In addition to writing for Aviation Week Network, Maxim holds a key position at Russia's Air Transport Observer magazine (www.ato.ru). In the past he was in charge of several ATO sister aerospace publications and earlier worked for the Moscow-based CAST defense think-tank.
Maxim has a degree on international relations from MGIMO University, Moscow, Russia, and for several years worked at the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Russia had another strong year of defense exports in 2016, keeping its second-place spot on the global arms market, although new orders hit a five-year low.
The Lrwbca is supposed to be a 50:50 split, but the headquarters and engineering team will be in Shanghai, the project leader and possibly the engine Chinese.
China increasingly looks like it is taking a leading role in a politically driven widebody aircraft program defined in 2016 as an equal partnership between Moscow and Beijing.
