Russia and Belarus will create a new aircraft in partnership to replace the Czech L-410, Russian Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Oleg Bocharov said at the HeliRussia-2023 exhibition.
He specified that Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Government Denis Manturov held a working meeting with the Government of the Republic of Belarus to discuss the creation of a new aircraft for regional transportation.
“We will definitely be making a plane with non-retractable landing gear. We will base it on cost constraints of flight hour and cost of production. We have moved [the production schedule for the 19-seat aircraft] forward by two years to do the R&D on the airframe. We have everything else,” Bocharov elaborated.
According to him, the power plant of the new aircraft will include the VK-800 engine, while the onboard equipment is a complex developed by KRET in 2019.
Since 2015, the assembly of the L-410 series aircraft in Russia has been organised at the Ural Civil Aviation Plant in Yekaterinburg. In total, from 2008 to 2021, the factory of the Czech company Aircraft Industries built more than 130 aircraft, including those assembled at UZGA.
After 24 February 2022 aircraft assembly in Ekaterinburg became impossible due to sanctions against Russian civil aviation.
