The Yakovlev design bureau plans to build another 12 examples of the Yak-130 advanced trainer, which is on display in the static park here, during the next two years, according to general director Oleg Demchenko, who is also chairman of Irkut Corporation.

Yakovlev is also working with Ilyushin and Irkut on the MS-21, a 130- to 170-seat passenger aircraft. The airplane is currently at the draft design stage, Demchenko said, and three engines are under consideration: the Russian Perm
PS-12, the Russian-Ukrainian Progress D-436 and a new engine that would be developed with Perm.

Yakovlev’s third current project is the Yak-152 two-seat basic military and civil trainer, a replacement for the well known Yak-52. Draft design is close to finalization, Demchenko said.

The first Yak-130 has made 400 flights since its completion in 1996, and the first production aircraft made its first flight in April last year from the Sokol production plant in Nizhny Novgorod, Demchenko said. The third is currently under construction and a test program will start in September with the aim of gaining preliminary Russian air force certification before the end of the year for the trial batch of 12. Four are due to be built in 2006 and another eight in 2007.