Unique joint venture takes off

The experience of a group of Russian Federation defence companies promises to take avionics to a higher plane.

The co-operative association known as Technocomplex Scientific and Manufacturing Centre (SMC) has been heavily involved in the restructuring of the Russian Federation's defence industry. SMC incorporates scientific research facilities and batch-production enterprises that deal with aircraft instrument engineering. The co-operative is united by the processes of design, manufacture and maintenance of avionics. The companies that form the Technocomplex Centre are:

Ramenskoye Design Company's federal scientific and manufacturing centre:
OKB Crystall:
Aeropribor - Voskhed:
Avionica, a Moscow research and production complex:
Ramenskoye instrument-building plant:
Alara, a Cheboksary instrument-engineering plant: and
Pribor, a Kursk joint-stock company.
These companies have established scientific and technical links in specialised fields including instruments designed and manufactured for links in the development and production of equipment and instruments for aircraft made by Sukhoy, Mikoyan, Yakovlev, Antonov, Ilushin, Tupolev, MIL and Kamov.

The technical level of products developed is extremely high but low costs give them a highly competitive edge on world markets. Each enterprise is responsible for its R&D avionics programme, but the pooling of technological and production processes means that Technocomplex companies are able to offer high-quality avionics that are extremely cost-effective.
The association was incorporated as an open-ended joint-stock company but each enterprise is independent although they all take part in the decision-making processes of Technocomplex through a council of directors.

Customers' unique requirements are met by the creation of special modifications to avionic structures. This service also applies to equipment for aircraft made by companies previously mentioned and includes special modifications of avionics structures. Complex avionics for special purposes are integrated, unified sets of systems and components produced by Technocomplex enterprises and foreign companies for specific aircraft requirements. They include:

Flight-navigation systems, including aids for visualisation and control:
Integrated navigation systems, navigation complexes based on self-contained inertia systems, AHRSs and other navigation apparatus:
Automatic and remote-control systems: