Sukhoi, Mikoyan, Illyushin, Irkut, Tupolev & Yakovlev to merge?

[Gripen]

I was just searching Sukhoi on Wikipedia.. and it says

"The Russian government is planning to merge Sukhoi with Mikoyan, Ilyushin, Irkut, Tupolev, and Yakovlev as a new company named United Aircraft Building Corporation."

Is this still happening or what??

[Webmaster]

As far as I understood they are long term plans, but they might have to co-op soon in fighter development instead of competing for a contract. Don't forget that Russian design bureaus, only design and build a few prototypes, the production is carried out by an aircraft production plant. This was the old system, which is changing now. So that's also the merging of aviation industry that's happening.

The Russian engine manufacturers have also been 'told' to merge.

I guess it's all to establish a stronger industry to compete on the international market. It's basically the same as what happened in Europe (mergers, think about EADS) and/or the US (take-overs, mergers), only it might look more political than what seemed to be the case in the EU and US.

[alyster]

Well the Russian govermnt has been planning to do alot of wierd things. First one I remember is that the goverment promised at one time that Russian Fed. will get same sort of 2 party system as the US. Now it seems they have found a way to make it hapen, they banned Gorbachev's Social Democradic Party.  But they fail to see that to form 2 strong parties they need a special type of voting system on parlament elections, which Russia doesn't use at the moment. So the moral is that they promise alot, but not everything shoud be taken too seriously. 

And I'm not sure if having one major company instead of 2 or 3 is better. Sweden does mainly only rely on SAAB, but they also have strong out side competition. Well I don't think we'll see the day when Russia would import fighters. So monopoly would merge from it and I think it won't be for the best. Although financing several companies is also an issue.

[Gripen]

Yeah, but SAAB specialise in fighters and recon planes. The Russian ones have diff specialites. MIG and SUKHOI focus mainly on fighters and interceptors, TUPOLEV specialise in bombers, and Yak do naval planes/jump jets. Why stick all this experience and expertise into one group thatll continuosly fight, how they are now is good because they can do their own thing and make their new planes better.

[Webmaster]

SAAB has a monopoly when it comes to fighters as well, there's a very strong tradition in Sweden that it produces its own fighter instead of importing it., SAAB is the only one with the resources. Very expensive, but that's the way Sweden neutrality works/worked.

Different specialities, yes, but they overlap. MiG/Sukhoi both fighter design, with Irkut fighter production. Sukhoi, Ilyushin, Tupolev and Yakovlev are all producing aircraft for the civilian market. Yak and MiG both trainers. Sukhoi/Yakovlev both aerobatic/basic trainers. Tupolev/Sukhoi both bombers. I see a lot of overlapping areas where the parties can share knowledge. Also don't forget that a lot of the specialised knowledge came from shared research institutes. I think joining them will create a strong international aircraft builder. Of course Russia will buy its own fighters, just like Sweden, but on the commercial market and export market a lot can be said for such a merger. Aeroflot is buying non-Russian, Yak-40s get replaced by western VIP aircraft, and the transport market is lost to western companies and Antonov. MiG can't compete, Sukhoi can, but the Sukhois are too big and expensive for most markets, so they lose market. I can see why the Russian government wants a single strong aircraft builder.

And under the Soviet system, the selection of a fighter was always based on design specs and bias for a particular OKB, not price, so instead of three OKBs putting forward three designs and one voted favourite on political grounds, now the giant can put forward three designs and they can be judged on their specs, and the air force can even say, combine the three designs into one good one.

Even though it can use its power as monopolist, by forcing a design down the air force's throat, as a powerful monopolist company can do in the west. I don't think that can be done in Russia, politics is too strong. I assume that the state will be the biggest shareholder. They will just fire the board and get new directors and management in, which does things according to the government's liking. It's always been this way with the different OKBs anyway (see Tupolev's career).

[Globetrotter]

I agree with Webmaster, maybe this way, the MiG-29 and Su-27 wouldn't be competing, but they could complement each other?

I don't know if there will be room for "quarrels" among the former companies' members, but it can't be very serious anway.

Oh, and have you seen the new optical deviceson the MiG-35?? They could be merged onto the Su-27!!

I think there isn't much to loose

[Gripen]

But dont you think that some of the companies will be more dominant then the others? Some will get all the say, and others wont get to say anything?

[Webmaster]

Depends on the composition of your management board. It's always the question of course with mergers, will it work internally. I think some of these companies also have to ask themselves, what will happen to them in the future if they resist these changes. The shareholders should put in management that can bring them together of course. People still thinking more about their old OKB's designs should be convinced not to, or not hold key positions.

It doesn't have to be a complete merge though. One company with a management team coordinating the activities of different business units, based on the OKB's specialties, or even the complete OKBs as business units. Even then advantages can be achieved.

Whatever the final outcome, I think it will be a long and slow transformation process, to avoid as many problems as possible.