Russia will merge the big names of its military aircraft industry, including MiG, Sukhoi and Tupolev, into a monopoly as soon as 2006 to strengthen the ailing sector, a senior government official said on Monday. The government wants to make the aircraft makers more competitive against global rivals and to end squabbles among them that have held back the industry's recovery from a post-Soviet slump. "We want to finish (consolidation) by the end of 2005 so that the company can start working from March 2006," Boris Alyoshin, head of Russia's Federal Industry Agency, told Interfax news agency.

The companies to be merged also include Irkut and Ilyushin.

Foreign aviation majors are watching consolidation on the Russian market closely. Last year, EADS asked the Russian government to let it buy up to 10 percent in Irkut, the producer of Russia's flagship Sukhoi 27 and 30-MK warplanes.

Copyright Reuters, 2005