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EXPERIENCE & INNOVATION

Welcome to Hall 1, Russian Pavilion, D-17at Farnborough 2010, 19-25 July

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Late in June, the Mil Helicopter Plant

held a mock-up review of an upgraded

helicopter design given the in-house

designation Mi-171M. It is symbolical

that the actual kick-off of the programme

on the upgrade of a most popular

medium helicopter in the world took

place on the verge of an anniversary:

35 years since the maiden flight of the

Mi-8MT, later designated as Mi-17, will

be marked in August 2010. The Mi-8/17

is the world’s most widespread Russian-

built helicopter produced by two

manufacturers – the Kazan Helicopters

(Mi-8MTV-1, Mi-8MTV-5, Mi-17-1V,

Mi-17V-5, Mi-172) and Ulan-Ude Aviation

Plant (Mi-8AMT, Mi-171). We asked Mil’s

Designer General Alexey Samusenko

to shed light on the key approaches to

upgrading the machine.

The current upgrade of the truly world-famous Mi-8 helicopter family was announced as far back as last year, during the HeliRussia 2009 helicopter show. What is the status of the programme now?

Indeed, we began to devise a programme

on a heavy upgrade of the Mi-8 family’s

helicopters last year, having been given the

green light by the Russian Helicopters holding

company. We believe the time has come for a

radical improvement of the characteristics of

the helicopter. To date, the development of an

upgraded Mi-8 variant is high on the priority

list of the prime developer of Mil helicopters,

the Mil Helicopter Plant.

We stake on the baseline Mi-171, whose

upgraded version has been dubbed Mi-171M

tentatively and will be re-designated as

Mi-171A2 once it has been certificated. The

first Mi-171M prototype is to be made by the

Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant in 2011. We expect

the development work, tests and certification

of the new helicopter to be completed prior to

late 2012, with the Ulan-Ude plant to launch

its full-scale production in 2013.

Now, the engineering and performance

specification have been devised under the

upgrade programme. A mock-up review has

been held recently to consider the preliminary

design of the future machine. The programme

is planned to be phased, and virtually all of

the helicopter’s components to be upgraded

in the end.

What will be features of the upgraded helicopter?

The new helicopter will feature cutting-edge

design solutions refined on the Mi-28N and

Mi-38 helicopters. Overall, the Mi-8 upgrade

is aimed at enhancing the aircraft’s technical

and economic characteristics and expanding

its operating envelope. Over 80 innovations

are to be introduced to the machine.

As to the key upgrade approaches, the

airframe dimensions is to increase, the

rotor system is to be modernised through

introducing composite rotor blades and

modified main rotor hub. In addition, the

advanced X-shaped tail rotor is going to be

made of composites too.

The Mi-171M’s powerplant will comprise

two VK-2500 engines rated 2,400 hp at

take-off and 2,700 hp in emergency power

conditions. The TA-14 or Czech-made Safir

will serve as the auxiliary power unit. The

main reduction gearbox is slated for testing

for the ability to operate for 30 min without

lubricants and to transfer 2,400 hp from a

single engine. The air intakes will be fitted

with more efficient dust filters featuring an air

purification degree of 95%.

An advanced, more streamlined cockpit

transparency is to be introduced. The

upgrade also will cover the hydraulic and

power supply systems and other helicopter

equipment. The fuel tanks will be modified

and the fuel system capacity will increase

up to 3,400 litres, with the supply tank and

combustion units under the cabin floor to be

discarded.

The improvements will extend the maximal

range to 1,200 km and enable the helicopter

to fly at a cruising speed of 265 km/h, with its

maximal speed to be 280 km/h. The machine’s

static ceiling is to account for 4,000 m and the

service ceiling for 6,000 m. The -50/+50°C

operating temperature bracket will enable the

helicopter to operate in various climes. The

machine will be maintained on-condition,

with the service life of the basic units to grow

up to 12,000 h, time between overhauls up to

3,000 h and the helicopter’s service life up to

30 years.

Composites have been introduced to aircraft on an ever-increasing scale of late. You have mentioned that the blades of the main and tail rotors would be made of them. What is the share of composites in the new machine going to be?

Mi-171M new life of venerable helicopter

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As you realise, any aircraft requires a

reasonable combination of structural weight

and structural strength to ensure its sortie

rate. The art of designer consists in optimising

these parameters. However, this cat won’t

jump unless advanced materials, sophisticated

calculation techniques and cutting-edge

design solutions are used. Time dictates its

rules.

For this very reason, priority is given to

composites during aircraft development,

and the Mil Helicopter Plant applies such

innovations on a large scale. Back to your

question. We estimate the upgraded Mi-8 to

comprise a total of 20–30% of composite

parts and units.

How will the upgrade influence the machine’s lifting capacity?

The basic weight characteristics of the

upgraded helicopter will remain the same,

namely: the normal take-off weight will

remain 11 t and the maximum take-off weight

will be 13 t with the weight of under-slung

cargo standing at 5 t. However, we have plans

to increase the payload volume of the cabin

and develop two variants of the rear section of

the cabin. One will have a clamshell doors and

the other a loading ramp. The customer will

decide which he prefers.

In addition, the cargo cabin will be able to

be converted to the passenger one, in which

case it will seat 21 passengers.

Would you tell our readers about the planned upgrade of the avionics suite? Will the upgraded helicopter differ from its predecessors radically in this respect?

I would like to stress that we are going

to fit the machine with a drastically novel

avionics suite, the so-called glass cockpit,

and introduce automatic monitoring of

the systems’ parameters, which will reduce

flight planning time and the in-flight

workload on the crew. Automated controls

and up-to-date navaids and comms will

allow a crewmember reduction from three

to two, with the Mi-171M to be flown by

two pilots. The flight mechanic will remain

as a crewmember but will no longer be part

of the aircraft control loop.

Owing to the above, the cockpit layout

will be modified as far as the controls

of the systems are concerned. The latter

will become more accessible and easier to

use. The LCDs used in the glass cockpit

offers huge opportunities for displaying any

information – graphics, video, etc. Such

displays are both reliable and have virtually

an unlimited service life and a far lighter

weight compared with electromechanical

instruments.

Overall, I would like to emphasise that the

introduction of the PKV-171 digital flight

control system and multifunction avionics

will meet the latest standards.

Are a weather radar and night vision systems going to be introduced?

Yes, we are going to fit the upgraded

helicopter with a weather radar as well as a

surveillance station and a night vision system.

Whom do you see as the launch customer for the upgraded helicopter? The Defence Ministry?

No, we work on a commercial machine

so far. However, a version of the Mi-171M

may be of interest, say, to the Russian

Emergencies Ministry and Ministry of

Interior, in which case we would fit the

machine with relevant gear.

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What is your view of the state of affairs in helicopter-type UAV development as a whole and what urgent tasks are facing the Russian Helicopters joint stock company in this sphere?

Helicopter-type UAV development is a

new line of work in the UAV field, which

has been evolving fast over the past 5 to 10

years. Vertical take-off and landing (VTOL)

systems used lag behind aeroplane-type

UAVs due to their greater complexity and

problems with automatic control system

development. Several countries have resolved

those problems and been working hard on

developing VTOL UAVs. Some US and

European programmes have produced good

results (Boeing’s YMQ-18 Hummingbird,

an unmanned variant of the Kaman K-Max

helicopter, Northrop Grumman MQ-8B Fire

Scout, Schiebel S-100 Camcopter, etc.), with

unmanned helicopter development being in

full swing in some other countries as well.

Development of an aircraft as an

unmanned system platform is easy to Russian

Helicopters in technical terms. The principal

problem is to get reliable automatic control

system and develop its operating algorithms.

It is this technical task that is high on our

priority list. It also is important to ensure

reconfiguration of the control system in case

of a failure and backing it up as well.

What is going to be done in the coming two to three years specifically?

The Russian Helicopters joint stock

company is ready to launch development of

several unmanned helicopter systems next

year, if there are relevant orders, on which we

count very much. The company has launched

a research programme of its own, dubbed

Outlining the technical characteristics of a

medium-range unmanned helicopter system.

The programme provides for development of

a prototype system ensuring the automatic

operating mode for the unmanned

helicopter under a preset programme. The

research programme is designed to hash

out the characteristics of the automatic

control system exercising automatic control

throughout the flight, including creation of a

mathematical model and control algorithms

and an operating prototype as well.

The Patrul light helicopter developed in

the city of Kumertau has been selected as

the baseline platform for the flying test-

In recent years, the Russian Helicopters

joint stock company has repeatedly

displayed at international shows various

helicopter-type unmanned aerial vehicles

ranging from light to heavy ones. Models

of the future Mi-34BP heavy unmanned

helicopter (a derivative of the Mi-34S1),

MRVK future robotised helicopter

system based on the technical solutions

embodied in the future Mi-X1 high-speed

helicopter, and several designs from the

Kamov company, including the Ka-37

and Ka-137 developed as far back as

the ‘90s were exhibited many times.

This month full-size mock-ups of the

future helicopter-type UAVs – the Ka-135

and Korshun – were unveiled during

the Unmanned Multipurpose Vehicle

Systems 2010 show held as part of

the Machinebuilding Technologies

2010 forum from 30 June to 4 July this

year. These are two of the four basic

helicopter-type UAVs that are high on

the priority list of Russian Helicopters

company. On the eve of the show,

Take-off Editor Yevgeny Yerokhin

met Gennady Bebeshko, Unmanned

Helicopter Systems programme manager

of the Russian Helicopters JSC, and

asked him to elaborate on the status of

the helicopter-type UAV development

in Russia and the plans of the Russian

Helicopters in this field.

UNMANNED RUSSIAN HELICOPTERS

Ka-117 (left) and Ka-135

Korshun

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bed designed to test the automatic control

system, ground control system and mission

payload. The Russian Helicopters holding

company pays for the work out of pocket.

The preparations are being completed,

and plans are being coordinated with the

subcontractors selected.

Unfortunately, non-military organisations

are in no rush to finance the development but

are ready to buy ready UAVs once they have

been developed.

When the efforts go into the R&D

stage, Russian Helicopters is to select

subcontractors operating in the fields of

engine, instrument, radio-technical, radar

and composites development to tackle all

aspects of the unmanned helicopter system

development.

What is the current VTOL UAV line from Russian Helicopters made of? What programmes are priorities?

The Russian Helicopters company has

limited itself to four baseline types of aircraft

intended to ensure a competitive offer on the

global market. Since the work is underway

for uniformed services in the first place and

based on analysis, nature and peculiarities of

the missions to be handled by VTOL UAVs,

the future family will comprise advanced

systems designed for recce, attack, transport,

relay and special-purpose missions.

The short-range VTOL UAV class will be

represented by the 300-kg Ka-135 unmanned

helicopter system with a range of 100 km. It

is going to be a cutting-edge coaxial-rotor

piston-engine UAV with a ski-type landing

gear.

Two aircraft are being considered for the

medium-range VTOL UAV niche. One is

the Korshun, a Patrul helicopter derivative

weighing 500 kg and having the 300 km

range and 100 kg payload. The other is

a heavier Ka-117 with a flight weight of

1,500 kg, a payload of 500 kg and a range

of 400–500 km. It will be a multirole

unmanned helicopter system capable of a

wide range of tactical missions.

The basic long-range aircraft will be

the Ka-126BV – an unmanned single-

engine derivative of the Ka-226 helicopter,

weighing 3,500 kg and operating out to

1,000 km.

All of these UAVs will be dual-purpose

and capable of as many diverse missions

as possible. There are to be three or four

detachable modular payloads. The design

modularity of the baseline VTOL UAVs

and detachable payloads, coupled with

automated pre-flight preparation gear,

minimises such important characteristics

as assembly of the UAV from the travelling

configuration to the operational one, pre-

flight preparation time and time between

flights.

What about the Mi-34BP, MRVK and other designs displayed at air shows? You also have not mentioned short-range lightweight VTOL UAVs.

We can offer various unmanned

helicopters, including those that has not

been part of the VTOL UAV family yet, those

to feature characteristics requested by the

customer. However, to reduce development

risks, costs and time, it makes sense to

develop unmanned helicopters being based

on the existing manned helicopters.

As for short-range VTOL UAVs able to

fly out to 25 km, we deem it impractical

to develop them now, because battlefield

and tactical-level recce missions can be

accomplished by aeroplane-configuration

UAVs in a more effective and cheaper

manner.

Kamov Ka-135 short-range

UAV developed in 300 kg

class which full-scale

mockup was unveiled at

UVS Tech 2010 exhibition in

late June 2010

Medium-range 500kg-class Korshun UAV

derived in Kumertau from Patrul light helicopter

also debuted in a form of full-scale mockup at

UVS Tech 2010 exhibition in late June 2010

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Production-standard machines

joined the official test programme of

the Kamov Ka-52 advanced multirole

combat helicopter this spring. The

first three of them serialled 51, 52 and

53 were built by the Progress aircraft

company in Arsenyev last year and,

following debugging and ground tests

by Kamov out of Moscow, were ferried

in March to the Russian Air Force’s

Army Aviation Combat and Conversion

Training Centre (CCTC) in Torzhok for

further tests. The machines were used

in the preparations for the Victory Day

parade, and one of them, No 53, flew

over Red Square in Moscow on 9

May 2010 along with a pre-production

Ka-52 (No. 063).

Three prototype and preproduction

machines have been involved in the

Ka-52 official test programme until

recently. The first flying prototype

(serial 061) was built by Kamov as far

back as 1996 and then has undergone

several phases of upgrade. The

second prototype Ka-52 serialled 062

was made by Progress two years ago

and flew its maiden sortie on 27 June

2008. The preproduction machine

(serial 063) took off in Arsenyev in

October 2008.

On 26 December 2008, the

Flight Test Complex of the Russian

Helicopters joint stock company in

Chkalovsky, Moscow Region, hosted

the final phase of the enlarged meeting

of the governmental committee

considering the outcome of the official

trials of the advanced Mi-28N and

Ka-52 combat aircraft and Ansat-U

trainer. The committee resolved that

the Ka-52 prototypes had passed

another stage of its official trials.

This allowed the tentative conclusion

recommending the manufacturing of

a low-rate initial production batch to

be issued.

In January last year, Progress

company Director General Yuri

Denisenko said three more Ka-52s of

the LRIP batch were being assembled

at the moment and slated for delivery

before the end of the year. “We need

to obtain a positive conclusion as to

the Ka-52’s official trials and launch

full-scale production in late 2009”,

Denisenko said then. He had said

earlier that an agreement had been

reached on delivery of a total of

approx 30 Ka-52s to the Russian

Defence Ministry.

Progress built 10 helicopters for

the Russian Defence Ministry in 2009,

according to the 1 March 2010 official

report by the Russian Helicopters

JSC on the results produced by the

Russian helicopter-making industry

in 2009. Apparently, three of them

are the above-mentioned early

production Ka-52s. In all probability,

the remaining seven machines are

the Ka-52s that were being completed

and tested in Arsenyev.

Far Eastern news agency

PrimaMedia reported in February

this year that the manufacturer’s

plan for 2010 made provision for

building seven Ka-52s, because

“the company made a commitment

to deliver about 25 Ka-52 Alligator

helicopters to the Russian Army.

The aircraft maker’s gain from

selling seven helicopters and Moskit

antiship missiles in 2010 alone is

to account for 8 billion rubles (over

$250 million)”.

The Ka-52 also features good

exportability. The RIA Novosti news

agency has quoted the Progress

plant’s Director General as saying that

three foreign countries had ordered

the Ka-52. For example, according to

the media, the acquisition of Ka-52

helicopters was high on the agenda

during Libyan Defence Minister Abu-

Baqr Younis Jaber’s visit to Russia

in late January 2010. Early deals on

exporting the Ka-52 might be clinched

before year-end.

Production-standard Ka-52 undergo trials

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A most important result produced

last year by Russian combat helicopter

makers is the kick-off of the deliveries

of production-standard Mil Mi-28N

helicopters to the Russian Defence

Ministry.

According to the defence minister’s

spokesman talking to the media

about Anatoly Serdyukov’s visit to

the Rostvertol joint stock company

late last year, the company made

and delivered 10 production-standard

Mi-28N helicopters to the Russian Air

Force in 2009. Last spring, the first six

of them entered the inventory of the

independent helicopter regiment (now

dubbed air base) in Budyonnovsk, with

four more machines following suit a

bit later (the side numbers of the ten

ranged from 01 to 10).

According to the Kommersant

daily, RusAF ordered almost 50

Mi-28Ns that could be fielded with

line units in the coming years. The

Armed Forces requirements in the

Mi-28N are estimated at 300 aircraft.

In addition, talks with a number of

foreign countries are under way.

Experts name Algeria and Venezuela

as the most probable foreign launch

customers for Mi-28NE helicopters.

By the way Mi-28NE is now taking

part in a tender for 22 combat

helicopters announced by Indian

ministry of Defence.

At the same time with

productionising the Mi-28N, a further

upgrade programme of the helicopter

has been launched in support of both

the domestic customer and potential

foreign buyers. Under the programme,

the machine will be fitted with more

effective cutting-edge avionics and

weapons.

The advanced Yakovlev Yak-130

combat trainer aircraft made its

debut at the Victory Day parade

in Moscow on 9 May 2010. The

Russian Air Force recently started

receiving the aircraft of the type.

Four Yak-130s jointly flew over Red

Square in a parade air formation

with an Il-78M aerial tanker and two

Su-24M tactical bombers.

As is known, under the launch

order of the Russian Defence Ministry

for 12 aircraft, the first production-

standard Yak-130 (side number 90)

was produced by the Sokol aircraft-

building plant in Nizhny Novgorod

last year and performed its maiden

flight on 19 May 2009. It was handed

over to the Russian Air Force in

late July, actually still undergoing a

special test program.

Before the New Year, Sokol had

assembled two more production

aircraft and almost finished the work

on the fourth one. Delivery to the

Air Force started in February. The

Yak-130 serialled 91 was the first

aircraft of the type to be handed over

to the Lipetsk-based Combat and

Conversion Training Centre (CCTC)

of the Russian Air Force. On 18

February, it was ferried to Lipetsk

and received officially there. Less

than in a month, on 13 March, the

Yak-130 (side number 92) followed

suit, as the lead production aircraft

(side number 90) did later. In April,

the plant delivered the third aircraft

with side number 93. As Sokol

Director General Alexander Karezin

told in late May, the plant was to

execute the whole of launch order on

delivery of 12 aircraft before the end

of November this year.

Along with Sokol producing the

Yak-130 for the Russian Air Force,

the Irkut corporation’s Irkutsk

Aircraft Plant continues the full-rate

production of aircraft of the type

for the Algerian Air Force. The first

Yak-130 under the Algerian contract

for 16 aircraft was built in Irkutsk

in August 2009. Irkut plans to start

deliveries to Algeria this year and

finish it next year. In addition, it

became known in February that

the Irkut corporation had landed

another export contract for six Yak-

130s for the Libyan Air Force. The

first two of them are expected to

be sent there in 2011, with the four

remaining in 2012.

Mi-28 fielding under way

Air Force receives Yak-130s

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