LE BOURGET, June 19. /TASS/. Sanctions have not had a strong impact on the work of Russian arms exporter, Rosoboronexport, which signed more than 1,000 contracts last year alone, the company’s CEO, Alexander Mikheyev, told reporters.
"As for sanctions, last year we had supplies to 53 countries, with more than 1,000 contracts signed. To date, sanctions do not prohibit us to work with our traditional partners. We are working with European and American companies within the framework of the existing international law," he said.
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According to Mikheev, when necessary, the Americans decide on working with Russian companies.
"So far, sanctions had no strong effect on the execution of the contracts within the existing portfolio of orders,’ he added.
"Since the beginning of this year, we have supplied commodity to a sum slightly more than three billion dollars and have signed contracts worth about eight billion dollars. No comments on what, where and how," the CEO said on the sidelines of the Le Bourget Air Show.
"Rosobornoexport’s portfolio of orders is constantly changing. We understand that, on the one hand, the portfolio is decreasing, bearing in mind execution of the plan of exports for 2017, but, on the other hand, we have a target to have a dynamics of signing new contracts. So, the aggregate portfolio is about 45 billion dollars," he added.
In March 2017, director for international cooperation and regional policy of Russia’s state corporation Rostec, which incorporates Rosoboronexport, Viktor Kladov, also said that Rosoboronexport’s portfolio was 45 billion dollars. He also anticipated that the year 2017 would see "more contracts" than 2016.
Aviation
Russia’s arms exporting agency currently has contracts for 106 helicopters with foreign customers $4.7 billion worth, Mikheyev says:
"Rosoboronexport has effective contacts for a total of 106 helicopters $4.7 billion worth. That’s the helicopter segment in our order books. We have demand and we try to meet them. I mean helicopters Mi-17, Mi-26, Ka-52 and Mi-28."
Mikheyev, who in May 2016 was the CEO of the Helicopters of Russia, said the company had orders for 160 helicopters, with their total value standing at $6 billion.
In September 2016, the holding company’s order books were estimated at 500 helicopters.
The company hopes to put on the market military configurations of the Ansat and Ka-62 helicopters in a couple of years:
"The period of delayed demand will last for a while, during which time our manufacturers of weapons and onboard systems will upgrade weapon systems and come up with new models, such as Ansat, Ka-226 and Ka-62. At the end of this period of two or three years it will be possible to market the militarized, upgraded version of these platforms," Mikheyev said.
Earlier, the general designer of the Kamov joint stock company, Sergey Mikheyev, said the military configuration of the Ka-62 helicopter might draw interest from potential foreign customers.
In April last year the Ka-62 lifted off for the first time for testing basic electric power supply systems and on-board equipment. In May 2017 it performed the first full-scale flight.
The main proposed uses of Ka-62 will be passenger services, rescue operation and oil and gas exploration. With its high performance power plant the helicopter will be operational within a wide range of altitudes, in hot climates and over the sea.