Russian Front.

Revamping the sclerotic Russian aerospace industry is being given political priority by top government officials, and Sukhoi is the likely beneficiary as it moves to use future defense and civil programs as the engine of consolidation. In the civil sector, AVPK Sukhoi is leading the Russian Regional Jet project, which Sukhoi's general director Mikhail Pogosyan views as a vehicle to include the state's other near-moribund commercial aircraft designers. As he attempts to secure Sukhoi at the heart of any future Russian aerospace company, Pogosyan also is struggling to bring together the design bureau with the production sites, which specialized in manufacturing Sukhoi aircraft during the Soviet era.