History

History of this factory begins with the outbreak of World War 2 when N#31 Taganrog and N#45 Sevastopol factories were evacuated to Tbilisi. By the order N#1173 of the People’s Commissariat of Aviation Industry of the Soviet Union issued on December 20, 1941 the new factory was named Dimitrov’s N#31 Tbilisi Aviation Factory. This is where the history of this unique factory begins.

The factory began production of aircraft shortly after its inception, and as of 1942 it had produced 714 aircraft.

The Lagg-3 fighter produced by the aircraft factory was a fierce weapon in air battles. In total, the front received 2086 pieces of Lag-3 type fighters from the Tbilisi Aviation Factory. At the same time, the factory also produced La-3 and Yak-3 models. During this period, the factory was the sole supplier of fighters to the Caucasus Front.

After the war an era of jet aviation began in the history of the plant. In 1946, as a result of cooperation with the Yakovlev Design Bureau the plant produced the first Soviet jet fighter, the Yak-15, followed by the Yak-17 and Yak-23.

From the 1950s, the plant produced Mikoyan MiG-15 and MiG-17 fighter jets and in 1957 began producing a new generation of supersonic fighter, the MiG-21 and its modifications.

At the same time, the plant launched production of nuclear-armed supersonic anti-ship missile, the K-10. In 1959-1966, the factory was producing the first soviet unmanned aerial vehicle to enter service, the La-17 and La-17M. 

After 1978 the plant began producing Su-25s (known in the West as “Frogfoot”) aircaft of which over 800 units of various modifications were exported to various countries around the world. Prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union the plant also produced over 6000 R-60 & R-73 air to air missiles a year.