About Us

The history of “Tbilaviamshen” dates back to the days of the Second World War. During the hidden preparations for the war, the redistribution of enterprises and factories operating from the central part of Russia began. The evacuation affected St. Taganrog N31 aviation and Sevastopol N45 aircraft repair factories, which were established on the basis of the N448 aircraft engine factory under construction in Tbilisi. This new union was named “Tbilisi Dimitrov Factory N31” by order of the People’s Commissariat of the Aviation Industry of the Soviet Union N1173 of December 20, 1941. This is where the history of this unique factory begins, which later, at different times, was called “Tbilaviamsheni” LLC, “Tbilaviamsheni” Joint Stock Company, and now “Tbilaviamsheni” TAM.

The factory started producing airplanes shortly after its foundation, and already in 1942, 714 airplanes produced by it were added to the military forces of the country.

The Lagg-3 single-seat fighter produced by the aviation factory was a fierce weapon in air battles. In total, the front received 2086 Lagg-3 type fighters from the Tbilisi Aviation Factory. At the same time, the factory launched La-3 and Yak-3 models. During this period, the so-called “Thirty-first” was the only supplier of fighter planes for the Caucasus Front.

After the war, the era of jet aviation began in the history of the plant. In 1946, in cooperation with the Yakovlev Design Bureau, the factory produced the first Soviet jet fighter, the Yak-15, which was followed by the Yak-17, the Yak-23 and the two-seat trainer jet Yak-23.

Since the 1950s, the factory has produced Mikoyan MiG-15 and MiG-17 fighter planes, and in 1957, the production of a new generation supersonic, two-seater training fighter plane, the MiG-21, and its modifications began, and until 1985, it supplied 1,677 fighters to the Soviet aviation.

Since 1978, the factory has started the production of Su-25 (known in the West as “Frogfoot”) fighter aircraft and has exported more than 800 units of various modifications to different countries of the world. “Tam” was and still is the only manufacturer of Su-25.

At the same time, the factory launched the K-10, a nuclear-charged, anti-ship, supersonic cruise missile. In 1959-1966, the factory produced the so-called radio-controlled La-17 and La-17m types. Flying targets too. Until the 90s, the factory also produced “air-to-air” P-60 and P-73 IR combat missiles (6000 units per year).