Irkut Corporation (part of United Aircraft Corporation) will not be able to implement MS-21 project without manufacturing military aircraft, RIA Novosti reports with reference to the head of the Corporation, Oleg Demchenko.

"We need to develop production of military aircraft for the corporation to work and be able to take credits. We will be unable to implement the MS-21 project without production of military aircraft", — Demchenko said.

In August Russian government allocated $400 million in state guarantees to Irkut Corporation for implementation of MS-21 project. The total cost of the investment project is $3,947 billion.

Demchenko added that MS-21 project is a competitive and ambitious one. According to the schedule, the first aircraft of the type will be put into service in 2018. "Yes, a lot of MS-21 components are manufactured in foreign countries. But we have less imported components compared to SSJ-100; 62% of them are manufactured in Russia. In 2015 we will complete the construction of the aircraft and it will perform its maiden flight in 2016", — the president of Irkut Corporation said during his interview at Rossiya-24 TV channel.

At present the ratio of products manufactured by Irkut under the State Defense Order to the products exported to other countries is about 80 to 20. Demchenko added that the corporation’s backlog represents five years of production (until 2019) in the network of State Defense Order.

In 2015 Irkut Corporation will deliver 30 Sukhoi fighters and 30 Yak jets to Russian armed forces, Demchenko added. This year Irkut will deliver a total of 52 aircraft to Russian air forces.