Ilyushin and Tupolev plans to merge
August 7th, 15:38
Tatarstan business resource "BUSINESS Online" in the material of Timur Latypov "Approved by Serdyukov:" Tupolev "and KAZ will subordinate the firm" Ilyushin ". "Rostec" merges design bureaus "Tu", "Il", aircraft factories in Kazan, Voronezh and Ulyanovsk " reports that the reform of the United Aircraft Corporation, which fell under the wing of Sergei Chemezov, is becoming more and more radical. According to BUSINESS Online, on the agenda is the unification of the Ilyushin Design Bureau, the Aviastar-SP and VASO enterprises under its control, on the one hand, and the Tupolev Design Bureau - Kazan Aviation Plant, on the other. Experts disagree about the purpose of the plan and ask themselves the question: how will two different aircraft-building schools coexist in one team?
"ONLY IF RUSTAM NURGALIEVICH CALLS SERGEY KUZHUGETOVICH ..."
A decision was made to merge Ilyushin, Tupolev design bureaus, aircraft factories in Ulyanovsk, Voronezh and Kazan, a source of BUSINESS Online at United Aircraft Corporation PJSC said. In this case, the leading role is given to "Ilu". It's not about creating a legal entity - it's all about management optimization. Our interlocutor suggested that the initiator of the reform was Sergei Yarkova, who was appointed general director of PJSC Il (retaining the post of first deputy head of the UAC) on June 19. "The idea has already been approved by Serdyukov (Anatoly Serdyukov is a former defense minister, industrial director of the Rostec aviation cluster, which has included the UAC since 2019, - editor's note)," the source said.
After the merger, a mega-conglomerate will be formed, responsible for the design and construction of long-range and strategic missile carriers; transporters and air tankers; wide-body airliners and special aircraft. "BUSINESS Online" invited UAC to comment on this information, but at the time of publication of the article, no response was received.
The source believes that the reform was started to save Ila: “After the death of Livanov (Viktor Livanov, worked at the firm since 1967, in 1988–2014 headed it - editor's note), the Ilyushin people began to rapidly degrade. Disruptions in all programs went. Tupolev, on the contrary, has gained strength in recent years. So we decided to balance it. " According to our interlocutor, this will be an unpleasant surprise for the Ministry of Defense: “The military are accustomed to dealing with long-range and strategic aviation aircraft with an understandable performer who, in fact, does nothing but these machines. Now the holes in the Ilov sinkholes will be plugged with the resources of Tupolev. And I will not comment on the controllability of such a colossus, the speed of passing any decisions ”. The source noted, that if in the days of the USSR such decisions had to be coordinated with the Military-Industrial Commission under the CPSU Central Committee, today this is not required. Can the military block the reform? “If only Rustam Nurgalievich (Rustam Minnikhanov - President of the Republic of Tatarstan - editor's note) calls Sergey Kuzhugetovich (Sergey Shoigu - Russian Defense Minister - editor's note), but this is unlikely. - says the source. “I think Minnikhanov is either not in the know, or he was assured that everything will be fine.”
Advisor to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Tatarstan Nazir Kireev also adheres to a "catastrophic" point of view. “I won’t be surprised if these strange people can have such proposals,” he said in an interview with a correspondent of “BUSINESS Online”. “When Kamov and Mil was merged, things went really badly for them. The merger of "Ilyushin" and "Tupolev" is generally something unimaginable. The main thing is completely different traditions and schools. In no case should you do this. "
Ilyushin is currently developing the Il-78M-90A tanker, the Il-112V light military transport aircraft, the Il-276 medium transport aircraft for the Ministry of Defense; it is planned to develop a promising military transport aviation complex (PAK VTA). The Ulyanovsk JSC Aviastar-SP is building the Il-76MD-90A transporter. PJSC "Voronezh Joint-Stock Aircraft Building Company" (VASO) does not serially produce anything, but, as they say, in the foreseeable future it will build the wide-body airliner Il-96-400M and Il-112V.
Tupolev is developing the Tu-160M strategic missile carrier, the long-range Tu-22M3M, and the Tu-330 medium military transport. The Kazan aircraft plant, a branch of Tupolev (KAZ), does not mass-produce anything: it modernizes combatant Tu-160s and makes special (for the government special flight unit “Russia” and for the military) Tu-214. Experienced Tu-160M and Tu-22M3M are also in operation.
"DO NOT COMPETE WITH ANOTHER - IT IS NECESSARY TO COMPETE WITH THE WEST"
In the opinion of Roman Gusarov, editor-in-chief of the central server of Russian aviation Aviaru, the matter is hardly about saving the Ilyushin company. He believes that "IL" is in the best condition - in terms of technology, personnel renewal. “It went through a serious modernization, and the structure of this bureau is not as old as the one in Tu,” the expert emphasized in an interview with BUSINESS Online. Gusarov is sure that the whole point is in the start of the reformatting of the UAC, announced earlier by Rostec. This is a reduction in overlapping structures in the upper and middle echelons and, accordingly, a reduction in managers; optimization of the property complex. “Sergei Chemezov (general director of Rostec - ed.) Says that the UAC is oversized by about a third and at the same time is burdened by excessive debts,” our interlocutor noted.
In May, at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said that the debt accumulated by the UAC negatively affects the development of the industry as a whole. More than 30 billion rubles are spent annually just to pay interest on problem debts, which is 400 billion rubles. The government commission approved the program for the financial recovery of the UAC: it provides for debt restructuring for 15 years, corporate and management optimization of the UAC in three years, and the transformation of the research and development unit in 5 years. The restructuring will have an effect of 300 billion rubles, and the sale of non-core assets - another 17 billion.
Gusarov admitted that Ila and Tu will have one headquarters, and the current sites of these companies will be liquidated. He recalled that part of the Tupolev territory was mysteriously given away for building in due time. Many objects of the Ilovites have also been taken out to the side, and aircraft manufacturers now rent these buildings, while the areas of the pilot production have also been given away for development long ago. Gusarov assumes that the super-expensive territories of both bureaus remaining in Moscow can be sold, and the designers can be transferred to the national aircraft building center, which was once rebuilt in Zhukovsky, where no one has ever "settled". At the same time, the expert noted that for Muscovites to move there, of course, is bad, but for the good of the case, this option is good.
According to Gusarov, the merger of Tu, Ila and the three plants is logical: optimization of the structure will not only save money, but also avoid unnecessary competition, and the expert has no doubts that the independence of the design bureau will remain. He recalled that according to the same scenario, Kamov and Mil, MiG and Sukhoi, Sukhoi and Irkut civil aircraft were combined. At the same time, having received a single management, all design bureaus retained their autonomy.
“If we are talking about creating a powerful structure like Airbus, then the process is obvious: it’s not to compete with each other in our small market - you have to compete with the West,” the expert says. - It is high time to get away from this Soviet disunity and competition for the budget, to create combat-ready units, such as Irkut - Yakovlev Design Bureau plus a plant in Irkutsk. And we see how many successful projects are being implemented: MS-21, Yak-130, Yak-152. Experience has shown that under a single control the system works more efficiently than factories and design bureaus separately. It is inconceivable that Boeing would not run its own businesses. Here's how you can create an airplane if the plant is not a partner, but an eternal opponent who, if the plan is not fulfilled, always tries to switch the arrows to KB? That's how we have it ... We remember how many European companies joined Airbus, and as a result we got a player, which gradually bit off 50 percent of the world market from Americans. This is what we need to go to, and not squabble inside for money. Internal competition no longer works: it has turned into a struggle for the budget - who will tear it off more. We saw this kind of “competition” on the example of SuperJet: Mikhail Pogosyan (the former general director of Sukhoi and UAC, now the rector of the Moscow Aviation Institute - editor's note) took all the money and left others to suck their paws.
PUTIN DESPERATED TO WAIT RESULTS FROM UAC?
Gusarov did not rule out that even the finalists will be cut: “Boeing has only two sites, we have 10 large ones. Even if we produce as much as the Americans, the infrastructure is still redundant. " In this regard, we recall: at the end of 2019, Kommersant's sources reported that Rostec had prepared three options for the development of the UAC for consideration by the government. One of them involves a reduction in the number of final assembly plants and aggregate plants, as well as a significant part of the staff. According to this idea, a sharp reduction in the scale of the industry will allow achieving break-even without increasing the volume of orders. The state corporation considers it necessary to reduce the number of low conversions at aircraft factories, reducing their capacity and personnel, similar measures are proposed for the design bureau - eliminating duplication of developments.
According to Gusarov, Vladimir Putin despaired of waiting for results from the UAC, and therefore transferred the corporation to Chemezov, whom he gave carte blanche to the most radical actions: they say, guys, you proved that you can cope with problems (according to Gusarov, one of the examples of a worthy reforming - the creation of the concern "Radioelectronic Technologies"), so get busy. The expert is sure that the problem will be solved by a "cavalry swoop." “We know that Serdyukov is leading the process, and he is known as an unsentimental reformer,” the expert says. - We remember how he was transforming the army - he decisively broke everything despite the resistance of the old generals. And after all, Shoigu did not restore anything, only slightly adjusted and created combat-ready troops. Such people are now needed by UAC-Rostec. " According to Gusarov, Yarkova was needed, as a person, capable of enforcing unpopular measures. “This person will take the blow, because many will receive a settlement,” the expert is sure. "But it is impossible to leave it as it is now - it is an absolutely non-working structure."
According to Oleg Panteleev, executive director of the Aviaport industry portal, in our case, it is not important who will become the leader of the Tu - Il pair, but that the conglomerate will be led not by a native of these bureaus, but by an outsider. in this case, Yarkova. “After the merger, there will be no internal competition for resources and the head will not provide preferences to anyone,” Panteleev emphasized in an interview with BUSINESS Online. - The key customer is the Ministry of Defense, and the leader must find understanding with the military, because all programs are quite problematic - technically and in terms of timing. Therefore, the logic is to simplify the structure and put a person who will not give tops to one, and roots to others. And let's be realistic: you can hardly scare the military with this reform, but the fact that in both companies a leapfrog of leaders,
But the championship is still for “Il”: since 2014, six generals have been replaced there, and “only” four at Tupolev. By the way, the ex-head of the Kazan Radioelectronics named after Shimko "Ronis Sharipov, according to a source of" BUSINESS Online ", began his reorganization - he decided to reduce the number of his deputies: if earlier the general director of" Tupolev "had several first deputies, now there will be only one.
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