Republic

Lukashenko wants Belarus to produce airplanes and helicopters

According to the President, it makes no sense to focus solely on aircraft upgrade and repairs. Belarus needs to move on and start producing new aircraft that will sell well on the market. “Belarus should produce airplanes and helicopters,” the Belarusian leader said.

The head of state noted that there is a suitable site in Orsha to produce helicopters. “What does it mean to produce a helicopter in Orsha? It is not a problem if we have Motor Sich there (the Ukrainian company owns a package of shares of Orsha Aircraft Repair Plant – BelTA’s note) and engines. We have the engines, so we only need to buy additionally a couple of sophisticated devices that we probably do not need to produce locally. Other things needed to make a frame are already there,” the President said.

“Secondly, we should also start manufacturing airplanes. It is up to you to decide what kind of airplanes we will produce. The key point is that these airplanes should sell well the market, first of all, the Russian market,” Alexander Lukashenko emphasized.

When speaking with representatives of the company’s labor collective, the President pointed out that Belarus has made little headway in terms of new technologies and solutions. “We need to move forward and develop an airplane, even if this will not be 100% Belarusian airplane. We need to actively cooperate with Russia and other states,” the Belarusian leader said.

The head of state emphasized that other, more powerful states, also opted for cooperation. Among them is Airbus. “Therefore, we should realize that we will hardly be able to develop our own aircraft – civil or military aircraft - all alone. If we decide to produce some aircraft, it should be a really advanced product that we could use and sell on the market. This is quite a challenge and we will hardly be able to handle it alone. We do not have the necessary capacity, financial and human resources. And probably we should not even set this task. However, we should definitely develop some aircraft in cooperation with Russia and other states,” the President said.

At the same time the head of state noted that upgrade and repairs still remain important for Belarus, because not everyone can afford buying new aircraft. “Therefore, we will develop this line of business, we are doing pretty well here,” the Belarusian leader noted. There are plans to increase the degree of localization and start producing the necessary aggregates in Belarus.

“We should not make junk,” Alexander Lukashenko emphasized.