russian propaganda media complain that the LMS-901 Baikal utility aircraft, which is supposed to replace the An-2 light transport aircraft, turned out to be several times more expensive than expected. The price of the aircraft was announced by russian State Transport Leasing Company in its letters to potential operators of these aircraft.
The minimum cost of the Baikal aircraft is 445 million rubles, which is approximately $4.87 million per aircraft. It can transport up to 9 passengers or 2 tons of cargo over distances of up to 1500 km. It is known that this price was announced for 2025 and will increase by 4% every year.
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If the aircraft are leased, the monthly rate is RUB 5.4 million. Thus, buyers of the Baikal aircraft will be able to own the aircraft only in 10 years, while An-2 can be bought back for a price of about 10 million.
That is why russians are complaining that the developer has deceived potential buyers. The LMS-901 Baikal turned out to be extremely expensive for russians, while LLC Baikal Engineering assured at the tender stage that the price of the aircraft would not exceed 120 million rubles ($1.31 million), or even be less. In practice, it has almost quadrupled.
As of today, the russian federation is scheduled to deliver 139 aircraft by 2030. But the question arises: who will buy them at such an inflated price? Now russians are complaining that such a move could “bury” russia's small aviation.
In addition, russians complain that a similar question arose with the TVRS-44Ladoga and Osvey aircraft.
They also complain that the Baikal will not be able to fully replace the An-2, which will never be able to "land and fly" in the same way under different conditions, and that this aircraft can only complement its predecessor.
Earlier Defense Express reported about purpose and capabilities of S-76 multicopter airplane drone that had entered tests in russia.
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