Russia needs to build 1,300 new aircraft by 2020 to make a comeback in civil aviation, the head of Russia's Security Council has said.
Security Council chief Nikolai Patrushev said there had been a tenfold increase in the use of foreign-made planes in recent years, but added that Russia was looking to gain 15 percent of the global civil aviation market by 2020.
"Our industry does have competitive planes - the Sukhoi Superjet 100 and Irkut MS-21," Patrushev said in an interview with the daily newspaper Izvestia.
He said both planes are designed to replace the Soviet-era short- and mid-range planes that entered service between the 1960s and 1980s.
"The demand is put at 1,300 aircraft."
But he also spoke of the need to modernize technology, echoing President Dmitry Medvedev who chastised Russian plane-makers last week for lagging behind Western giants like Boeing and Airbus.
"Large parts of the industry are outdated and also not certified by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)," Patrushev said.
There is still a long way to go, he said, and investment is required before the struggling industry can begin to pick up.
MOSCOW, April 4 (RIA Novosti)
