Diamond Aircraft will build 19-seat utility aircraft for the Russian market in a partnership with a Rostec subsidiary.
The Austrian manufacturer signed an agreement with Ural Works of Civil Aviation (UWCA) at the recent Paris Air Show to design and jointly produce twin-engine light utility aircraft (LUA).
Russia's small aircraft industry is reportedly in a crisis, and these new aircraft will be used to connect remote communities. The current market has been estimated at over 200 aeroplanes.
"We anticipate Russia is a prospective market as it has considerable territories giving it great potential in domestic services development", Christian Dries, the president of Diamond Aircraft said.
"It is generally recognized that the sector can be quite profitable once it is highly developed. For example, latest researches showed that the USA with its territories comparable with the Russia’s has up to 70% of all the domestic operations in the world."
Initially, airframe and engine production will be done at Diamond, with manufacturing progressively transferred to UCWA.
Rather than opt for turbines, the new composite-construction LUAs will use diesel engines running on kerosine, and are expected to be in service by 2016.
Rostec is a corporation established in 2007 to develop and export high-technology products. It has around 633 subsidiaries, both military and civil.