Saratov gets little help from RAKA recommendations(374 words)

Published: 3/20/2001

According to Saratov regional administration' press service, the Russian Aerospace Agency (RAKA) has recently conducted an extensive review (12th - 15th March) of the Saratov Aircraft Plant (SAZ). The objective was to analyse the production potential of SAZ. The RAKA group's conclusions, according to the press service, appear to be inconclusive and thus offering little in the way of a constructive future for the plant. RAKA's recommendations to the management call for: - Retention of unique equipment for the production of the military products. - Increased cooperation with the Yakovlev design bureau, to start production of the Yak-42D-90. - Closer cooperation with the designer, to gain MOD orders for the upgrade of defence products in 2000-2003. - Greater cooperation with RAKA and the Ministries of Transport and Industry, Technology and Science, in order to achieve the inclusion of the Yak-42A in the aerospace industry plan 2001-2015, alongside the Tu-334 as a replacement of small and medium-haul aircraft. - Give suggestions on the form of the holding structure developed under the programme “Reformation of the branches of defence industry for 2002-2005 and till 2010”. - Conduct an active marketing programme in order to locate new markets. While accepting that the detail of the RAKA recommendations may not have been made fully public, if these comments reflect the detailed strategic thinking of RAKA, we can only boggle at the details of the industry restructuring plan due to be revealed on the 22nd March. Judging by the comments made, the trip to the troubled Saratov plant showed little suggestion that RAKA has anything approaching a strategic plan for the industry. It appears be content to meddle with the idea of structural reform, while indulging in platitudes to an industry forced to accept physical change rather than another series of corporate and state entity restructures. The view that the SAZ plant is somehow slowing the process of the Yak-42-90 production is ludicrous. The very poor financial condition of the plant has led to suggestions that it may be renationalized. The only thing currently holding up production of the plant is the lack of any viable means of financing the aircraft to get them into service with Russian airlines.

Article ID: 2430