Experts: Joint helicopter deal to help sector take off

Sino-Russian cooperation over the development of a new advanced heavy-lift helicopter will significantly strengthen the two countries' capabilities in this area, according to aviation experts.

President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, witnessed the signing of a cooperation framework agreement on the helicopter project at the Kremlin on Friday.

"Considering China's level of technological competence in the aviation industry, it would be very difficult for the country to develop a heavy-lift helicopter on its own," said Wang Ya'nan, deputy editor-in-chief of Aerospace Knowledge magazine.