Russian Defence Minister General of the Army Sergei Shoigu instructed to the leaders of the aircraft industry to pay special attention to the fulfillment of the state defence order in terms of maintaining the life cycle of combat and especially combat training aviation, which enters the Armed Forces. The relevant orders of the head of the military department were given to the leadership of the United Aircraft Corporation during his visit to the Irkutsk Aviation Plant.

Sergei Shoigu also stressed that last year there was a complete graduation of pilots from universities of the Russian Defence Ministry for the first time. As announced by the head of the defence department, this work will continue. Every year - about 1,300 young pilots graduate, the Minister of Defence noted.

To address this problem, it is necessary to use intensively combat military aviation, in particular, the Yak-130 aircraft, which are produced by the IAZ plant (part of the Irkut Corporation).

The heads IAZ and UAC assured Sergei Shoigu that the priority work within the framework of maintaining the life cycle of combat training and combat aviation will be correlated with implementation of contracts for the modernization of equipment.

The authorities of the Irkutsk region noted significant prospects of the IAZ due to large amount of work on the state defence order, as well as the growth of salaries and tax deductions that indicate significant investments by the Ministry of Defence in the region's economy.

It was also noted at the meeting that the Irkut Corporation, on its own initiative, is working to increase the combat capabilities of the Yak-130 combat training aircraft.