During the International Aviation and Space Salon MAKS-2019, Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant of Russian Helicopters Holding Company (part of Rostec State Corporation) and UTair-Engineering signed a cooperation agreement to develop modified versions of Mi-8/17 helicopters and maintain airworthiness.

The agreement gives UTair-Engineering an opportunity to independently carry out all the work related to upgrading helicopters such as Mi-8T/P/PS, Mi-8MTV-1, Mi-8AMT, Mi-171, Mi-171A2 and Mi-172. UTair-Engineering is the first Russian company that does not form part of Russian Helicopters Holding Company, with which such an agreement is signed.

“It is important for us to polish the system for giving permissions for modifying machines by cooperating with one of Russia’s largest enterprises specializing in repair and maintenance of helicopters. Thus, in the future this will allow us to apply this procedure to other companies, due to which our engineers will be able to focus on substantially upgrading machines in serial production and designing new types of helicopters,” said Director General of Russian Helicopters Holding Company Andrey Boginsky.

“Signing this agreement is an important step for UTair-Engineering in its long-standing cooperation with Russian Helicopters. New functions will allow us to quickly modify helicopters to meet customers’ needs and increase competitiveness of Russian helicopters globally,” said UTair Engineering CEO Rashid Faradzhaev.