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Leninets Company and Chinese Government Delegation Sign Agreement to Participate in Creation of Hypersonic Flying Apparatus

((EXTRACT))

China is linking up to the work for the creation of the hypersonic flying apparatus, in which the Leninets holding company has been involved for more than 10 years.  At the end of last week a PRC government delegation and the management of the holding company signed an agreement about this, the newspaper Vedomosti is reporting.  The value of the project, calculated over 10 - 15 years, is estimated at 1 billion dollars.

The Leninets holding company specializes in development of navigational complexes and radars for airplanes, and also guidance systems for missiles of various types.  Leninets comprises nearly 70 enterprises, centered around the VPK ((military industrial complex)), the manufacturers of appliances, construction companies, real estate agencies, and others.  The share of the military orders in the overall total of operations is 74 percent.  In 1999, the proceeds of all Leninets enterprises was 1.8 billion rubles.

The agreement foresees the participation of the Chinese side in the financing of the work on the creation of a hypersonic flying apparatus (the Ajax concept).  The volumes of the investments still have not been determined.  The sides plan to sign the financial documents on the project in September 2001.

The secret Leninets announced the start of work on the creation of the "Ajax" in 1991.  At that time  a NII ((scientific research institute)) of hypersonic systems was created for the realization of the project.   It is being proposed that the hypersonic aircraft will be able to assure high speed delivery of people and cargoes to great distances, and also the injection into and return from near-earth orbit of useful payloads.  With the help of the apparatus, space and aerial reconnaissance of the ionosphere and of oil deposits may take place.

Because of a lack of funds the project has been moving forward slowly.  Leninets has been keeping secret the totals which are needed for completion of the development.  But, according to company data, the required investments are somewhat less than the 70 - 80 million dollars a year which is being invested in the same type project by the U.S.A.  The appearance of an American hypersonic LA ((flying apparatus)) is expected in 2013 - 2015.  "If our project receives the financing, then we will not be able in the long run to lag behind the Americans," says the president of Leninets, Anatoliy Turchak.

According to the Leninets press service, the agreement provides  not only for the creation of the "Ajax."  China intends also to cooperate with Leninets in the area of the development of avionics for various type of aviation, satellite navigation systems, rail transportation control systems, and also for the manufacture of refrigerators in which an ecologically pure ammonia-water mixture will be used instead of freon.

Source:  23.04.01, Vedomosti, Dmitriy Zhelvitskiy