The Russian Helicopters holding company has launched the delivery of a 24-ship Mi-171Sh-P utility helicopters batch to Peru. The Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant made the machines under the contract signed between Rosoboronexport and Peruvian Defence Ministry in December 2013. The deal stipulates the delivery of eight machines of the type before year-end 2014, with the remaining 16 to follow suit during 2015. The helicopters are designed for the Peruvian Army Aviation Brigade (Brigada de Aviacion del Ejercito).

Last year, the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company's Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional airliner full-rate production programme displayed the best results and highest growth rate in Russia's commercial airplane industry. In 2014, 34 new production-standard aircraft, including 13 in the LR (long-range) version, were assembled and flight-tested showing a 40% increase over 2013. That was achieved through manufacturing process optimisation, owing to which the production cycle was reduced to seven working days, which translates into the production of an average of three planes per month. In addition, the SSJ100-95LR (MSN 95075) designed for endurance tests was made, airlifted by an An-124 to Zhukovsky and submitted to TsAGI for trials.

In late December 2014, the Russian Helicopters holding company announced the completion of the certification of a passenger version of the Ansat light multipurpose helicopter equipped with the hydro-mechanical control system. The machine got a supplementary type certificate issued by the IAC Aircraft Registry allowing it commercial passenger operations.

UAC's new president on near-term objectives and prospects of Russian aircraft industry

Yuri Slyusar, who had been deputy industry and trade minister in charge of aircraft and radio electronic industries, has become president of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) early this year. He will remain UAC president for the next five years. The decision was taken by the UAC board of directors based on the outcome of the voting on 16 January 2015. Yuri Slyusar thanked the board of directors for the trust vested in him and said: "The status of the domestic aircraft industry has improved over recent years - both in the development of advanced aircraft and in other segments; technical upgrade of plants and design bureaux is under way. We are thankful to Mikhail Pogosyan for the job he has done. Under his supervision, considerable progress has been made in the industry development, and we shall preserve the best of what has been created by UAC's unique team and all of the subsidiaries of the corporation. We are facing important tasks, including increasing our effectiveness and creating in-house sources of steady development of the corporation. There is plenty of work fir us to do".

In late January, Yuri Slyusar for the first time met journalists in his new capacity, offering them his view of UAC's near-term objectives and shedding light on some of the advanced aircraft development programmes being pursued by the corporation.

The Russian Helicopters holding company is completing the certification of the upgraded Kamov Ka-226T light multipurpose coaxial helicopter and is going to offer it to India for local production under a new tender Indian side announced after Indian Defence Ministry had decided last summer to scrap the previous international competition held since 2008.