Russian Helicopters, a subsidiary of Oboronprom, part of State Corporation Rostec, has launched construction of a new assembly and testing facility at its Reductor-PM plant in Perm. An official ceremony in Perm today was attended by Perm region Governor Viktor Basargin, Russian Helicopters Deputy CEO for Production Andrey Shibitov, Perm region Prime Minister Gennady Tushnolobov, Perm region Minister for Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade Alexey Chibisov, and Perm city administration head Igor Sapko. On completion, the facility will be the largest of its type in Russia.

Construction facilities are currently being put in place at the site, and preparatory groundworks are under way. At today’s official ceremony a plaque was unveiled with the start and end dates of the construction, August 2014 and December 2016. This period will see an advanced 20,000 sq m production facility built to house Reductor-PM’s assembly and testing plant.

“The start of construction of this assembly and testing facility is an important event for the whole of our region,” said Perm region Governor Viktor Basargin. “The development of advanced high-tech manufacturing will create a solid foundation for the regional economy and will be a key factor in its future growth, by making the region more attractive as an investment destination and strengthening its reputation as a national leader both economically and technologically.”

“For Russian Helicopters, upgrading our production facilities is an extremely important task,” said Andrey Shibitov, Deputy CEO for Production. “Today we are making significant investments to create unique centres of excellence. Reductor-PM is home to one of these centres, for designing, producing, testing and after-sales service of helicopter transmissions.”

“Construction of this new facility is long overdue,” said Nikolai Semikopenko, Managing Director of Reductor-PM. “Today our plant is home to unique isolating test-stands for testing 8M transmissions as well as tail transmissions and angle gearboxes for the Mi-28N. We are also working on creating test stands for VR-8A, VR-14, VR-23, VR-29 and VR-26 main gearboxes. We want to create Russia’s largest helicopter gearbox testing centre while meeting strict sustainability criteria. Construction of the new production facility is a major step towards reaching this goal.”

As well as increasing testing capacity, the new facility will significantly expand Reductor-PM’s assembly plant, meaning that gearboxes and transmission units can be assembled to meet global best practices.

Over the last five years, Russian Helicopters has implemented several large-scale investment projects at Reductor-PM. In 2013 a thermo-chemical parts processing plant – the only one of its kind in Russia – was opened, following investment of more than RUB 1.3 billion. More than 40 machines were purchased for processing gear-wheels, including some with spiral-bevel teeth. Work is ongoing to upgrade the plant’s machine tools for production of body parts and shaft machining. Today the company is also upgrading its electroplating facilities. Total investment in 2014-2016 will amount to more than RUB 3.5 billion.