The first day of the six-day event saw a success for Russia's aerospace company IRKUT, which sold a 10 percent stake to the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company.

EADS will invest "more than 50 million euros" (62 million dollars) buying shares at the current market price, IRKUT director Vadim Vlasov told AFP.

With a record number of foreign exhibitors present, the aerospace fair MAKS 2005 began with a demonstration of an advanced model of the MiG-29 fighter, equipped with swivelling thrusters that allow the plane to hover in mid-air and turn on a dime.

Although the plane is still in the testing phase, Russian military aviation officials say there is nothing like it on the market and hope it will sell well with Russia's traditional defense partners like India, as well as help Moscow to penetrate other markets.

"The aircraft is showing excellent performance during trials," General Vladimir Mikhailov, chief of the Russian air force, said last week ahead of the MAKS demonstration.

Putin, who watched the demonstration of the new MiG-29 and other military aircraft, told dignitaries assembled at the Zhukovsky airfield east of Moscow that "our country is known as a leader in the aerospace field."

"Our planes are very much within reach, from a price point of view," he added.

As Putin watched, Russia's defense export agency Rosoboronoexport and India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited signed a contract granting India a license to produce up to 1,000 Russian AL-55 jet aircraft engines for use by the Indian military.

Later, Putin underlined his confidence by taking a ride in a supersonic, cruise missile-carrying Tu-160 jet. During his flight east of Moscow, he was due to see the strategic bomber -- the heaviest and most powerful ever built -- break the sound barrier, fire missiles and refuel in mid-air.

In addition to continued expansion of military aviation sales, Russian officials also hope that this year's MAKS show, the seventh and largest since Russia began organizing an international aerospace fair in 1993, will help generate deals in the civil sector.

In particular, Russia is anxious to secure partnership arrangements with other countries for production of the planned new Russian Regional Jet (RRJ), a mid-size passenger aircraft conceived as a product to replace Russia's ageing domestic fleet and compete on international markets too.

Progress with the RRJ project is tied to ambitious plans for a top-to-bottom restructuring and consolidation of Russia's aerospace industry in general and civil aviation sector in particular -- in Soviet times a sprawling, inefficient and strictly state-run enterprise.

"There are areas where we are highly competitive and there are other areas that we still need to organize better on business principles," Boris Alyoshin, head of the federal industrial agency at the center of Russia's aerospace restructuring project, said at a news conference August 9.

International civil aviation participants at the MAKS fair included the usual giants Boeing and Airbus as well as Brazil's Embraer, the world's third-largest manufacturer of civilian aircraft, which had one of its "Legacy" luxury business jets on display.

The MAKS show was scheduled to run through Thursday with access open to industry professionals only, followed by three days of general public access.

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