Este articulo me hace pensar que podria haber una esperanza de recuperacion en la industria aeroespacial, ... joint ventures, fabricacion de partes para Boeing y Airbus, etc !
RYBINSK, Central Russia -- Jean-Jacques Boulanger strode across the gleaming, sunlit factory floor, the smell of fresh paint filling the air.
"If you see this, it cannot be dead," said the veteran manager with French engine maker Snecma, pointing at the refurbished shop floor.
Once the French-Russian joint venture VolgAero opens its doors in June, it will be evidence against the widespread belief that Russia's aviation industry has crash-landed after a decade-long tailspin, Boulanger said.
The French and Russian sides plan to sink some $600 million into the project. And the engine assembled in Rybinsk will be an essential component in yet another project, which -- if it succeeds -- will further attest to the resilience of the domestic industry: the Russian Regional Jet. The under 100-seat family of jets, led by Sukhoi Co. and Boeing, is unprecedented in the domestic industry for its level of international cooperation.
If the RRJ takes off on schedule in 2007, the plane could be just the vehicle to give the aviation industry a second lease on life, market watchers and players said. Although the sector may never regain the glory of the Soviet era, when it produced one quarter of the world's commercial aircraft, the RRJ may be Russia's ticket back into the global aerospace market.
What happens at the sprawling Saturn plant in Rybinsk, an industrial town 340 kilometers north of Moscow, is crucial.
"Whether it is a success, time will tell. But there is that potential," said Boulanger, executive director of Volg-Aero, the 50-50 venture between Snecma and Saturn.
He was echoed by Yury Lastochkin, Saturn's general director.
"The risks are very high, but we are totally confident this program will happen," said Lastochkin. "The Russian civil aviation industry does not have an alternative. Thinking you can compete with Boeing and Airbus craft in the 100- to 150-seat segment is insane."
Joining the competition is the more pragmatic option. Boeing and Airbus' parent company EADS each have a contract with the domestic industry worth more than $1 billion. Boeing employs 1,000 Russian engineers in design projects, while Airbus pays the salaries of about 100.
Along with their colleagues in Seattle and Toulouse, Russian engineers co-design parts for upgrades on jets already in service as well as for market newcomers such as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and the superjumbo Airbus 380.
In November, Boeing said it was considering making some of the components for the 787 in Russia. The plane is set to go into mass production in 2008.
Airbus, on the other hand, has already employed Irkut Corp. -- best known for its production of Sukhoi fighter jets -- to make components for its A320 family of jets. Last month the European planemaker said it would welcome Russian participation in its new wide-body A350, a future model designed to rival Boeing's 787.
Nevertheless, merely making components for Western aircraft is not going to rescue the domestic industry, said Konstantin Makiyenko, deputy head of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies.
Meanwhile the RRJ could provide the key to Russia regaining its competitiveness in the global market, he said.
Saturn's Lastochkin said Russia could likely edge into the regional aircraft market, which is growing at a rate of 20 percent per year, by joining market leaders such as Canada's Bombardier and Brazil's Embraer.
Although it still has no firm orders for an RRJ, Sukhoi has said it expected that more than 800 RRJs would be sold through 2020 both at home and abroad.
For that to happen, the state must throw its political will and financial backing behind the program, Makiyenko said. The French government has already committed 250 million euros in loans to Snecma's engine work, while the Russian government has allocated 2 billion rubles ($71 million) from the federal budget for Saturn. The engine program is estimated to cost $600 million.
The design of the RRJ's airframe is expected to cost some $700 million. Last week, state-owned Vneshtorgbank said it was ready to put up $195 million in loans to Sukhoi for the program.
Critics fault the Russian government with not focusing on a single short-haul jet. The government is still dragging out the 100-seat Tupolev-334 program and has not given up support for Ukraine's Antonov 148 regional airplane.
"We hope Russia will have enough sense and political will to choose the product that can become what Embraer is for Brazil and Bombardier is for Canada," Lastochkin said.
Yo creo que este es el unico camino para la recuperacion, ... en solitario, los grandes de la industria aeroespacial rusa, ya no tienen futuro !
Salu2
. contanto siempre con la mejora economica del pais 
