Boeing

The Boeing Company and Ilyushin Aviation Complex announced today the opening of a training center for Russian aerospace engineers.

The center, equipped with the most advanced CATIA work stations available, will provide training for up to 50 Russian engineers a month. The center will be located at Ilyushin facility in Moscow North-West, and will train specialists for the Boeing Design Center in Moscow.

Boeing and IBM instructors will provide classes in CATIA design, structural computation systems and Boeing standards to support Boeing's commercial airplane activities. The students will study the English language as well.

"We are very satisfied with the profound knowledge of Russian engineers, so the training course will not be that long," said Sergei Kravchenko, vice president, Cooperative Programs and Business Development, Russia/CIS, The Boeing Company. "We attach great expectations to the joint training center. We believe that the center soon will become the leader of computer design training in Eastern Europe. Boeing plans to invest considerable funds into the center renovation and equipment."

Victor Livanov, general director, Ilyushin Aviation Complex, said the training center is more proof of the success of cooperation with Boeing.

"In four years of joint effort we have done a lot, accomplished a number of specific projects, and developed the rapport of trust and business cooperation," Livanov said. "The opening of the training center is another stride in the implementation of the Strategic Cooperation Agreement between Boeing and Ilyushin."

The two companies started their collaboration in 1997 when Russian engineers began designing parts for Boeing commercial airplanes. Today more than 650 engineers, scientists and programmers, mostly from Ilyushin, are contracted by Boeing to work at the Boeing Design Center and Boeing Technical Research Center on numerous projects.

The Boeing Company has invested more than $1 billion in the Russian aerospace industry in the past decade. The most significant joint projects are the International Space Station, Sea Launch, acquisition of titanium parts and components, opening cross-polar routes for commercial operation, air safety research programs and new aerospace technologies.

In addition, Boeing supports cooperation with several Russian airlines. The company also has provided equipment for classes of computer design and grants for the best students of Russian aerospace universities.