People tend to forget that Russia was one of the lead builders of military aircraft for the past several decades. The country is now trying to turn that advantage to the commercial section. And, why not? The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) and Airbus bring in tens of billions of dollars. In one country alone, China, Boeing said that there may be 3,600 new planes needed in the next twenty years.

According to Reuters, the former Soviet Union's largest warplane maker Sukhoi, is about to launch a new commercial plane called the Superjet. The first model will hold up to 98 people. It is likely to be competition for Brazil's Embraer and Bombardier. But, a slightly larger aircraft could eventually compete with Boeing's 737.

While there is no guarantee that Russia will begin to build larger commercial planes, it would certainly be an intelligent extension of the Superjet program. The global market for larger planes is $60 billion a year. And, it has only two competitors.

There have been stories for some time that indicate that China may get into the business of building commercial planes, but its does not have the history of developing aircraft that Russia does.

Look for a larger plane to come out of Russia within the next five years. There's no reason for the country to leave the lion's share of the market to the U.S. and the Europeans.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 2/7 Wall St.

Boeing (BA): A challenge from Russia? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 23 Sep 2007 14:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.