Bulldozer on the aviation industry: what will Anatoly Serdyukov do

May 13, 2019 Press office The United Aircraft Building Corporation reported on a meeting of the company's board of directors held a few days ago. The main news was the election of a new chairman of the board of directors: this position was taken former minister defense of Russia (2007-2012) Anatoly Serdyukov. Izvestia understood the prospects of a new appointment.

In the fall of 2018, United Aircraft Corporation, which controls the vast majority of Russian aircraft manufacturing companies, was in fact transferred to Rostec: the state-owned company, which regularly combined, among other things, , most suppliers to the aviation industry, finally took control of the industry as a whole.

"The integration of the KLA into the structure of Rostec is entering an active phase," said the editor of portal avia.ru, aviation expert Roman Gusarov, in Izvestia. "Obviously, Serdyukov will lead this process not only from outside, as the head of the aerospace division of Rostec, but also from within."

From Gusarov's point of view, the structure of the ALK in the foreseeable future will change radically: "We have many productions and every company wants to get the final product, but we do not have as many products to load all companies. At the same time, the strengthening of cooperation is necessary. If we talk, for example, about a project like MS-21, we understand that an Irkut can not keep up with the planned pace, it is necessary to distribute the production of units and components, including large ones, such as as the wing, the fuselage parts – in cooperation frame. It's a global practice, just see how badembly production is organized, for example at Boeing, the editorial noted.

As noted by Oleg Panteleev, head of the badytical department of the Aviaport agency, the appointment of Serdyukov as chairman of the board of directors was expected: "It is clear that after the integration of the KLA in the Rostec state company, integration problems have emerged. The office of Chairman of the Board of Directors is exercised by the representative of the majority shareholder. Issues within its jurisdiction are also generally understood. These are property issues, key transactions, personnel issues, "said Panteleev.

Speaking about key issues to be solved in the coming years as part of the KLA's reform, Panteleev pointed out that "It's about reducing production costs." . This is a choice of priorities and elimination of duplication, leading to increased costs. Resources controlled by UAC are quite sufficient to create a competitive product when concentrated in a short period of time, but such concentration requires appropriate political will and authority. In addition, the problem of setting up an after-sales service for civil engineering needs to be highlighted. The experience of Russian helicopters, which have already set up structures for this purpose in many parts of the world, can help, "the editor's source said.

In addition, according to the expert, the most important task will be the division of production divisions under the ALK in order to withdraw the civil part of the aviation industry. sub sanction strike.

Perhaps the most painful task that the Russian aviation industry as a whole, including the components of helicopters and aircraft, will have to solve in the coming years is the transformation of the structure of several specialists, including industry employees, in an interview with Izvestia. military department.

The Russian aeronautical industry has inherited the Soviet structure of design offices and facilities, designed to solve completely different tasks and according to different principles, which can not be followed under current conditions.

If we pay attention to the global experience of reforms of this scale in the world, in the United States as in Europe, the post-war period, especially since the years 1960-1970, is characterized by an active process merger and absorption of aircraft manufacturers, with a clear reduction in the number of complication and appreciation of aircraft.

Soviet aviation missed this period. In the USSR, neither a co-operative structure similar to the European Airbus, nor the Boeing or Lockheed-Martin companies emerged, which absorbed most of the independent US manufacturers, including industry giants such as McDonnell Douglas "(also formed by the merger of two large companies), And so on

The post-Soviet period also did not contribute to the strategic decisions of the aviation industry – the years 1990-2000 are more likely to be characterized by the survival of the industry with a transition to a new one. long-term design phase only at the end of this period.

The disunity of the production units affects the capabilities of the industry as a whole up to now. Thus, the independent development of "Irkut" and "Sukhoi" led to a significant divergence between the two hunters' branches on the T-10 platform – in the form of Su-30MKI – Su-30SM in Irkutsk and Su -35S in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. These machines are equipped with different engines, have different on-board equipment, including a radar, and differ much more than the F-15C and F-15E double-shock single-seaters.

These differences were dictated in particular by the fact that Irkutsk has long developed its car as an export product, while the Su-35S was created primarily to meet the needs of its own armed forces. Today, the series is actually two heavy hunters, differently in their appearance, which is clearly "too much" for the least rich Russian military budget.

The same problem will have to be solved with the production of helicopters. Today, in the series intended for the national customer, there are three types of combat vehicles: Mi-35M, Mi-28N and Ka-52.

It is necessary to understand that any integration decision resulting in a reduction of the range of aircraft and helicopters products, the transfer of production and the reorientation of many companies from the final badembly to the supply of components will be very painful and will inevitably provoke fierce opposition.

Given this aspect of the problem, Anatoly Serdyukov, for whom a reform of the armed forces as painful and unpopular, but ultimately effective, is precisely the leader who is able to reform the sector. Especially since he had enough time to become familiar with the principles of its operation, both as head of the military department and as head of the aerospace cluster of Rostec.