When the production of the Tu-160 strategic missile carrier was launched, the Kazan Aircraft Plant (KAZ) could have received any foreign equipment. However, the plant's management deliberately rejected this path, according to "Business Online".
At that time, the head of the enterprise, Vitaly Kopylov, opposed foreign machine tools.
Kopylov could have demanded any foreign equipment, but he believed that the aircraft should be entirely domestically produced.
This position led to the development of proprietary production competencies. Instead of mass purchasing foreign solutions for the production of the Tu-160, domestic equipment began to be created.
However, it also became known that Kopylov asked to transfer the capacities of the Kazan Helicopter Plant to the enterprise. This request was ultimately not satisfied.