Russian aircraft industry: between forging ahead and falling behind

The evolution of the Russian development model adopted by the aviation industry is described in the article, with emphasis on the advanced level of basic research and poor performance of civil aircraft manufacturing. Critical analyses of the Russian ‘administrative guidance’ for the industry, based predominantly on substantial government financial subsistence, is introduced in the article as a policy shortage, requiring more sophisticated strategy to be elaborated and implemented by the federal government. Without explicit industrial policy, the country’s aircraft industry has been shifting from forging ahead to falling behind. Abandoning the military-oriented strategy for the development of the aircraft industry, previously pursued by the USSR, has no explicit strategic goals for the development of its civil aviation industry.