011 to assemble AW139s in Russia, and we expect the first aircraft off that production line later this year.
Nikolai Vanesev – Helihub.com Moscow correspondent