The Motor Sich company (Zaporozhe) is in talks with PZL-Swidnik (Poland) on joint assembly and modernization of helicopters at facilities in Poland, the Interfax Ukraine news agency reports.
"Today, we are at the very initial stage of cooperation: the first meeting took place in in April, during which the possibility of joint implementation of the Ukrainian MSB-2 program at facilities in Poland was discussed,” the representative of a top manager at Motor Sich told the news agency.
"We plan to continue talks within the framework of a meeting scheduled for May. It is premature to talk about any details of the partnership at this stage," he said, adding that the “potential for cooperation includes the possibility of creating new equipment and in the area of modernization."
Motor Sich is one of the world's largest manufacturers of aircraft engines and industrial gas turbines. It exports its products to 106 countries. The Motor Sich helicopter design bureau was created in Zaporozhe in 2012.
The SME-2, a multifunctional helicopter that Motor Sich developed on the basis of the Soviet Mi-2 helicopter, is equipped with AI-450M turbo-shaft engines manufactured by Motor Sich, a modern air navigation system, and new flight control equipment. The maximum take-off weight of the helicopter is 4 tons. Motor Sich obtained formal approval as the developer of the helicopter in 2011 and started testing and preparing it for mass production in April 2013. Certification of the helicopter is scheduled for 2014.
PZL-Swidnik is part of AgustaWestland, a British-Italian helicopter design and manufacturing company.
