I was looking at a new Russian helicopter and the question popped into my head.

They have very little to offer for the commercial market for bearings and lots of military equipment like helicopters require very specialized bearings to operate.

So are they making these highly engineered and difficult to manufacture items themselves? If not from whom?

Talked to a dude that worked in Russia in manufacturing critical O&G parts.

He said the Russian engineering was good, but the problem was they couldn't manufacture stuff within spec on a consistent basis. It boiled down to they just didn't give a **** if the **** was right or not. No pride of ownership basically.

That said, I don't know the answer to your original question.

That has plagued them for many many years. They can make great equipment on small scale. Mass production is a big ooof.

.... sound like a Bernie commercial..... "there are good things about "