Today in Kazan, the Gorbunov Kazan Aviation Plant (branch of PAO Tupolev) hosted ceremonial events dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the company. Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade of Tatarstan Albert Karimov, and many others came to congratulate the company’s staff. Within the framework of this event, a handover ceremony of upgraded Tu-160M to the flight test station took place.
The event was attended by Long-Range Aviation Commander Sergey Kobylash, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of Russia Oleg Bocharov, President of the United Aircraft Corporation Yury Slyusar, and Director General of PAO Tupolev Aleksandr Konyukhov. The missile carrier was rolled out of a new hangar that was built under the plant reconstruction programme.
The aircraft construction procedures have been completed, among other things, for solving the problems of relaunching the Tu-160 production: restoration of final assembly technology, testing of some new process solutions, and development of enhanced aircraft engines. Its first flight is scheduled for February 2018.
The relaunch of the Tu-160 production would ensure the upgrading of KAZ technology to country’s standards. The company’s design office has mastered paperless design procedures, the titanium electron-beam welding system was restored; the enterprise is being fitted out with new equipment of domestic origin.