Russian government suggested allocating funds from the federal budget for 2016, which were previously transferred to the authorized capital of United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) in order to develop Russian-Indian MTA military-transport aircraft, for development of MS-21 aircraft, Deputy Minister of Finance Alexey Lavrov said while presenting the amendment at a meeting of State Duma’s committee on budget and taxes, RIA Novosti reports.

The corresponding amendment to the draft federal budget for 2016 was developed by the government. Lavrov said that MTA project would be implemented later. “In this regard we suggest using the funds transferred to the authorized capital for implementation of MS-21 project,” he added.

Head of the budget committee Andrei Makarov suggested making final decision on the amendment on November 27^th. “We had these funds earlier, they were not used, despite being transferred to the company’s account. Let’s postpone the decision until November 27^th,” he said earlier. The deputy asked to present an official report on Friday; the document must show the income earned, where is it kept, which way will it be used and the scope of additional financing to be allocated for UAC.

UAC has significant funds on its accounts, which were received in the form of contribution to its authorized capital in 2009 and 2011 made by the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade; the funds were allocated to the corporation for implementation of the project for development of Russian-Indian multi-role transport aircraft. At that the funds, which were not used by UAC in 2011, were converted into US dollars (as agreed with the ministry). The income earned since 2011 was 539,1 million rubles and $24,3 million (a total of 1,534 billion rubles). The remaining funds contributed to UAC’s authorized capital are 17,857 billion rubles (as of October 30^th 2015, taking into account changes in the dollar’s exchange rate).

The audit chamber noted that there is no information related to results of the negotiations and contract for research-and-development work in the network of MTA project. Moreover, decision on when to use the remaining funds has not been made yet. In this regard the audit chamber suggested using these funds for covering UAC’s expenses connected with contribution to the authorized capital of its subsidiaries, if the Russian government supports this scenario.

Intergovernmental agreement between Russia and India on joint development of MTA aircraft was signed in 2007. Both countries have reached the agreement on financing the new project on parity basis for the first time ever. Production of the aircraft should be started both in Russia and India. According to documentation, MTA is a medium military-transport aircraft, which is able to carry a wide range of different vehicles and equipment with a total weight of 20 tons. Its range is over 2000 km; it may be operated from unpaved and artificial runways. The jet may also be operated from high-altitude airfields located in mountainous regions under any climatic conditions.

MS-21 is the latest Russian aircraft, which should replace Tu-154 and Tu-134 jets. There are three members of MS-21 Family: MS-21-200 (150 seats), MS-21-300 (180 seats) and MS-21-400 (212 seats). Earlier UAC President Yuri Slusar said that the first MS-21 prototype would be rolled out in Irkutsk in late 2015. The liner should perform its maiden flight in mid-2016.