EADS in Russia

All four Divisions of EADS have been active in Russia for many years and the country is both an important market and partner when it comes to industrial cooperation. EADS is proceeding with the gradual expansion of its activities in Russia including research and technology initiatives directed through the Russian Technology Office in Moscow.

Airbus established its first relationships at airline and industrial level in 1991. Co-operation in aircraft development has intensified over the years, with the implementation of a wide range of research and technology projects in many different sectors. These include the Airbus Engineering Centre in Moscow (ECAR), the production of Airbus aircraft components at Russian plants and material sourcing.

In November 2008, an agreement was signed by EADS MTAD, now Airbus Military, UAC and Rosoboronexport that foresees a joint study of the transport aircraft market and possible cooperation between EADS and the Russian industry in this field.

The space field has emerged as one of the key areas of cooperation in which Astrium Space Transportation and Astrium Satellites, subsidiaries of Astrium, have had a significant involvement over many years. Astrium Satellites is developing a close cooperation with Russian satellite and equipment manufacturers. Since March 2008, in cooperation with Khrunichev Space Center and RNIIKP, Astrium Satellites is participating in manufacturing the Express-AM4 telecommunication satellite (based on Astrium’s Eurostar E3000 satellite platform) for Russian Satellite Communication Company (RSCC). Launch is scheduled for 2011. Astrium Space Transportation has established close cooperation with Russian companies in the area of manned and robotics space activities. In the frame of the European Space Agency programme Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) programme, RSC Energia delivers some major components.

Based on the long history of co-operation with Russian companies in analogue technology, as well as the relationship with governmental authorities, Cassidian has gained a deep understanding of the Russian customers requirements. Cassidian can help realise TETRA communications solutions that are completely integrated with the existing legacy systems and command and control rooms.



In Russia, Eurocopter has been present since 1994. As a result of the growing demand for Western-built helicopters, Eurocopter Vostok was founded as a Russian limited liability company (OOO in Russian), based in Moscow. This fully-owned Eurocopter subsidiary started its activities at the beginning of 2006. This company is responsible for the sale and maintenance of new and pre-owned helicopters in Russia and the CIS and offers training for helicopter pilots and technical staff. An MRO centre was opened in 2006 in the Moscow region with Gazpromavia. Today, Eurocopter is the only Western helicopter manufacturer in Russia offering this level of presence and availability. It currently has more than 70% of the Russian market for Western-built gas turbine helicopters in terms of the number of units.

ATR recently achieved two major contracts with Russian carriers: one with UTair for 20 ATR 72-500s and one with Taimyr Airlines for 4 ATR 42-500s. ATR entered the Russian market in 2005 with UT Air, which now operates 12 ATR 42-300/320s and 3 ATR 72-210s and 7 ATR 72-500s. Taimyr Airlines already operates its 4 ATR 42-500s in the Krasnoyarsk region.

EADS established the Russian Technology Office (RTO) in 2003 as a part of its corporate research network “EADS Innovation Works” to facilitate cooperation with the Russian research and development community. In the research and technology (R&T) area, Russia has a considerable infrastructure and institutions with capabilities in aerospace.

EADS uses the RTO as a focal point for R&T projects with potential Russian partners. For local contractual matters, RTO relies on a privileged partnership with the Russian Institute for Advanced Systems, a part of the Russian Academy of Sciences. For EADS entities, RTO is providing project screening services, consulting on science and technology, technology assessment as well as support for the selection of the most skilled and reliable collaboration partners from the Russian R&T community.

A major product of R&T collaboration in Russia is MACROS ("Multi-disciplinary Aeronautic Capability Research On Simulation"). MACROS is a software environment for predictive modelling, simulation based on data handling and multidisciplinary optimisation, which helps to reduce design time and cost of complex engineering products. In 2010, a joint venture called DATADVANCE was founded by EADS, the International Research Institute of Advanced Systems (IRIAS) and the Institute for Information Transmission Problems (IITP). The company aims to develop new software products based on MACROS technology.