The Ministry of Industry and Trade announced the continuation of the refinement of the Baikal aircraft

The refinement of the LMS-901 Baikal light multipurpose aircraft continues, taking into account previously received comments. This was announced on May 14 by the press service of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

"As part of the state contact, new and existing prototypes of the VK-800SM engine, the AV-901 propeller and the LMS-901 (Baikal) aircraft will be manufactured and finalized," Interfax quoted the ministry as saying.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade added that after that, certification work will be carried out and the necessary documentation will be prepared to approve changes to the aircraft design.

"The successful results of the above-mentioned work made it possible to make a decision on the need to continue the R&D, within which the modification of the LMS-901 aircraft will be carried out by equipping it with a propulsion system with a VK-800SM engine and a Russian—made AV-901 propeller," the report says.

Earlier in the day, Deputy Prime Minister and Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District (Far Eastern Federal District) Yuri Trutnev said at an expanded meeting of the State Duma Committee on the Far East and the Arctic that work on the Baikal aircraft had "reached an impasse."

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In September last year, Trutnev reported that it was necessary to change the contractor for the creation of the Baikal aircraft. In turn, Russian Transport Minister Roman Starovoit, during a conversation with Izvestia on the sidelines of the WEF, noted that the Baikal aircraft would be in demand for regional transportation within large regions such as Yakutia, the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Far East as a whole.