Tbilisi Aircraft Manufacturing (TAM), also known as JSC Tbilaviamsheni (formerly known as 31st Aviation Factory), is a Georgian aerospace development and manufacturing company, which also partially manufactures APCs and IFVs.
History
Tbilisi Aircraft Manufacturing (former Tbilisi Aircraft State Association) was established on December 15, 1941. In the early days of World War II the aircraft factories of Taganrog and Sevastopol were moved to Tbilisi, Georgia. Soon after the move, Tbilisi Aircraft State Association (TAM) launched the production of its first fighter aircraft, the LaGG-3. Through the war TAM manufactured additional fighter aircraft for the Soviet Air Force including the LaGG-3 and Yak-3. During World War II, the company was the sole supplier of fighter aircraft to the Caucasian front.[1]
Following World War II, TAM worked in conjunction with the Yakovlev Design Bureaus to build the first Soviet jet fighter, the Yak-15 in 1946, followed by the Yak-17, Yak-23 and Yak-23 twin-seat trainer jet.[1]
In the 1950s, the factory started the production of the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 fighter aircraft, and later, the