Russia is proposing a number of potential trade, investment and economic development projects within the framework of the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (Brics) alignment. These cover a wide range of sectors, including energy, water resources, mining and mining equipment, the foundry industry, metallurgy, mechanical engineering, aerospace, automotive, capital equipment, electronics, agriculture and agricultural equipment, satellite navigation and science and technology.

The nature of the proposed projects also ranges widely, from joint development of new products, systems and technologies, to the establishment of Brics industrial sector associations. Although being proposed under the aegis of Brics, the projects do not need the participation of companies or institutions from all five member countries to be launched. Projects can be launched with the involvement of Russia and just one other Brics country.

Many of the projects are still just proposals, but some are in the early stages of development, with the identification of partner companies in Russia and one or more other of the Brics countries. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given their historical links, most of the projects now being developed involve Russian and Indian, or Russian and Chinese, companies. The Russians report a lot of interest-in-principle from South African State-owned companies (SoCs) but a lack of concrete commitment, and are hoping that the South African private sector might have the interest and resources to join in some of the proposed projects.

Two areas in which South African SoCs have shown particular interest are hydrocarbons and aerospace. The hydrocarbons project is focused on geological research and exploration for coal bed methane in South Africa’s coalfields and the local partner would be PetroSA, while the Russian partner would be JSC Rusgeologia (Russia’s State-owned geological exploration group).

In the aerospace sector, there are actually two proposed projects that are specifically intended to be bilateral South Africa/Russia endeavours (although other Brics countries could join in, if they wished). This is because these projects involve helicopters and would build on an already existing agreement between Denel Aviation (part of South Africa’s State-owned Denel defence industrial group) and Russian State-owned high-technology products company Rostec and helicopter manufacturer Russian Helicopters (which is a subsidiary of Rostec and the owner of the Mil and Kamov brands).

One of these projects is aimed at further exploring opportunities for Denel Aviation and Russian Helicopters to address the requirements of the helicopter markets in all the Brics countries as well as in other countries. The other would involve the adaptation of latest-generation civilian helicopters to meet local market needs, the setting up of helicopter after-sales support, and the creation and implementation of joint research and development activities.

Another project that could be of interest to Denel Aviation is currently being proposed as a multilateral programme within Brics. This would involve Russia’s Irkut Corporation, part of the predominantly (90%) State-owned United Aircraft Corporation and would be focused on industrial and technical cooperation on the MC-21 airliner project. The first MC-21 (previously known as the MS-21) was rolled out on June 8 and the aircraft is intended to compete with the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 family airliners. Full scale production is scheduled to start next year. The airliner will be produced as a family of two models, with seating capacity ranging from 150 to 181 seats, with a third, stretched version a possibility later in the future. Customers can opt to power the airliner with Pratt & Whitney engines from the US and Irkut has so far secured 175 firm orders.