China could soon buy a big quantity of AI-222-25F aircraft engines designed by Ukraine's Ivchenko-Progress Design Bureau and manufactured at the Motor Sich engine plant.
"We are going to have a very big order from China. Our Defense Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov has recently visited there, and they confirmed that they are happy with the engine and will order it," Motor Sich board chairman Viacheslav Bohuslayev said on Tuesday.
In 2008, the company supplied ten AI-222-25F engines, including four with an afterburner, to China, he said. These engines are installed at Chinese L-15 training aircraft, thus converting them into a light fighter. "We have made an afterburner for the first time. We had to build a special workbench for it," Bohuslayev said.
Twenty-two engines are due to be supplied in 2009, he said.
It was reported that over the next decade China is planning to build around 300 L-15 planes, which means that the total quantity of engines to be supplied for this aircraft could reach about 500.
There is no question about licensing China for production of AI-222-25F engines, Bohuslayev said. "You can't transfer technologies, sell licenses for a hen that lays golden eggs. I will never choose to do so," Bohuslayev said.
