Boeing and Russia's UAC to Cooperate on Commercial Aviation Activities

The Boeing Company and Russia's United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) have agreed to identify opportunities to expand their collaboration on commercial aviation activities, and establish a joint working group to study how to proceed with the effort.

The agreement means Boeing and UAC will explore opportunities that include, but aren't limited to:

• Research and Development:  Explore new technologies in commercial-airplanes, including finished titanium parts and structures.
• Manufacturing: Explore development opportunities to reduce cost and weight of airframe components and structures, and examine opportunities to make UAC's Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Production Associations (KnAAPO) a qualified supplier of finished titanium parts and components.
• Design: Study the potential for establishing a strategic agreement among the Boeing Design Center in Moscow, the UAC, and Russian private engineering services companies in order to collectively utilize their engineering personnel and infrastructure, project and quality management and process improvements, for Boeing projects.
• Marketing Research: Share perspectives on airplane market trends in Russia, the CIS and elsewhere.

The agreement also enhances Boeing's role on the Superjet Program.  (See related story.)

Boeing says it's been cooperating with Russian entities since the era of the former Soviet Union, and has worked with Russian aerospace and IT industries, as well as Russian airlines, since then.  It began operating its Technical Research Center in Moscow in 1992, and established the Boeing Design Center in Moscow in 1998.  Approximately 1,400 engineers from Russian companies now work at the Center on Boeing commercial airplane programs, including the B-787.  Then, in 2006, Boeing established a joint venture with Russian titanium supplier VSMPO to support the increased demand for that metal needed for the Dreamliner.

Today, Boeing is one of the largest western partners for Russia in developing the export of Russian finished parts and intellectual services, including research and development, engineering and information technologies.  06-10-2007.

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