Russian helicopter industry on the rise [p. 6, 8, 10, 14, 30, 31, 35]

SSJ100launches operations[p.42]

PAK FAtwo prototypes flying already[p.22]

Be-200production moves to Taganrog[p.20]

Yak-130more trainers

for RusAF[p.24]

MiG-29UPGdeliveries

soon[p.36]

june 2011 • Special edition for Paris Air Show 2011

www.irkut.com

12–15% operational cost reduction in comparison with existing analogues.

Innovative design solutions for airframe.

Optimal fuselage cross-section to increase the comfort level or to reduce the turnaround time.

Cooperation with the world leading suppliers of systems and equipment.

Matching future environmental requirements.

Expanded operational capabilities.

Aircraft family with expanded operational capabilities and a new level of economic effi ciency

Dear reader,

You are holding another issue of the Take-Off magazine, the special

supplement to Russian monthly aerospace magazine Vzlet, timed to the

air show in Le Bourget. The event is considered the most authoritative and

prestigious display of the latest achievements of the world’s aerospace

industry, with virtually all aircraft manufacturers being eager to participate

in the show. By tradition, the Le Bourget air show has been held in high

esteem by Russian aerospace companies. It is also regarded as an

excellent place to bolster international aerospace cooperation.

A graphic example of such cooperation is the Sukhoi SuperJet 100

advanced regional airliner programme pursued by a close-knot team

of Russian, French, US and several other foreign companies. This year

Sukhoi SuperJet 100 takes part in the Paris Air Show for the second time,

but now in a new status – of a production airliner which already started its

operation. In April 2011 the first production SSJ100 had entered service

with Armavia airline while Aeroflot got its first aircraft of the type in early

June.

Another programme Russia cooperating heavily with its European and

American partners is the Irkut MC-21 prospective short/medium-haul

airliner which will be presented by a full-scale mock-up of a 20-m-long

fuselage section housing pilots cockpit and passenger cabin for the

first time at Le Bourget. Beriev Be-200 amphibian that was certified by

EASA last autumn will become one more Russian participant of the flight

display programme of this Paris Air Show.

By the way Russian-made helicopters are still in great demand in

the world market. Last year Russian helicopter industry produced 214

machines and the plan for this year stands for 260 with a future increase

up to 300 in 2012. Now our country ranks third in helicopters production

and its aim is to win not less than 15 per cent of the world market in the

nearest years. Russian Helicopters holding company uniting most of the

country’s rotorcraft developers and manufacturers recently has started

some new programmes and is now intensifying helicopter production.

That’s why Russia’s rotorcraft industry and its main programmes have

become the important topics in this issue.

As usual Take-Off offers you also a brief review of the other recent

most important events in the Russian aerospace industry, commercial

and military aviation.

I wish all the participants and visitors of this air show in Le Bourget

interesting meetings, useful contacts and lucrative contracts and, of

course, the pleasure of unforgettable demonstration flights of aircraft

from all over the world.

Sincerely,

Andrey Fomin,

Editor-in-Chief,

Take-Off magazine

News items for “In Brief” columns are prepared by editorial

staff based on reports of our special correspondents, press

releases of production companies as well as by using information

distributed by ITAR-TASS, ARMS-TASS, Interfax-AVN, RIA Novosti,

RBC news agencies and published at www.aviaport.ru, www.avia.ru,

www.gazeta.ru, www.cosmoworld.ru web sites

The magazine is registered by the Federal Service for supervision of

observation of legislation in the sphere of mass media and protection

of cultural heritage of the Russian Federation. Registration certificate

PI FS77-19017 dated 29 November 2004

© Aeromedia, 2011

P.O. Box 7, Moscow, 125475, RussiaTel. +7 (495) 644-17-33, 798-81-19Fax +7 (495) 644-17-33E-mail: info@take-off.ruhttp://www.take-off.ru

june 2011

Editor-in-Chief Andrey Fomin

Deputy Editor-in-Chief Vladimir Shcherbakov

EditorYevgeny Yerokhin

Columnist Alexander VelovichArtyom Korenyako Special correspondents Alexey Mikheyev, Victor Drushlyakov,Andrey Zinchuk, Valery Ageyev,Natalya Pechorina, Marina Lystseva,Dmitry Pichugin, Sergey Krivchikov,Sergey Popsuyevich, Piotr Butowski,Alexander Mladenov, Miroslav Gyurosi

Design and pre-press Grigory Butrin

Translation Yevgeny Ozhogin

Cover pictureAlexey Mikheyev

Publisher

Director General Andrey Fomin

Deputy Director GeneralNadezhda Kashirina

Marketing DirectorGeorge Smirnov

Business Development DirectorMikhail Fomin

Items in the magazine placed on this colour background or supplied

with a note “Commercial” are published on a commercial basis.

Editorial staff does not bear responsibility for the contents of such items.

take-off february 2011 w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u2

c o n t e n t s

INDUSTRY

Tu-204SM kicks off certification tests in Zhukovsky. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Mi-26T2 trials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Mi-34C1 snags first orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Tu-214-ON for Open Skies programme has flown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Ka-62 to take to the air in two years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Alexey Samusenko: “The Mi-38 may well be called a 21st century helicopter” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Mi-38: successor to legendary Mi-8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Amphibian changes its place of originBe-200 series production in Taganrog kicks off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

MILITARY AVIATION

PAK FA: two prototypes in trials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Advanced Yaks for RusAFBorisoglebsk Air Force Training Centre receives five Yak-130s . . . . . . . . . . 24

Su-34 completes official trials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Air Force accepting new Su-27SMs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

First Su-35S has flown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Mi-28N production on the rise. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Ka-52 being learnt in Torzhok . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

CONTRACTS AND DELIVERIES

More MiG-29K/KUBs delivered while Vikramaditya kicks off trials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Myanmar receives new MiG-29 batch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

India got its third A-50EI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Two Il-76MF freighters ready for Jordan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Kaveri tests on Russian flying testbed carry on. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Rostvertol steps up Mi-35 exports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Upgrade of Indian MiG-29s kicks off. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

COMMERCIAL AVIATION

Russian An-148s launching operations to Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

An-158 gearing up for new orders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

MC-21 has got 190 orders and waiting for more . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

First Sukhoi Superjet launches operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Rysachok: for flying schools and commuter airlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

FLIGHT SAFETY

Cause of incident: counterfeit partsIn the wake of a Mi-26 crash in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

42

June 2011

20

14

24

22

46

36

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4

The upgraded Tupolev Tu-204SM

airliner prototype powered by

advanced PS-90A2 engines co-devel-

oped by the Aviadvigatel joint stock

company and Pratt & Whitney and

manufactured by the Perm Engine

Company was unveiled to the public

on 22 April during the International

Air Transport Forum in Ulyanovsk.

On the same day, the aircraft flew to

Zhukovsky in the Moscow Region,

where the main segment of its cer-

tification tests began in May. Prior

to that, the first Tu-204SM had flown

33 test sorties under the preliminary

test programme during December

2010 through April 2011.

The airliner’s presentation included

a meeting of the leaders of Tupolev

and its Ulyanovsk-based affiliate and

representatives of Russian airlines

that might be interested in Tu-204SM

acquisition with the Red Wings,

Transaero, Polyot, Volga-Dnepr,

Aviastar-TU, Continent and several

other Russian carriers among them.

During the meeting, special attention

was paid to the upgrade of the air-

liner’s avionics, which made possible

the transition to a crew of two.

The guests also were shown the

manufacturing of other Tu-204SMs

in the final assembly shop of the

Aviastar-SP close corporation, hous-

ing two more airliners at various

degrees of completion. The second

aircraft (c/n 64151) could be rolled

out to the in-house flight test facil-

ity come June and the third one

(c/n 64152) in November.

A tentative schedule of the future

full-rate Tu-204SM production by

Aviastar-SP in 2012–2016 was

presented at the forum. According

to the diagram displayed, the

first production-standard airliner

(c/n 64153) could be made in July

next year, with 2012 to see four

production-standard aircraft made

and two prototypes to be groomed

for delivery (first, 64152 and then

64150). The Tu-204SM annual out-

put is to total eight aircraft in

2013, with c/n 64151 to get up to

snuff at the same time. The manu-

facturer is prepared to make 10

and 11 production aircraft in 2014

and 2015 respectively, with the six

final airliners to follow in 2016 (the

final plane, c/n 64191, is slated for

production in July 2016).

However, the future of the

Tu-204SM programme remains

hazy. In spite of the governmental

decision to support the programme,

Alexander Lebedev, a co-owner of

the Red Wings airline, the launch

customer for the advanced airliner,

Vnesheconombank has failed to craft

a Tu-204SM leasing mechanism

and decisions on the plane’s price,

delivery dates, penalty provisions,

depreciation value, maintenance and

spares have not been made yet. To

cap it all, a key driving force behind

the programme, the Ilyushin Finance

Co. leasing company, is withdrawing

from the programme.

Ilyushin Finance Co. Director

General Alexander Rubtsov himself

has commented on the decision:

“After the Ilyushin Finance Co. had

worked out the project and pro-

posed the terms of its funding to the

government and Vnesheconombank,

a number of meetings have taken

place, which have resulted in the

government’s position that the proj-

ect is very complicated and difficult

and has many factors calling for clar-

ity and supervision. All of the parties

have decided that a risky project like

that should better be entrusted lock,

stock and barrel to a governmental

entity, which VEB-Leasing is.”

Thus, the future of the pro-

gramme of production and deliv-

ery of 44 Tu-204SM hinges on the

government-owned VEB-Leasing

company. Time will tell if it is able to

disentangle the web of problems still

facing the programme.

Tu-204SM kicks off certification tests in Zhukovsky

Tup

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6

Flight tests of the first upgraded

Mil Mi-26T2 heavylift helicopter

continue at Rostvertol JSC’s flight

test facility in Rostov-on-Don. The

machine is a derivative of the pro-

duction Mi-26T, from which it differs

in having an up-to-date digital avion-

ics suite allowing effective round-

the-clock operation and a flying crew

reduction down to two. In addition,

provision has been made for use

of upgraded D-136-2 (AI-136T) tur-

boshaft engines featuring enhanced

power under hot-and-high condi-

tions.

The Mi-26T2’s advanced avion-

ics suite is wrapped around the

NPK-90-2 flight/navigation system

comprising an electronic display

system of five multifunction liquid-

crystal displays (MFD), control

panels, integral digital computer,

NAVSTAR/GLONASS-capable satel-

lite navigation systems and a digital

flight suite. Optional gear includes

night-vision goggles (NVG).

To keep an eye on the exter-

nally slung cargo in daytime,

there is an integral TV device

feeding full-colour imagery on to

the multifunction display in the

cockpit. At night, visual control

of the cargo can be exercised

by means of the extra TSl-1600

searchlight installed in the fuse-

lage nose section. In addition to

the standard mode, the search-

light has the infrared mode for

use of NVGs.

The Mi-26T2 helicopter hauls

outsized cargo and vehicles

weighing a total of 20 t both

inside the cargo cabin and on the

external sling. The troop carrier

variant carries 82 troops, with its

casevac version airlifting up to 60

casualties or sick personnel. The

machine can be used for civil and

erection works of various degrees

of complexity, fire-suppression

operations and fuel delivery,

including self-contained refuelling

of vehicles on the ground, and

other operations.

The Mi-26T2 upgrade is a con-

tender in the tender issued by the

Indian Defence Ministry for 15

heavylift helicopters. A Mi-26T

performed a successful series

of demonstration flights in India,

including some of them in moun-

tainous terrain, and Indian pilots

have tested a Mi-26T2 prototype in

Rostov-on-Don recently. The poten-

tial customer has not spared praise

for the aircraft, and experts rate

the Mi-26T2’s chances for com-

ing up on top in the Indian tender

high enough. The Russian Defence

Ministry is eying the Mi-26T2 too.

Following a long lull, it has resumed

acquisition of a new Mi-26 batch

recently. The first new helicopter for

the Russian Air Force was rolled out

to Rostvertol’s airfield and kicked

off its flight test programme in May

this year. The Russian military is

expected to order the upgraded

Mi-26T2 in the future.

The key current light helicop-

ter programme being pursued by

the Russian Helicopters holding

company is the resumed produc-

tion of the heavily upgraded Mil

Mi-34C1 by the Progress air-

craft company in the town of

Arsenyev. New helicopter fea-

tures the advanced M9FV piston

engine, an up-to-date avionics

suite and a number of design and

systems improvements aimed

at enhancing the operating effi-

ciency and reliability as well as

extending the service life of the

aircraft. This, coupled with a rea-

sonable price, is going to help the

Mi-34C1 to get a good niche on

the market.

Russian Helicopters Mi-34C1

programme manager Dmitry Rodin

told Take-off that Mil Helicopter

Plant now completing two Mi-34C1

prototypes. One of them, the OP-1,

is slated for the maiden flight in

June to be followed by the other,

the OP-2. Both Mi-34C1 prototypes

will be displayed during the MAKS

2011 air show in August, one to

be demonstrated as part of the

flight programme and the other as

a static display. The Mi-34C1 is

to complete its certification pro-

gramme by year-end.

On 19 May, during the HeliRussia

2011, the Russian Helicopters hold-

ing company landed its first order

for the advanced machine after

the launch customer UTair had

placed an order for ten Mi-34C1

helicopters for its training centre.

The deliveries are slated to kick off

in 2012. In addition, the show saw

an agreement signed by the French

company Aero Progress, the latter

intent on promoting the Mi-34C1

on the European market. The sig-

natories believe the helicopter can

be needed in the West, since it fea-

tures a number of advantages over

the popular Eurocopter EC120. The

first two Mi-34C1s are planned for

delivery to the French company

in 2013.

Mi-26T2 trials

Mi-34C1 snags first orders

Ro

stv

ert

ol P

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An

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And

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United Engine Corporation (UEC) is the leading Russian industrial group in production of engines

for aviation, launch vehicles,electric energy sector and gas pumping.

United Engine Corporation is a part and a subsidiary of United Industrial Corporation Oboronprom.

UEC integrated more than 80% of assetsof the Russian aviation engine-building industry.

take-off june 2011 w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u

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8

1 June saw the maiden flight of

a new Tupolev Tu-214-ON special-

purpose aircraft at the Kazan Aircraft

Production Association’s (KAPO) air-

field, with the aircraft manufactured

in support of the Open Skies pro-

gramme. The crew under command

of Tupolev’s test pilot Nikolay Kapelkin

flew the aircraft (RA-64519) on its

first mission that lasted 1 h 22 min.

The plane was developed by Tupolev

team led by Chief Designer Igor

Kabatov and made by KAPO on order

of the prime contractor under the

Open Skies programme, the Vega

radio-electronics corporation. Once

the tests have been complete, the air-

craft will be delivered to the Russian

Defence Ministry.

The Treaty on Open Skies, which is

aimed at strengthening trusts among

its signatories by means of mecha-

nism of monitoring military activities

and compliance with the existing

arms control treaties through flying

over the territories of the signato-

ries, was signed by OSCE member

states in Helsinki on 24 March 1992.

The Russian Federation ratified it on

26 May 2001. To date, as many as

34 states have signed the treaty.

Russia has used two types of

aircraft for inspection missions –

Tupolev Tu-154M-LK1 to fly over

North America and Antonov An-30B

for missions over Europe. According

to the Vega corporation, the spe-

cial equipment carried by the air-

craft includes various photographic

cameras. To perform more effective

monitoring under the Treaty on Open

Skies, Tupolev was tasked with devel-

oping a special version of the Tu-214

airliner, fitted with an airborne surveil-

lance system from Vega. According to

official statements by the developer

of the system, the Tu-214-ON is “the

first plane among the planes of the

34 signatories to the treaty, equipped

with all means of observation allowed

by the treaty – four photographic and

three TV cameras, synthetic aperture

radar and a linear-scanning infrared

sensor”.

The first Tu-214-ON is to undergo

the development trials and monitor-

ing equipment tests, after which it

will kick off its official test pro-

gramme. The aircraft will have to

pass international certification prior

to starting its monitoring flights. A

Vega news release reads that the

plane’s delivery is slated for late

2011 and that another Tu-214-ON is

being built by KAPO in support of the

government’s commitments under

the Treaty on Open Skies.

In spite of the AW139 licence

production programme being

run by Russian Helicopters and

AgustaWestland in Tomilino,

Moscow Region, the Kamov

Ka-62 advanced medium multirole

helicopter remains high on the

holding company’s priority list of

helicopters with a takeoff weight

of 6–7 t. Initially the Ka-62 was

conceived as a civilian version of

the Ka-60 military multirole heli-

copter, which first prototype flew

its maiden mission as far back

as December 1998. The second

prototype was made in the Ka-60U

trainer version in 2007. Ka-60

was improved repeatedly, but its

main weakness was its RD-600V

engines and powertrain that never

met the reliability requirement.

As a result, the Russian Defence

Ministry cut the financing of the

Ka-60 programme last summer.

Nevertheless, it remains interested

in buying helicopters in the class.

The military has made a decision

that it will buy, further down the

road, the militarised version of the

commercial Ka-62 that is under

development now to meet the most

stringent commercial helicopter

certification standards.

Kamov’s Ka-62 programme

manager Alexander Vagin has told

Takeoff that the Progress aircraft

company in the town of Arsenyev

begins to make parts of Ka-62

prototypes this year. In all, three

flying prototypes, a static tests

prototype and an ‘Iron Bird’ inte-

grated full-scale test rig to test the

avionics suite and aircraft systems

are to be manufactured. The type

of the engine to power the Ka-62 –

the Turbomeca Ardiden 3G – has

been selected finally. Russian

Helicopters and Turbomeca made

a long-term contract for 308

Ardiden engines in April this year

and the two companies signed a

firm contract for the first batch

of 40 engines on 19 May, during

the HeliRussia 2011 show. The

first Ardidens are to be delivered

to the Ka-62’s developer late in

2012. Compared to the Ka-60, the

Ka-62’s reduction gearbox and

powertrain will be from a different

supplier too, while KumAPP JSC

will continue to make the compos-

ite main rotor blades to equip the

Ka-62. Development of the avion-

ics suite has been vested in the

Transas company. The Progress

plant will make the airframe and

handle the final assembly of all

Ka-62 helicopters.

The Ka-62 prototype is to start its

flight tests in the first half of 2013.

Two more flying prototypes are to

be made in the same year. The cer-

tification programme is supposed

to be complete by mid-2015, with

deliveries of production-standard

Ka-62s to begin in 2016.

Tu-214-ON for Open Skies programme has flown

Ka-62 to take to the air in two years powered by Ardidens

Ilda

r V

ale

yev

An

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om

in

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THE 10 thINTERNATIONALАVIATION AND SPACESALON

MOSCOW. ZHUKOVSKYTEC «RUSSIA»AUGUST 16-21

2001

2005

2003

2007

2009

1999

1997

1995

1993

THE PRIMEEVERY TIME! THE 100th ANNIVERSARY

OF THE RUSSIAN AVIATION

OFFICIAL MEDIA PARTNER GENERAL INFORMATION PARTNERS

ORGANIZER GENERAL PARTNER GENERAL SPONSOR OFFICIAL SPONSOR STRATEGIC PARTNER

i n d u s t r y | i n t e r v i e w

w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u10 take-off june 2011

At the HeliRussia 2011 show in May

this year, Russian helicopter makers

unveiled to the public and experts

their helicopters in various classes

ranging from the light to heavylift

ones. The Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant,

a subsidiary of Russian Helicopters

holding company, is a world leader

in helicopter development and a

most important asset of the holding.

Several Mil machines including the

advanced Mi-38, were presented

to the exhibitors and public. Take-

off’s Deputy Editor-in-Chief Vladimir

Scherbakov has seen Mil Designer

General Alexey Samusenko and asked

him to speak about the Mi-38 and

other ongoing programmes as well.

At the HeliRussia 2011 show, the Russian Helicopters unveiled a programme, which pri-ority is very high to the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant, – the Mi-38. What has been done under the programme, and when will the market be able to receive the production-standard heli-copters?

The Mi-38 development programme is

important not only to our company but also

to Russia as a nation. The Mi-38 is being

developed with governmental support, and,

therefore, the status of the programme is good

for a whole number of reasons. Firstly, the

government has made up its mind about the

funding of the programme. Secondly, we have

got positive responses from representatives of

potential Mi-38 operators, who have seen a

real machine and learnt the advanced techni-

cal solutions implemented in the helicopter to

make it easier for pilots and ground crews.

Thirdly, according to our calculations, the

innovations introduced as part of the pro-

gramme could heavily influence the cost of

the flight hour of the new helicopter, which

is a key competitive edge under the current

economic conditions.

The Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant is run-

ning the factory tests of the Mi-38. They

involve the second prototype, the OP-2,

embodying virtually whole of the configura-

tion of the future production-standard heli-

copter.

We plan the OP-2 will complete the fac-

tory flight tests programme in 2011 and kick

off its certification tests. At the same time,

we plan to use the TV7-117V-powered OP-1

for the factory development flight tests and

pass over to the certification trials next year.

Also, we are waiting for completion by Kazan

Helicopters of the third prototype powered by

Russian-built engines and fully outfitted with

flight navigation gear. The machine could

become the standard for full-scale production

further down the road.

On the whole, we plan to complete the

flight test programme during 2012–2013 and

wrap up all the development segment of the

programme and launch full-rate production

of the advanced helicopter in 2014.

What may be the Mi-38’s flight hour cost, in your opinion? How superior could the new helicopter be in these terms to the in-service Mi-8/17 machines so that it prompts keen interest of potential customers?

The issue of the flight hour cost is not as

simple as it may seem on the face of it. The

cost of the flight hour is generated mostly

from the expenditure on the remuneration of

flying and ground crews and the cost of fuel.

The cost of maintaining the hardware itself

has a very insignificant influence on the flight

hour cost.

As to the second question, I can tell you

that the Mi-38 should be on a par with the

Mi-8 in terms of the flight hour cost, which

will result in potential customers opting for

the Mi-38, given the strengths of the advanced

helicopter.

Strictly speaking, Mi-38 deliveries to oper-

ators may result in a drastic change in the

approaches to operation. The thing is that the

Mi-8’s main rotor blades have to be replaced

every seven to eight years, while we are going

to do it much more seldom as far as the Mi-38

is concerned. Under the Mi-38 programme,

a new resources policy is being implemented

along with introduction of other up-to-date

engineering and technological solutions. This

is one of the reasons that a decision was taken

to display the Mi-38 during the HeliRussia

2011 show. The public managed to see the

second prototype, the OP-2, participating in

the flight tests, carrying an up-to-date avion-

ics suite from Russian Helicopters partner –

Transas company in St. Petersburg.

Is the ‘twin-engine’ concept of the new helicopter still on the table and how could it influence the helicopter’s demand by Russian customers, particularly, uniformed services?

The Mi-38 programme provides for two

variants of the machine – one powered by

engines from Pratt&Whitney Canada and the

other by Russian-made TV7-117Vs devel-

oped by Klimov and being productionised

by Chernyshev. This is the ideology of the

programme. If all goes to plan, the Mi-38 will

have two versions of the powerplant. We pre-

sume this will be able to influence the price of

the production-standard helicopter and woo

Russian operators – both civilians and uni-

formed ones. I would like to emphasise that

uniformed services have been rather keen on

the Mi-38 owing to the need for machines of

such dimensions.

The advanced helicopter is among the best

in terms of lifting capacity. Unlike the Mi-8,

it carries 5 t of cargo, rather than 3 t, inter-

nally and 7 t slung externally. In addition, the

Mi-38 has a low vibration level, a reduced

extraneous noise level and can be flown by a

crew of only two.

ALEXEY SAMUSENKO: “The Mi-38 may well be called a 21st-century helicopter”

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I believe the Mi-38 may well be called

a 21st-century helicopter, since we have

succeeded in implementing cutting-edge

design solutions, including up-to-date avi-

onics and materials. By the way, composites

make up over 30% of the materials used in

the helicopter. Such sensitive design ele-

ments as main and tail rotor blades and

parts of the fuselage are made of compos-

ites. The advanced machine is planned to

feature an extended service life. We assume

that it is possible that the Mi-38 will have

no service life limits, but will be subject to

on-condition maintenance.

What about the simulator for the Mi-38? As is known, today, successful market pro-motion of any helicopter is regarded by potential customers from the viewpoint of availability of training aids as well, particu-larly simulators.

The Mi-38 programme is one of the few,

under which the development of the helicopter

ran parallel to the development of its simulator.

The task was given to the Transas company, the

manufacturer of the flight navigation suite to

fit the Mi-38. A Mi-38 helicopter simulator

was displayed in Zhukovsky, Moscow Region,

during the MAKS 2009 air show.

The Mi-38 simulator, which we are going

to offer to potential buyers of our advanced

helicopter, is expected to simulate the cockpit

and agility of the helicopter, responding to the

controls and simulating the outside view. Mil

and Transas are looking into the feasibility

of developing a specialised Mi-38 helicopter

simulator centre.

What is the prospect of the Mi-8/17 heli-copter family?

The Mi-8/17 family has been upgraded

repeatedly, but we believe it has not exhausted

its upgradeability yet. As far as the Mi-8

is concerned, we are running the so-called

reversed modernisation by applying some of

the solutions embodied in the leader, the

Mi-38, to the older machines. In the near

future, change can be made to the main rotor

that we are going to borrow from the Mi-38.

If all goes to plan, this will enable the Mi-8

to fly faster and higher and will offer a novel

approach to the service life of the rotor sys-

tem, though no considerable modification of

the airframe is planned.

The Russian Helicopters holding company

has cleared a heavy upgrade programme for

helicopters of the type, with the resultant

machine to be dubbed Mi-171A2. The hold-

ing management has approved the require-

ments specification for the upgrade of the

Mi-171A1 version certificated in line with

the up-to-date air worthiness standards and

recognised internationally.

A priority of the upgrade is to retain the cur-

rent market share in this niche and enhance

the machine’s safety. The model is to mount a

main rotor with all-composite blades. The tail

rotor will be composite too. This will ensure

a very long service life. The main and tail

rotors are to feature an advanced aerodynamic

configuration building on the latest scientific

advances and TsAGI’s wealth of experience.

As a result, we managed at the model-

ing stage to attain a speed of 280 km/h

Mi-38 second flying prototype arrives

at HeliRussia 2011 airshow at Moscow's

Crocus Expo, 18 May 2011

Ale

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Mi-8MTV during highland trials

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with power and control margins remaining,

another feature will be an increase in range,

which could total 800 km in the baseline

model. We also are looking into the feasibil-

ity of the helicopter upgrade to extend its

range further.

The upgraded helicopter is going to carry

a flight navigation suite similar to that of the

Mi-38 in terms of the tasks handled.

Could you describe the status of the Mi-34 programme?

This is one of the best programmes in the light

helicopter segment of the Russian helicopter

industry. We are working proactively on a new,

commercially attractive version, the Mi-34C1,

as part of the Russian Helicopters holding com-

pany. The updated version is supposed to have

an extended range, hydraulic controls and the

up-to-date M9FV engine in addition to a high

degree of comfort for the pilot and passengers.

The certification tests are planned to begin this

year, to be more precise, we will have to confirm

the latest modifications within the framework of

the current certificate.

Potential customers, including foreign

ones, have shown interest in the Mi-34C1. We

expect the Mi-34C1 to meet the requirements

of most stringent customers both in Russia and

abroad. We studied the best world helicopters

in this class. This has furnished us with a well-

designed machine with high design flight and

operating characteristics that, hopefully, will

be proven by tests. Add here a rather attractive

price that is one of the objectives.

We plan to unveil the upgraded Mi-34C1

at the MAKS 2011 air show in August –

both on the ground and in the air. This will

enable us to attract potential customers.

The Mi-34C1 certification programme is

to be completed by year end. This will

allow the Progress plant in Arsenyev to

launch full-scale production and early

deliveries in 2012.

The upgraded Mi-26T2 heavylifter has flown for the first time recently. How is the programme going?

Under the Mi-26T2 upgrade programme,

the helicopter is to be re-engined and fitted

with an advanced flight navigation suite,

and its main rotor hub is to be improved.

The military version of the machine is to

be equipped with an advanced defensive

aids suite capable of duping heat-seeking

missiles.

The Russian Defence Ministry has

showed the interest in the upgraded

Mi-26. The helicopter also is a con-

tender in the competition held by the

Indian Defence Ministry. It was shown to

its customer last year, with its mountain-

ous terrain operating capabilities dem-

onstrated.

What stage is the Mi-28N programme at?The Mi-28N is being upgraded to refine

its components. The upgrade is being done

in the support of the Russian Defence

Ministry and on its initiative. The result

sought is supposed to increase the combat

capabilities of the machine by far.

Rosoboronexport is taking proactive

marketing measures to woo foreign cus-

tomers. The configuration of the export

variant, the Mi-28NE, is similar to that of

the Mi-28N, but the export version has got

no mast-mounted radar yet.

Mil

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Mi-28N during high-altitude tests

in the Caucasus

Mi-34C1 upgraded light helicopter

Mi-26T2 upgraded heavy-lifter prototype

HW LIMA SDN BHD35F-1-6 Jalan 2/27F, KLSC II, Section 5, Wangsa Maju 53300 Kuala Lumpur T : +603 4142 1699 F : +603 4142 2699 E : hw5@hwlima.org W : www.lima.com.my

Ministry of DefenceGovernment of Malaysia Ministry of International Trade & Industry

DELIVERING BUSINESS TO YOU

Ministry of Transport Malaysia

THE 11TH LANGKAWIINTERNATIONAL MARITIME

AND AEROSPACE EXHIBITION6th - 10th December 2011

Langkawi, Malaysia

i n d u s t r y | p r o g r a m m e

w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u14 take-off june 2011

Background

At the turn of the 1980s, the Soviet Armed

Forces started taking delivery of upgraded

Mi-8MT multirole helicopters powered by

advanced TV3-117MT engines, while civil

aviation continued to put up with the ordinary

Mi-8Ts fitted with less powerful TV2-117As.

However, the aircraft, which had been in

service for almost two decades, began to grow

obsolete and needed upgrade to meet the

new requirements. As a result, the govern-

ment issued a resolution on 30 July 1981,

in which it authorised development of the

Mi-8M upgraded medium transport/passen-

ger helicopter that has gradually evolved into

today’s Mi-38.

A principal requirement to the advanced

helicopter was an increase in traffic profitabil-

ity. Therefore, the Mi-8’s upgrade was based

on replacing the TV2-117 engine with the

more advanced and efficient TV7-117, which

design was offered by the Leningrad-based

engine design bureau led by Sergey Izotov

(now the Klimov company). In addition, the

development of the improved helicopter was

to include replacement of the mixed-design

rotor blades with fibreglass ones, improve-

ment of the fuselage aerodynamics and shift-

ing of the fuel tanks to the bay under the cargo

cabin floor.

Then, a decision was taken to introduce

a number of more advanced technical solu-

tions to the design of the machine. The solu-

tions included an elastomeric main rotor hub,

retractable landing gear, X-shaped tail rotor,

up-to-date flight/navigation suite, etc. The

improvements led to the emergence of a new

helicopter dubbed Mi-38 in 1983.

Later on, the Mi-38 underwent numerous

modifications aimed at enhancing its reliabili-

ty, efficiency and components/systems weight

reduction and, in the end, at improving the

technical and economic characteristics of the

helicopter and honing its competitive edge on

the global market. Naturally, implementation

of the advanced solutions delayed the design

process, to which the economic turmoil in

this country in the later ‘80s and the ‘90s

contributed.

Overall, the Mi-38’s configuration had

matured by 1990s, when the draft design

was prepared. Compared to the initial Mi-38

design, the draft design had undergone quite

a change. The design normal takeoff weight

had grown from 12.5 t to 13 t and the maxi-

mum weight from 14 t to 14.5 t, while payload

The advanced Mil Mi-38 multirole medium transport helicopter made its debut at

the HeliRussia 2011 show at the Crocus Expo exhibition centre in Moscow. Made

by Kazan Helicopters last year, the second Mi-38 prototype (OP-2) had landed in

front of Crocus Expo and sat by the entrance to the pavilion, receiving all exhibitors

and guests of the forum.

The Mi-38 programme dates back quite a while. Conceived as far back as three

decades as a successor to the Mi-8, which remains the most popular machine

in the world, the new medium transport helicopter of the Mil Moscow Helicopter

Plant has traversed a long path from the development of early projects, which

were essential upgrades of the production Mi-8, to its current configuration, having

gained weight and been given a better lifting capacity. In its day, during the stormy

1990s, the Mi-38 programme became one of the first Russian helicopter industry

programme, in which foreign colleagues – famous Eurocopter and Pratt&Whitney

Canada – took part.

The first Mi-38 prototype (OP-1) took to the air in December 2003, but the

programme actually has been given a kick-start only recently, after the emergence

of the Russian Helicopters holding company that has incorporated key assets of

the Russian helicopter industry. The holding has set the Mi-38 as its promising

project in class of medium transport/passenger helicopters with a lifting capacity

of 5–7 t. The machine is to rival the best foreign helicopters in the class – the

AgustaWestland EH101 (AW101) and Sikorsky S-92 – and there are grounds for

optimism, since the trials of the first Mi-38 produced a number of outstanding

results, Kazan Helicopters manufactured the second, upgraded prototype, and

a third machine is to join the tests this year. Two Mi-38 prototypes are slated for

demonstration during the MAKS 2011 air show in August this year, with the first of

them to have been powered by Russian-made TV7-117V engines by then.

Mi-38 successor to legendary Mi-8

Andrey FOMIN

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had accounted for 5 t. An increase in the

powerplant’s emergency rating had boosted

flight safety when flying with one engine

down. A technical and economic analysis had

proven that the Mi-38 would be far superior

to the Mi-8 by 1.8 times in payload weight,

by 2 times in performance capacity and by 1.7

times in fuel efficiency. Civil aviation lead-

ers approved the draft design, and the Kazan

Helicopters began to gear up for production-

ising the Mi-38.

Together with foreign partners

The Mi-38 transport/passenger helicopter

was designed to carry passengers and cargo,

cargo handling, civil and erection works, search

and rescue operations, forest engineering, geo-

logic exploration, ambulance services, medical

evacuation and operation as a VIP wagon.

From the outset, the aircraft was designed for

operation under various weather and climatic

conditions. It is also important that the Mi-38

became essentially the first Russian helicopter,

whose designing provided from the outset, its

certification in line with the Russian and for-

eign air worthiness standards.

However, the collapse of the Soviet Union

disrupted the existing industrial links. Many

of the Mi-38 programme participants found

themselves in different former Soviet states

or switched to different products. At the

same time, Russian helicopter makers found

new opportunities to cooperate with foreign

partners. Major European helicopter maker

Eurocopter took interest in cooperation with

the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant, with the

Mi-38 out of all of Mil’s development pro-

grammes attracting its attention. The two

companies made a preliminary agreement

on cooperation in December 1992 and set up

their Euromil joint venture in 1994 including

the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant, Kazan

Helicopters, Klimov plant and Eurocopter

company.

Under the work sharing agreement between

the partners, the Mil Moscow Helicopter

Plant was to design and test the advanced heli-

copter, the Kazan Helicopters was tasked with

making prototypes and production machines

and with their after-sales support and the

Klimov plant was responsible for the develop-

ment of the TV7-117V helicopter engine rated

at 2,500 h.p. (3,750 at the emergency rating)

and, a bit later, offered an even more sophisti-

cated next-generation engine TVa-3000 rated

at 2,800 h.p. Eurocopter undertook the devel-

opment of the flight/navigation suite, flight

control system and cockpit and cabin interi-

ors. It also promised to facilitate the Mi-38’s

international certification, promotion on the

global market and after-sales support.

The helicopter’s development by an inter-

national team was supported by the Russian

government that included it into the Russian

Civil Aircraft Development Programme for

the Period through 2015. However, the fund-

ing of the programme by the government

proved to be scarce. The problem was further

exacerbated by the crisis of the late ‘90s and

a number of federal laws that limited the

amount of foreign capital in the Russian

aircraft industry and, hence, banned foreign

partners from managing joint venture in that

branch of economy.

This led to the Klimov plant’s pullout from

the Euromil joint venture due to Klimov’s dire

financial situation. Then, Eurocopter followed

suit, having been stripped of incentives to

keep on participating in the programme. Only

two companies, Mil and Kazan Helicopters,

had stuck to the programme by 2003 when

Kazan Helicopters completed the first Mi-38

prototype (OP-1). After Klimov’s withdraw-

al from the programme, the Mi-38 project

was tailored for use of Canadian PW127TS

turboshaft engines with a takeoff power of

2,500 h.p. (3,750 h.p. at the emergency rat-

ing). A two-engine set was provided to the

Mi-38 developers by Pratt & Whitney Canada

anticipating the future market success of the

programme and subsequent lucrative orders.

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Mi-38 first flying prototype (OP-1)

in its maiden flight, 22 December 2003…

… and at MAKS 2007 airshow,

August 2007

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Powered by such a powerplant, the first

Mi-38 conducted its maiden flight in Kazan

on 22 December 2003, flown by a Mil crew of

Vladimir Kutanin and Alexander Klimov.

From first flights to upgrade

Late in October 2004, following the pre-

liminary factory trials at the airfield of Kazan

Helicopters, the first Mi-38 prototype was fer-

ried to Mil’s flight test facility in the Moscow

Region. It was unveiled at the MAKS 2005 air

show in Zhukovsky in August 2005 and dem-

onstrated as part of the flight demonstration

programme. In autumn 2006, Mil reported

that the Mi-38’s tests had produced results

exceeding the specifications requirement, in

particular, design flight speed and altitude.

For instance, during a flight under the fac-

tory test programme on 27 September 2006, a

Mil aircrew made up of pilot Vladimir Kutanin,

co-pilot Sergey Barkov and project engineer

Igor Klevantsev climbed to a record-setting

altitude of 8,170 m, with the takeoff weight

being 11,100 kg on that mission. Earlier, the

Mi-38 had climbed to 5,900 m with a takeoff

weight of 14,200 kg and to 5,450 m with a take-

off weight of 15,600 kg. The static ceiling tests

were a success too. With the aircraft weighing

14,300 kg at take-off, it managed to climb

to an altitude much higher than 3,000 m. In

addition, the Mi-38 proved to be able to hover

out of ground effect with its takeoff weight

equalling 16,350 kg. The tests also produced a

maximum speed of 320 km/h.

The first phase of the Mi-38 OP-1

(reg. RA-38011) development test programme,

during which 86 successful sorties were flown,

was complete in October 2007. The helicopter

was partially disassembled for analysis of the

state of the systems after four years of trials

and improvements. Meanwhile, an adjusted

programme of further Mi-38 development

work aimed at the soonest market entry of the

advanced helicopter was devised. In so doing,

a decision was taken to fit the Mi-38 the

cutting-edge avionics suite from the Transas

company in St. Petersburg.

As part of the HeliRussia 2008 show on

15 May 2008, Russian Helicopters company,

UMPO and TsIAM, on the one hand, and

Pratt&Whitney Canada, on the other, signed

a memorandum of understanding on coop-

eration in developing and manufacturing the

PW127TS engine to equip the Mi-38 helicop-

ter. Under the agreement made, the Canadian

company was to complete the development of

a turboshaft variant of the PW127 turboprop

engine for use on the Mi-38, have it cer-

tificated and launch delivery of its knockdown

kits to Russia for final assembly of production

engines, which assembly was to be handled

under licence by UMPO.

However, Pratt&Whitney Canada later

decided to suspend its participation in the

programme. The Mi-38 again had to switch

to the TV7-117V earmarked for the machine

almost three decades ago from the outset.

Georgy Sinelschikov, Mi-38 programme

Director and Mil deputy chief designer, said at

the presentation of the updated Mi-38 design in

May 2009 that, though the switch to a different

engine would delay the pace of the programme

by two to three years, it will, nonetheless, allow

a hike in several characteristics of the helicopter

and an increase in its applications, e.g. the future

medium troops carrier, which acquisition is being

looked into by the Russian Defence Ministry.

For instance, the more powerful Russian-

made TV7-117V engine will increase the

Mi-38’s maximum takeoff weight up to

16,200 kg (the PW127TS-powered first Mi-38

prototype had that of 15,600 kg) and the maxi-

mum cabin cargo weight up to 6,000 kg (7,000

kg on the external sling). Given the 14,200-kg

normal takeoff weight, the helicopter will have

a maximal speed of 310 km/h and a cruising

speed of 285 km/h, with its static ceiling to

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Mi-38 second flying prototype (OP-2) during

its first hoverings, 3 November 2010

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account for 3,840 m and its service ceiling for

6,400 m. Its endurance with a 30-min. emer-

gency fuel reserve will be 880 km (1,000 km

without the emergency fuel reserve).

At the same time with the modification of the

design owing to the replacement of the power-

plant (the modifications will not be too sub-

stantial, because Mil developed the TV7-117V-

powered Mi-38 versions – the cargo/passenger

Mi-382 and Mi-383 troop carrier – a long

time ago), Transas launched the development

and debugging of the advanced IBKO-38 inte-

grated avionics suite.

The IBKO-38 suite allows round-the-clock

operation in various geographic and climatic

conditions in the automatic, director and

manual control modes. It has modular open

architecture and comprises five new-genera-

tion 12.1-inch TDS-12 multifunction displays

that show all relevant flight and navigation

data, the status of the helicopter equipment,

digital terrain map and imagery generated by

the 38A-813 weather radar. In addition, the

suite includes the redundant TNC-1G air

navigation computer system with an integral

GLONASS/GPS receiver, a mapping server,

a helicopter system and engine data gathering

and monitoring system, the TTA-12N terrain

collision avoidance system, up-to-date radar

and comms gear. The suite has the optional

SVS collimator synthesised-vision head-up

display. The suite’s open architecture allows

the use of extra radio-technical and optronic

equipment and introduction of new data dis-

play modes as well.

It is important that the key components

of the IBKO-38 integrated avionics suite are

commonised with the IBKV-17 suite designed

for upgraded versions of the Mi-8 (Mi-17).

This ensures optimisation of the operation

and MRO and enables aircrews to convert to

a new type easily.

Productionising

The IBKO-38 suite was first installed on

the second Mi-38 prototype (OP-2) assem-

bled by Kazan Helicopters in August 2010.

The second prototype is equipped with a

pair of Canadian PW127TS turboshafts, as

the first prototype (OP-1) was in its day. At

the same time, unlike the OP-1, the OP-2

embodies a number of design improvements,

such as the modified hydraulic and fuel

systems, redesigned main rotor blades and

standard feel-spring mechanisms introduced

to the helicopter control system. This has

resulted in a better controllability and sta-

bility.

The Mil crew of test pilots Vladimir Kutanin

and Salavat Sadriyev and flight test engineer

Igor Klevantsev put the advanced machine

into a hover for the first time on 30 October

2010. In all, the second Mi-38 prototype

had logged seven missions to test its hovering

capabilities and fly slowly over the runway.

Finally, Vladimir Kutanin’s crew performed

a pattern flight in Kazan on 22 November

on the helicopter with registration number

RA-38012. Overall, there were three sorties

on that day, on which speed was gradually

increased up to 260 km/h.

On 16 December, the Mi-38 OP-2 flew

from Kazan to Tomilino in the Moscow

Region where Mil’s flight test facility is. The

first Mi-38 prototype (OP-1) is now being fit-

ted with advanced Russian-made TV7-117V

engines here. It is to fly soon. Meanwhile,

Kazan Helicopters has been assembling the

third Mi-38 prototype (OP-3) and which is

intended to be powered by TV7-117V engines

too. The time the third Mi-38 prototype

joins the trials hinges on the preparedness of

Klimov to supply the second set of TV7-117Vs.

This is expected in 2011. The OP-3’s airframe

is at a high degree of completion, and the

second IBKO-38 suite has been ordered from

Transas.

The Mi-38 certification programme is

planned for completion in 2014, after which

the helicopter will be fit for full-scale produc-

tion and subsequent deliveries. It certification

tests will kick off this year, with the second

prototype powered by Canadian engines in the

lead to be followed by the TV7-117V-powered

first prototype and then the third one.

Thus, if all goes to plan, deliveries of pro-

duction-standard Mi-38s may well begin in

four years. As far back as 2008, Russian

Helicopters was reported to have had tenta-

tive orders for 75 Mi-38s from several Russian

air carriers. The Mi-38 has a good prospect

on the global market as well. With about a

hundred Mi-17s (Mi-171s) exported annually,

there is a good chance for the cutting-edge

medium transport from Mil to succeed the

legendary Hip.

The Mi-38 programme is a key element of

the long-term strategy of Russian Helicopters.

No doubt, production of various variants of

the Mi-8MTV (AMT) and Mi-17 (Mi-171),

including the heavily upgraded Mi-8M

(Mi-17M, Mi-171A2) version, by the plants

in Kazan and Ulan-Ude will continue for

years to come, because demand for them will

persist in the coming years, especially after

they have been upgraded. But anyway the

market will demand new-generation medium

transport helicopters, and the Mi-38 may well

become the best offer of the Russian heli-

copter makers in the class starting from the

middle of the decade.

Serg

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Ale

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Mi-38 (OP-2) cockpit

Mi-38 first prototype (OP-1) under upgrade

and re-engining at Mil facilities in Panki, May 2010

Motor Sich JSC trade mark is a symbol

of cost-effective, reliable, and competitive

products that are a part and parcel of avia-

tion industry of Ukraine. The company offers

state-of-the-art multipurpose aero engines

operated all over the world in more than 120

countries.

To expand its presence in the market of

aeronautical propulsion systems, Motor Sich

JSC is undertaking efforts to develop and

commercialise manufacture of a variety of new

promising aero engines and to upgrade com-

mercial ones, with D-436-148, AI-450-MS,

AI-450M, TV3-117VMA-SBM1V and

MS-500V among them.

D-436-148 engine has been developed

around the best design solutions; it is intend-

ed for An-148 passenger family airplanes.

An extensive package of design-and-research

works related to the engine combustion

chamber and enhancement of engine acous-

tic performance make it possible to provide

emission and noise levels substantially lower

than ICAO standards. In terms of its per-

formance, this commercially manufactured

engine is as good as its foreign competitor

products being developed currently.

Motor Sich JSC has developed AI-450-MS

two-shaft auxiliary gas turbine engine

(AGTE) for various An-148 modifications

and other passenger and cargo aircraft pow-

ered by cruise engines of D-436 family. It is

intended to start cruise engines and supply

compressed air and electric power to airplane

onboard systems, with cruise engines inop-

erative. High AI-450-MS AGTE efficiency is

attained through low specific fuel consump-

tion that is a result of high thermodynamic

cycle parameters, high efficiency of subas-

semblies, as well as a result of selecting air

bleed from an ancillary compressor; and

through low operation costs.

Currently, efforts are undertaken to develop

An-158 99-passenger airplane derived from

An-148 regional jet with its maiden flight per-

formed on 28 April 2010, An-168 corporate

aircraft with its range being up to 7,000 km,

cargo and military-cargo aircraft able to carry

20 t of cargo to a distance of up to 2,000 km

or 15 t to a distance of 3,200 km.

The company pays great attention to

manufacturing engines for utility helicop-

ters. AI-450 is the smallest helicopter engine

developed by Motor Sich JSC along with

Ivchenko-Progress design bureau. Various

engine modifications can provide takeoff

power at the range of 370 to 730 hp. AI-450M

engine modification is intended to re-mo-

torise Mi-2 helicopters previously manufac-

tured, wherein it is to replace GTD-350 gas

turbine engine. We hope that a huge world

of Mi-2 helicopter fleet opens good pros-

pects for AI-450M engine manufacture, with

re-motorising a substantial part of the fleet

being profitable.

To increase helicopter performance and

operational efficiency when operating at

higher altitudes and higher temperatures,

Motor Sich JSC has developed a new

TV3-117VMA-SBM1V helicopter engine

that possesses extended life limits: time before

the first overhaul and time between overhauls

(TBO) are 4,000 hours/cycles, total life is

12,000 hours/cycles.

TV3-117VMA-SBM1V engine has the

same weight and dimensions, overall and

fitting to fit the engine to helicopter fitting

points, like the engines that power Mi and Ka

helicopters. TV3-117VMA-SBM1V series 1

engine modification with FADEC automatic

control system is developed for new helicop-

ter projects. Using this automatic control

system will result in further enhancement of

engine and helicopter performances.

Upgraded Mi-24 helicopter powered by

TV3-117VMA-SBM1V engines has been

introduced into service by the Ministry

of Defence of Ukraine. Mi-24 helicopter

powered by TV3-117VMA-SBM1V engines

showed record rate of climb earlier in the

course of previous tests: it climbed at the alti-

i n d u s t r y | c o m p a n y

take-off june 201118 w w w . t a ke - o f f . r ucommercial

MOTOR SICH ENGINES

Vyacheslav BOGUSLAYEV

Chairman of the Board,

Motor Sich JSC

FROM SMALL UAVs TO HEAVY LIFTERS

D-436-148

An-148

п р о м ы ш л е н н о с т ь | и т о г и

19 w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u

tude of 5 km for 9 minutes only, which means

2.5-time increase in rate of climb.

On 19 May 2010, Mi-8MTV helicopter

powered by TV3-117VMA-SBM1V engines

took off from the airfield of Konotop aircraft

repair and overhaul plant. The helicopter

climbed to the altitude of 8,100 m for 13 sec-

onds in the course of tests, with the world’s

record set up.

Taking into consideration changes of the

world helicopter market conditions, the

company is undertaking efforts to develop a

new generation of MS-500V family engines

of 600–1,000 hp power class, which are

intended for utility helicopters whose take

off weight is 3.5-6 t. As experts predict, the

market sector of this class helicopters is

going to be one of the most promising one

in the coming up years due to helicopter ver-

satility. A leading version of MS-500V model

line is going to be an engine of takeoff power

of 630 hp designed according to require-

ments specification by Kazan Helicopters

JSC for Ansat type helicopter.

Simple and effective design of MS-500V

family engine is typical for engines of this

class currently available. The core engine

includes a one-step centrifugal compressor

with high compression ratio, an annular

reverse flow combustor, and a one-step tur-

bine. Power developed by the one-step free

turbine is transmitted to the main helicopter

reduction gear through an integrated inter-

mediate reduction gear. The engine pos-

sesses an advanced electronic control and

monitoring system with hydromechanical

redundancy.

Currently, development efforts are under-

taken by Ivchenko-Progress design bureau

within AI-8000V engine project that is to be

implemented along with Motor Sich JSC.

The engine power is 8,250 hp at takeoff

power setting and 9,300 hp at emergency

power setting. The engine is intended for

heavy cargo helicopters and utility helicop-

ters of Mi-46 type.

D-136 engine is the largest helicopter

engine by Motor Sich JSC. It provides

power of 11,400 hp at takeoff power setting

at environment temperature of 15°С and

it has an unrivalled position in the world

in terms of this parameter. D-136 engine

is operated at Mi-26, the world’s largest

heavy-lift helicopter.

Currently, Ivchenko-Progress design

bureau is designing D-136 engine upgrade

project. A new engine has been designated

AI-136T1, and it is to provide power of

11,650 hp at maximum takeoff power setting;

the power specified is to be kept up to envi-

ronment temperature of 50°С. Emergency

power setting has been introduced to provide

power of 12,500 hp. AI-136T1 engine is

intended to upgrade Mi-26 helicopters and

to power new heavy-lift helicopters.

A wide range of helicopter engines manu-

factured and prospective ones makes it pos-

sible to implement virtually any project of

developing a new helicopter or re-motoris-

ing the ones available.

Developing multipurpose unmanned aer-

ial vehicles (UAVs) is considered one of the

most prospective trends in the development

of military aviation. Motor Sich JSC manu-

factured engines make it possible to develop

UAVs and missiles of various types and pur-

poses: from small UAVs powered by MS-100

engine to unmanned combat air vehicles

(UCAVs) powered by versions of AI-25TL

and AI-222 engine families, as well as strate-

gic UAVs powered by AI-22 type engines.

To summarise, it is pertinent to say that

aeronautical propulsion industry of Ukrain

can offer a wide range of engines that meet

requirements of the international regula-

tions. Developed and introduced by Motor

Sich JSC, its advanced technical and design

solutions are based on state-of-the-art

achievements of science and technology.

Close collaboration with designers and mul-

tiple partners allows the company to develop

engines that assure the future of air trans-

port.

i n d u s t r y | c o m p a n y

w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u 19 commercial

Motor Sich JSC

15, Motorostroiteley av.

Zaporozhye 69068, Ukraine

Tel.: +38 (061) 720-48-14

Fax: +38 (061) 720-50-05

E-mail: motor@motorsich.com,

eo.vtf@motorsich.com

http://www.motorsich.com

take-off june 2011

TV3-117VMA-SBM1V

AI-136T

Mi-26T

Mi-24

w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u20 take-off june 2011

The baseline model of Beriev Be-200 is

designed to put out forest fires using water

or flame extinguisher liquid. It has spawned

the Be-200ChS derivative for the Russian

Emergencies Ministry, the launch customer for

the amphibian. Under the contract awarded by

the Emergencies Ministry, the Irkutsk Aircraft

Plant, a subsidiary of the Irkut corporation,

made and delivered four production amphib-

ians from 2003 through 2006, while the fifth

aircraft made in 2007 was exported a year later

to Azerbaijan where it has been in service with

the Azeri Emergencies Ministry ever since.

In the wake of the forest fires raging all

over Russia last summer, the Russian govern-

ment decided to beef up the air arm of the

Emergencies Ministry with more Be-200ChS

amphibians. An agreement on delivery of eight

more Be-200ChS’s to the ministry was signed

in a ceremony during the Gydroaviasalon show

in Gelenjik in September 2010. The agreement

provided at Phase I for Beriev to bring the two

previously-ordered final aircraft under construc-

tion in Irkutsk up to snuff with the requirements

specifications and deliver them and then launch

deliveries of Be-200ChS of its own make.

The sixth production-standard

Be-200ChS (c/n 301) made its maiden flight

in Irkutsk in July last year and was ferried to

Taganrog last August. Now, it is sitting in a

Beriev assembly shop, receiving customer-

approved improvements that were applied

to the previously-acquired Emergencies

Ministry amphibians as part of scheduled

overhauls after they had kicked off their

operations. The final, seventh Irkut-built

Be-200ChS (c/n 302) was completed this

spring: its maiden flight took place in the

city of Irkutsk on 3 April, and the aircraft

was ferried to Taganrog the same month to

be given the same improvements Aircraft

301 is being given prior to the delivery.

Both aircraft are to enter service with the

Emergency Ministry’s air branch until late

November 2011 under the governmental

contract signed last November.

Construction of the remaining

Be-200ChS’s will be handled by Beriev that

has since April this year been a single com-

pany uniting the previously independent

TAVIA production plant and Beriev com-

pany proper situated on the same premises.

For the purpose of construction, part of

the production tools has been moved from

Irkutsk to Taganrog, new assembly jigs have

been made and cutting-edge processing

centres and other high-tech gear have been

imported. The governmental contract for

six production Be-200ChS amphibians to

be made and delivered to the Emergencies

Ministry prior to 2014 was signed on 25 May

2011. The aircraft shall be fielded with air

units of the Siberian and Far Eastern region-

al centres of the Emergencies Ministry.

The first Taganrog-built aircraft is to be com-

plete in the second quarter of 2013. Overall,

Beriev is to manufacture three Be-200ChS’s

in 2013, according to Director General –

General Designer Victor Kobzev. Three more

aircraft are to be made in 2014 under the order

the Emergencies Ministry placed recently.

The first export Be-200ES-E is to be com-

pleted at the same time. Victor Kobzev said

the plans provided for an increase in the

Taganrog output up to six Be-200ChS aircraft

a year with a possible subsequent increase

up to 10–12 units per annum. According to

the Beriev head, there may be demand for

30–35 aircraft of the type in Europe alone,

AMPHIBIAN CHANGES ITS PLACE OF ORIGINBe-200 series production in Taganrog kicks offAmong the displays at the current Le Bourget air show, there is to be the Be-200ChS

amphibian aircraft brought to Paris by its developer and manufacturer Beriev

company. The full-rate production and sales of the Be-200 amphibian is a priority

for Beriev, even more so that new prospects are facing the programme now. In

September 2010, the Be-200ES-E was issued its long-awaited type certificate by

the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), which paved the way to the Western

market for it. Very recently, on 25 May 2011, the Russian Emergencies Ministry

awarded Beriev a long-term order for six more Be-200ChS amphibians, with the

aircraft to be built in Taganrog this time. Beriev launched manufacture of parts for

its own production-standard Be-200ChS amphibians.

And

rey F

om

ini n d u s t r y | r e p o r t

Alexander MANYAKIN,

Andrey FOMIN

21 w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u take-off june 2011

with potential customers including France,

Spain and Greece. High expectation also is

pinned on the Asian market, particular, India,

where the Be-200 is bidding in several tenders

at once.

Also important is that the assembly jigs

set up in Beriev’s shops to make the Be-200

amphibians are fit for manufacturing the

non-amphibian Be-300 plane as well.

According to Victor Kobzev, both aircraft

have 75–85% commonality. Essentially, the

Be-300 and Be-200 differ only in the shape

of the lower fuselage that has the conven-

tional aeroplane shape, rather than that of

a boat. Owing to the engines mounted on

top of the wing (a solution borrowed from

the Be-200), the Be-300 can operate from

unpaved airfields to handle a wide range of

missions in the regions lacking a developed

airfield network.

The common aerodynamic configuration

and flight performance similar to that of

land-based aircraft provided the Be-200 with

a high degree of upgradeability. This offers

excellent opportunities for deriving a whole

range of Be-200 versions, both amphibian

and land-based, to accomplish a variety of

civilian and military missions in an effective

manner. The Be-210 passenger amphibian

has been derived from the Be-200 and provi-

sion has been made for developing a cargo/

passenger and patrol derivatives. In addition,

the Be-200 and its Be-300 land-based ver-

sion could be of interest as a versatile plat-

form for specialist aircraft for military and

civilian roles.

Last spring, the Be-200ChS amphibian has

proven its top-notch characteristics yet again

during the FIDAE 2010 international air show

in Chile, after which it toured several Latin

American countries and the United States for

the demonstration purpose. Overall, the air-

craft covered upwards of 56,000 km within a

total of 121 flying hours. The Be-200ChS flew

over 14 countries on three continents. Earlier

this year, the Be-200ChS has performed a

series of demonstration flights in India and

Israel.

And

rey F

om

inA

nd

rey F

om

in

i n d u s t r y | r e p o r t

Wing centre section panel for the first Be-200

of Beriev company production in assembly rig

The last Irkut-production Be-200ChS c/n 302 arrived

in Taganrog for outfitting before delivery to Russian

Emercom due to take place before late November 2011

w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u22 take-off june 2011

By now, as many as four prototypes of the

advanced aircraft are used under the PAK FA

test programme, of which two are flying proto-

types. The so-called ‘zero’ static test prototype

(T50-0) has been undergoing endurance tests

at a dedicated facility of Sukhoi in Moscow

since summer 2009. The T50-KNS integrat-

ed full-scale testbed is used for ground trials

of onboard systems, including the fuel and

hydraulic systems, powerplant, control sys-

tem, etc. In 2009, it was moved to KnAAPO’s

airfield where it performed its first taxiing

and high-speed runs. Then, it was airlifted

on 8 April last year by an An-124 transport to

Zhukovsky along with the first flying prototype

and has carried on with the ground tests at

Sukhoi’s flight test and debugging facility in the

Moscow Region.

The first flying prototype, T50-1, has been

undergoing the flight tests in Zhukovsky since

29 April 2010, having logged six acceptance

test sorties in Komsomolsk-on-Amur from

29 January to 26 March 2010. It had had about

40 flights under its belt by late autumn 2010,

including several demonstration sorties when

it was shown to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin

on 17 June 2010 and an Indian delegation on

31 August 2010.

Sukhoi’s March news release reads:

“36 flights have been performed on the first

flying prototype in support of the flight test

programme” and “the preliminary ground and

flight test programme has been completed in

full”. Early in February this year, the T50-1

resumed flight tests after it had undergone a

planned improvement programme that had

begun last autumn. This done, its check flight

took place on 10 February.

The first flying prototype of the T-50 plane

first broke the sonic barrier in the Moscow

Region on a test flight on 9 March, with Test

Pilot Sergey Bogdan, Sukhoi’s project pilot

under the PAK FA programme, at the controls.

The T-50 started flying at supersonic speed

owing to the prototype’s operating envelope

expansion based on the results produced by

the preliminary test phase, during which its

stability, controllability and other character-

istics were evaluated against the backdrop of

the gradually dwindling g-load, speed and alti-

tude limits inherent in the phase of the initial

flight tests characteristic for any newly-devel-

oped aircraft. The way the aircraft behaved at

supersonic speed was pronounced satisfactory,

which allows another expansion of the maxi-

mal authorised flight speed and altitude range.

Meanwhile, the acceptance tests of the sec-

ond PAK FA flying prototype were wrapped

up in Komsomolsk-on-Amur in early March.

Overall, Sergey Bogdan had flown four mis-

sions from 3 to 5 March, after which the

aircraft was sent to be painted and prepared

for the transfer to Sukhoi’s flight test and

debugging facility in Zhukovsky. An Antonov

An-124 heavylifter hauled the T50-2 from

Komsomolsk-on-Amur to the Moscow Region

on 3 April. Once brought to Zhukovsky and

subjected to relevant assembly, debugging and

checkouts, the second flying prototype joined

the PAK FA flight test programme alongside

the T50-1.

Several Sukhoi test pilots fly the PAK FA

prototypes now. Project pilot Sergey Bogdan

recently awarded with a title of the Hero of

Russia has flown most of the sorties. However,

other Sukhoi test pilots have been prepared for

the PAK FA’s trials due to the increasing scope

of work under the programme, for instance,

Roman Kondratyev and Yuri Vaschuk conduct-

ed their first flights on the T50-1 last September.

Roman Kondratyev has been taking an active

part in the continued tests of the first PAK FA

prototype in Zhukovsky. Other pilots are gearing

up for the test programme too.

The third flying prototype is sitting in

KnAAPO’s assembly shop and components

PAK FA PAK FA TWO PROTOTYPESTWO PROTOTYPESIN TRIALSIN TRIALS

The second flying prototype of the

T-50 fifth-generation fighter, built by

the Sukhoi company under the PAK FA

Future Tactical Fighter programme, took

from the airfield of the Komsomolsk-on-

Amur Aircraft Production Association

(KnAAPO) on 3 March 2011. The

57-min. maiden flight was performed

by Honoured Test Pilot Sergey Bogdan,

who had taken the first prototype to

the skies just over a year ago, on

29 January 2010. According to Sukhoi,

the flight was a success and in line

with the mission scenario, with the

operation of the systems, powerplant,

stability and controllability assessed.

“The plane performed well throughout

the flight programme”, the developer’s

news release reads.

m i l i t a r y a v i a t i o n | e v e n tS

ukho

i

m i l i t a r y a v i a t i o n | e v e n t

23 w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u take-off june 2011

of the fourth one are being manufactured.

Thus, “we will have generated the core that

will ensure a positive preliminary report”,

said Mikhail Pogosyan, Sukhoi Director

General and UAC president. The third

PAK FA flying prototype is supposed to

be equipped with a prototype active elec-

tronically scanned array (AESA) radar that

Tikhomirov-NIIP has been developing.

The developer has made and conducted

numerous tests of three AESA radars, with

the third of them earmarked for fitting the

PAK FA prototype.

At the same time, the third and fourth air-

craft will be furnished with a number of other

avionics systems, which tests are not sup-

posed to be carried out by the first and second

prototypes. “We will use two more aircraft for

the tests in 2012, as we planned”, Mikhail

Pogosyan said during the Bangalore air show

in February. Probably, he meant the fifth and

sixth flying prototypes to be equipped with the

complete avionics and weapons suites.

As is known, Vladimir Putin set the task of

having the early PAK FAs of the low-rate ini-

tial production (LRIP) batch delivered to the

Russian Air Force centre in Lipetsk in 2013

for their operation evaluation and launching

deliveries of production-standard fighters to

RusAF combat units in 2015. As the then

Deputy Defence Minister and armed forces

armament chief Vladimir Popovkin told the

media during the PAK FA’s unveiling in

Zhukovsky in June 2010, the draft govern-

mental armament programme designed to

cover throughout 2020 stipulated acquisition

of “more than 50 fifth-generation fighters”

from 2016.

PAK FA flying prototype is slated for the

public unveiling during the MAKS 2011 inter-

national air show in August this year.

23

Andrey FOMIN

T50-2 landing after its maiden flight,

3 March 2011

Sukhoi's test pilot Sergey Bogdan reports

the results of the second T-50 prototype

speed taxi tests, Komsomolsk-on-Amur,

2 March 2011

Sukho

i

Sukh

oi

w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u24 take-off june 2011

Five advanced Yakovlev Yak-130 combat

trainers arrived at the Air Force Training

Centre in the town of Borisoglebsk,

Voronezh Region, from the Sokol

aircraft plant in the Nizhny Novgorod

Region in early April. The Borisoglebsk

training centre provides basic and

advanced flying training to cadets of

the Krasnodar Air Force Academy (now

an affiliate of the Prof. Zhukovsky &

Gagarin Air Force Command and Staff

Academy), who then are posted to

attack and tactical bomber units of the

Russian Air Force.

As is known, the first four Sokol-built

Yak-130s were delivered to the Air Force

Combat and Conversion Training Centre in

Lipetsk just over a year ago, during February

through April 2010, and participated in

the Victory Day parade over Red Square

in Moscow on 9 May 2010. Unfortunately,

one of the Yak-130s (serial 93) crashed on

takeoff in Lipetsk on a routine training

sortie, which led to temporary grounding

of all aircraft of the type operated by the

Air Force.

Although the immediate cause of the

crash was not a design or manufacture

defect, rather pre-flight errors mostly, the

developer decided to use the lull in the

flight operations of production planes to

refine the aircraft control system. In par-

ticular, an advanced software package for

the integrated flight control system was

introduced, which allowed full-fledged use

of the reprogramming modes enabling the

Yak-130 to simulate the specific features of

controlling both light and heavy or highly

manoeuvrable planes. To test the upgraded

control system and improved display sys-

tem, the first production Yak-130 made

by the Irkutsk Aircraft Plant of the Irkut

Corp. was used as well. It was serialled

134 for the duration of the tests. Mention

should be made that the flights of the Irkut-

owned prototypes and production-standard

Yak-130s were not grounded in the wake of

the crash in Lipetsk, with all of them carry-

ing on with various test programmes.

Under the circumstance, the Sokol plant

was unable to fulfil the government-award-

ed contract for delivery of the first 12-ship

Yak-130 batch for the Air Force last year

(Sokol Director General Alexander Karezin

said in May last year that the contract was to

be fulfilled in November 2010). At present,

the delivery of the whole batch of advanced

combat trainers under the first governmen-

tal contract is slated for completion before

mid-2011.

The Yak-130 serialled 23 was the first of

the four planes to touch down at the airfield

in Borisoglebsk half an hour before noon

on 6 April 2011. Serials 24, 25, 21 and 22

followed it to the runway at an interval

of 5 to 10 minutes. The new production-

standard Yak-130s were ferried from Nizhny

Novgorod to Borisoglebsk by the crews

made up of test pilots of the Sokol plant, the

customer’s representative office at Sokol,

and Chkalov State Flight Test Centre.

The Borisoglebsk Air Force Training

Centre dates back almost 90 years. The

establishment of the 2nd Red Air Fleet

Flying School in Moscow was ordered in

December 1922, and the school was moved

ADVANCED Yaks FOR RusAFBorisoglebsk Air Force Training Centre receives five Yak-130s

m i l i t a r y a v i a t i o n | r e p o r t

25 w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u take-off june 2011

to its permanent station, Borisoglebsk, on

order of the Red Air Fleet’s chief of military

educational institutions in early April 1923.

The flying school was named after legendary

Soviet pilot Valery Chkalov later on. It was

converted into the Borisoglebsk Air Force

Academy after WWII. In summer 1970, it

started training its cadets on the L-29 jet

trainer. The academy underwent another

change on the verge of the 1990s, when it

was reformed into the 1080th Air Force

Training Centre named after Valery Chkalov

and fielded with advanced fourth-genera-

tion MiG-29 fighters and, in February 1994,

Su-25 attack aircraft.

The 1080th Air Force Training Centre com-

prised as many as six air bases in Borisoglebsk,

Buturlinovka, Bagai-Baranovka, Lebyazhye,

Tonkoye and Uprun. Its purpose was theo-

retical and practical conversion of air force

academy graduates from the L-39 trainer

to RusAF’s up-to-date tactical aircraft –

MiG-29, Su-24 and Su-25. In 2000, the 2nd

Tactical Aviation Department of the Armavir

Military Aviation Institute, which trained per-

sonnel for tactical bombers and ground attack

aircraft was established in Borisoglebsk. Flight

training was given on the L-39 and Su-25

in the 160th Training Air Regiment that was

activated as far back as 1971 as part of the

Borisoglebsk Air Force Academy.

Lately, the Air Force aircrew training sys-

tem has been changed as part of the reform

of the Russian Armed Forces. A decision

has been made to form the 786th Air Force

Training Centre for aircrew conversion

training (it absorbed the military posts in

Borisoglebsk and Michurinsk) and reform-

ing the 2nd department of the Armavir

Military Aviation Institute. Under the gov-

ernmental resolution dated 10 May 2001,

the department of the disbanded Armavir

Military Aviation Institute was assigned to

the Krasnodar Military Aviation Institute

as the 3rd Tactical Bomber and Attack

Aircraft Department. Its cadets learnt to fly

at training air regiments in Borisoglebsk and

Michurinsk.

Thus, there is a training air regiment

stationed in Borisoglebsk these days, pro-

viding flying training to future attack air-

craft and bomber pilots – cadets of the

3rd department of the Krasnodar affiliate

of the Prof. Zhukovsky & Gagarin Air

Force Command and Staff Academy. After

the Borisoglebsk instructor-pilots have

completed their conversion, cadets flight

training on cutting-edge Yak-130s shall be

launched here.

The Sokol plant has promised to com-

plete the construction, testing and delivery

of three production aircraft more not later

than June. “The Nizhny Novgorod-based

Sokol aircraft plant plans to deliver three

Yak-130 combat trainers to the Russian Air

Force and, thus, fulfil the contract for 12

aircraft of the type awarded by the Defence

Ministry”, Nizhny Novgorod Region

Industry and Innovation Minister Vladimir

Nefyodov told the RIA Novosti news agency

late in March.

Yevgeny YEROKHIN

Photos by author

m i l i t a r y a v i a t i o n | r e p o r t

take-off june 2011 w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u

m i l i t a r y a v i a t i o n | n e w s

26

In mid-April, Russian Air Force

Commander-in-Chief Col.-Gen.

Alexander Zelin signed the report

on completion of the official test

programme by the Sukhoi Su-34

multirole tactical bomber. The

tests themselves were fulfilled

successfully in January this year.

In this connection, the Interfax-

AVN news agency reported: “The

near future will see the signing of

the Phase two official tests report

expected to pave the way for the

Su-34 tactical bomber to the Russian

Air Force’s inventory”. The Russian

government will issue a special

resolution to authorise the plane’s

service entry in line with the current

practice.

The Su-34 official tests involving

a total of six prototype and pre-

production aircraft and two

production warplanes had been

conducted since 1996. The flight

programme designed to obtain a

preliminary report on feasibility of

full-rate production and operational

evaluation had been completed by

April 2003, and Phase One of the

official test programme, conducted

under the refined specifications

requirement, was over in September

2006. Phase Two of the official trials,

designed to test advanced weapons

and tactics, had taken place from

late 2006 to January 2011.

The operational evaluation of the

Su-34 kicked off in the Lipetsk-

based State Aviation Personnel

Training and Operational Evaluation

Centre in 2007, with the Centre

having been given three production-

standard bombers serialled 02, 04

and 05 before December 2009. Late

last year, the centre received four

more production planes (serials 06

through 09) under the December

2008 five-year contract for 32 Su-34

bombers earmarked for fielding

with the RusAF air base in Voronezh

further down the line. This year,

RusAF expects delivery of six

production-standard Su-34s more

under the contract.

In mid-February, the Russian

Air Force took delivery of the first

four out of an order of 12 Sukhoi

Su-27SM multirole single-seat

fighters, which delivery had been

stipulated by the deal clinched by

the Sukhoi company and the Russian

Defence Ministry during the MAKS

2009 air show in August 2009. The

warplanes completed a long flight

from Komsomolsk-on-Amur to

the air base in Krymsk, Krasnodar

Region, which had taken delivery

of a pair of two Su-30M2 twin-seat

multirole fighters last year. Unlike

the Su-27SMs delivered to RusAF in

2003 through 2009 and derived from

in-service Su-27 fighters by KnAAPO

by means of upgrade, the newly

delivered aircraft are brand-new and

just out of the assembly shop.

Probably, the new Su-27SMs

were made using the backlog of

Su-27SK airframes that KnAAPO

retained from the suspended licence-

production contract with China. The

aircraft are powered by advanced

Salut AL-31F-M1 (AL-31F Series 42)

turbofans with thrust enhanced up

to 13,500 kgf, extended service life

as well as upgraded avionics and

weapons suites that are even more

sophisticated than those fitting the

upgraded Su-27SMs that have been

supplied until recently.

Last autumn, Tikhomirov-NIIP

Director General Yuri Bely told

Take-off in an interview: “Late

September saw the first launch

of a new medium-range air-to-air

missile by a Su-27SM3 prototype,

with the missile hitting its target.

To ensure the use of the missile

at an extended range, the antenna,

emitter and radar updates datalink

of the fighter’s radar had been

upgraded. The Su-27SM3 kicked

off its official test programme”. In

all probability, the four Su-27SMs

delivered in February were made in

this particular version. At the same

time with improving the fire control

radar and beefing the weapons

suite with upgraded medium-range

missiles, the cockpit management

system was refined, with the cockpit

goes ‘all-glass’.

The first four Su-27SM3s were

ferried from KnAAPO’s factory

airfield to the south of Russia by

a group of pilots with the Lipetsk-

based Air Force State Aviation

Personnel Training and Operational

Evaluation Centre, who were led by

Lt.-Col. Yuri Spryadyshev, honoured

military pilot and sniper pilot. The

group took off from Komsomolsk-

on-Amur on 15 February and made

their first stopover at Domna Air

Force Base vic. Chita, where the

Defence Ministry was giving a press

tour to the Russian media. Their

further itinerary included Novosibirsk

and Perm to be completed in Krymsk

successfully. With three stopovers,

the four new fighters covered

upwards of 7,000 km from the

Russian Far East to the Krasnodar

Region in the country’s south.

Meanwhile, KnAAPO is gearing

up for delivery of the remaining

eight aircraft under the contract.

They may well enter inventory of the

Air Force this year.

Su-34 completes official trials

Air Force accepting new Su-27SMs

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3 May saw the first production-

standard advanced Sukhoi Su-35S

multirole fighter built under the

contract awarded by the Russian

Defence Ministry take off from

KnAAPO’s airfield for its maiden

flight. During the sortie, which

lasted an hour and a half, various

operating modes of the integrated

control system and powerplant of

the aircraft and its stability and

controllability were tested. The

engine, systems and avionics

operated without fault. Honoured

Test Pilot Sergey Bogdan was at

the controls. He had taken the

Su-35’s first flying prototype

(No. 901) to the air on 19 February

2008 and the second prototype,

Su-35-2 (No. 902), on 2 October

the same year.

According to a Sukhoi

spokesperson, the Su-35

preliminary trials have been

complete. At this stage, testers have

proven the stability, controllability,

powerplant performance and basic

characteristics of the avionics

suite, set by the requirements

specification. The tests had

involved two prototypes of the

export version of the plane before

the first aircraft for the Russian

customer has joined them. Now

the new fighter has been furnished

for the official trials. The results to

be produced by their first stage’s

results will yield a preliminary

report on the fighter’s compliance

with the customer’s basic

requirements and feasibility of its

full-rate production for subsequent

fielding with combat units of the

Russian Air Force.

The Su-35S-1’s acceptance tests

at KnAAPO’s airfield, which included

seven test sorties, had been

completed with success by mid-

May, after which the preparation

of the aircraft for handover to the

Defence Ministry for the official test

programme began. The programme

will be pursued mostly at the

Defence Ministry’s State Flight Test

Centre in Akhtubinsk where the

plane was ferried in late May.

The Su-35’s key features setting it

aside from other aircraft of the Su-27

family are a drastically innovative

avionics suite, wrapped around a

digital information management

system, and the cutting-edge

Tikhomirov-NIIP Irbis phased array

radar featuring the unique aerial target

acquisition range and enhanced

multiple-target simultaneous

tracking and engagement capability

(it tracks 30 and engages eight

aerial threats or four and two ground

targets respectively). The fighter is

powered by advanced, NPO Saturn

117S thrust vector control turbofan

engines. The Su-35 will pack a

wide range of up-to-date and future

weapons in all classes.

The contract for the development

and delivery of 48 Su-35S fighters

to RusAF by 2015 was signed in

August 2009. The production and

delivery are supposed to continue

afterwards.

First Su-35S has flown

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Another production-standard Mil

Mi-28N combat helicopter made

on order from the Russian Defence

Ministry completed its first flight

from the airfield of Rostvertol

JSC in Rostov-on-Don on 8 April

2011. It is the 40th aircraft of the

type manufactured by Rostvertol,

including the second prototype and

seven preproduction Mi-28Ns built

by Rostvertol during 2004 through

2007 and subjected to official trials.

The Mi-28N entered service under

the Presidential decree dated 15

October 2009.

During 2010, the first RusAF air

squadron stationed in Budyonnovsk

converted to the Mi-28N (Rostvertol

had made a total of 16 helicopters

for it, of which 10 were delivered

in 2009) and a second RusAF unit

stationed in Korenovsk, started

taking deliveries. According to the

Russian media, the first five Mi-28Ns

were shipped there in October 2010,

with three more having followed

before year-end 2010. According to

the Russian press, Rostvertol is to

deliver 67 Mi-28Ns in the near future

under the contract awarded in 2005.

However, this is only the first phase,

and the current contract is to be

followed by others, since RusAF’s

total Mi-28N helicopter requirement

stands at 300 machines at the least,

as was repeatedly stated by the

service’s brass.

The helicopter’s developer,

the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant,

and manufacturer, Rostvertol,

are making efforts to refine the

machine further, in particular,

the Mi-28UB combat trainer with

twin controls is gearing up for

construction, and work on the

Mi-28N’s upgrade is under way in

line with the helicopter’s official

test programme report. Since

late 2009, line units have been

fielded with Mi-28Ns powered by

advanced VK-2500-02 engines (the

earlier-build machines are powered

by TV3-117VMAs). Rostvertol

Director General Boris Slyusar

told the media in April that the

company would productionise the

upgraded version designated as

Mi-28NM. It remains yet unknown

what it will differ from the current

production-standard aircraft in, but

probably, it will mount a radar,

more sophisticated electro-optical

systems, an effective defence aids

suite (DAS) and latest weapons.

Boris Slyusar also said the

company planned to launch Mi-28NE

deliveries for export from 2012. It

had been reported previously that

Algeria, Venezuela and several

CIS countries (e.g. Belarus and

Kazakhstan) had been keen on

the type. In addition, the Mi-28NE

is a contender of the tender for

22 combat helicopters, issued by

the Indian Defence Ministry. Last

autumn, the helicopter took part

in the demonstration and test

flight programme in India and won

approval of the potential customer.

In February this year, there were

media reports that talks in 2010 had

resulted in the first export contract

for 12 Mi-28NEs, but who is the

buyer remains unknown for the time

being.

Mi-28N production on the rise

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As was reported by Take-off in its

February 2011 issue (p. 33), fielding

of the advanced Kamov Ka-52 round-

the-clock multirole combat helicopters

with the Russian Army Aviation

kicked off in December last year.

Their series production was launched

by the Sazykin Progress plant in

Arsenyev. The first four production-

standard aircraft were delivered to

the Russian Army Aviation Combat

and Conversion Training Centre

(CCTC) in the town of Torzhok, and

the acceptance ceremony took place

on 28 December 2010.

Having assembled and prepared

the machines after their delivery

from the manufacturer plant and

having trained flying and ground

crews, CCTC in Torzhok launched

flight operations on the Ka-52s early

in February this year. To date, military

pilots have flown new helicopters not

only in daytime but also at night and

under adverse weather conditions

as well owing to the cutting-edge

avionics suite equipping the Ka-52.

It includes a gyro-stabilised electro-

optical system, night vision goggles

(NVG) and a radar that ensures the

helicopter’s 24-hour all-weather

combat capability.

To facilitate and speed up the

conversion of aircrews to the

Ka-52, the Dinamika scientific and

technical services centre in the

Moscow Region has developed the

KTE-52 full-mission crew simulator,

the company reported in a news

release late in March. Kamov’s

order for developing the simulator

was landed last year. In addition to

the KTE-52 simulator, the complex,

allowing the full cycle of air and

ground crew training, includes an

automated basic ‘ground school’

system.

The KTE-52 allows training and

conversion training of aircrews for

the Ka-52 as far as all basic flight,

navigation and weapons use tasks

are concerned. It enables aircrews to

hone their skills in routine operating

modes and in an emergency, e.g. a

materiel failure, a piloting error and

foul weather.

The Progress-made simulator

mock-up is a dead ringer for the real

cockpit of the production helicopter

in terms of internal dimensions and

position of the controls, control

panels, consoles, etc. The Ka-52’s

real controls are used to simulate

the control stations. The simulator’s

visual system a six-channel projector

and partial dome display complex. It

provides angles of view ranging from

-90 deg. to +90 deg. in azimuth and

from -30 deg. to +53 deg. in elevation.

To simulate night vision modes and

the use of NVGs, there is a software/

hardware complex comprising a

computer and outside-world image

generation software tailored to the

peculiarities of the NVG imagery,

and virtual reality (VR) goggles and

a laser tracker as well. The simulator

also includes an onboard acoustics

simulation system.

The KTE-52 simulator was

developed by Dinamika in cooperation

with Kamov, which provided it with the

data package, and Konstanta Design

LLC, which furnished the outside-

world image generator. The company

has launched assembly a second

Ka-52 full-mission simulator, and the

Russian Army Aviation will now receive

a sophisticated training aid along with

advanced combat helicopters.

“Ka-52 simulators will become a

key component of the programme

on training pilots to fly latest combat

helicopters of the Russian Air

Force that took delivery of its four

first production-standard aircraft

in 2010”, reads Dinamika’s news

release. “Progress is slated to deliver

10 more production-standard Ka-52s

in 2011, with the output expected

to be maintained in 2012–2013 as

well. Overall, construction of 36

Ka-52 helicopters is stipulated by

the contract awarded by the Russian

Defence Ministry in 2009”.

Fielding of production-standard

Ka-52s with a RusAF’s Chernigovka

air base in the Russian Far East

started in May.

Ka-52 being learnt in Torzhok

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In March, the Sevmash shipyard in

Severodvinsk launched the mooring

trials of the Vikramaditya multirole

aircraft carrier being developed

through overhauling and upgrading

the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft-carrying

cruiser previously in service with the

Russian Navy. “The most difficult and

important tests will be those of the

propulsion plant. The second priority

is to test the radio-electronic systems,

including Indian-made systems, and

the carrier’s aviation component as

well. The final objective of the mooring

tests is to prepare the systems and

equipment to the next phase, the

factory sea trials, during which the

aircraft carrier will put to sea. This

phase is slated for late 2011”, said a

Sevmash spokesperson.

The deal on the delivery of the

Vikramaditya aircraft carrier to the

Indian Navy was clinched in January

2004. It was accompanied by a deal on

development and delivery of 16 MiG-

29K/KUB multirole carrierborne fight-

ers to make up the carrier air group

(CAG). The 29 options for such fight-

ers were firmed up last spring. The

first batch of six production-standard

MiG-29K/KUBs were headed for India

in December 2009 and entered ser-

vice with the Indian Navy in February

last year. The next five aircraft were

delivered in May 2011. To date, the

first batch of 16 MiG-29K/KUBs has

been almost complete, but the cus-

tomer has requested the delivery of

the remaining aircraft of the batch to

be put on the back burner until some

time closer to the delivery date of the

Vikramaditya, from which they are

being bought to operate.

Under the additional agreement

signed last spring, the upgraded

Vikramaditya is to be delivered in late

2012, and then Indian naval pilots

will be able to start operating their

MiG-29K/KUB fighters off the carrier.

The Russian Defence Ministry

also is looking into acquisition of a

MiG-29K/KUB batch for operation

off the Admiral Kuznetsov,

Russia’s only aircraft carrier so far.

Considering that the production

of the Admiral Kuznetsov’s Su-33

fighters had been discontinued a

rather long time ago, the advanced

MiG fighters may well complement

the CAG of the Russian carrier, as

they carry a more sophisticated

avionics suite and a formidable

array of guided weapons of all

classes.

The MiG Corp. has delivered

the first batch of MiG-29 fighters

to the Republic of Myanmar. The

Russian media reported the readi-

ness of the planes for shipping as

far back as early March. The contract

for 20 MiG-29 fighters for Myanmar

was landed in late 2009. According

to the Burmese press, it provides for

delivery of 10 MiG-29B fighters (the

baseline export variant also known as

type 9-12B), six MiG-29SE (9-13SE, a

version with a slightly increased fuel

load and improved avionics) and four

MiG-29UB two-seat combat trainers

to the tune of $550 million.

Since the MiG Corp. several years

ago has switched to production of a

commonised family of advanced ver-

sions of the fighter (MiG-29K/KUB,

MiG-29M/M2, MiG-35), it used its

backlog of earlier versions of the

MiG-29. The singleseaters were

manufactured by the MiG Corp.’s

production facility in Moscow and

the twinseaters by the Sokol plant in

Nizhny Novgorod.

The MiG-29 is well known in

Myanmar. The country awarded

the MiG Corp. the first contract for

12 aircraft of the type (10 MiG-29B

singleseaters and two MiG-29UB

twinseaters) in 2001 and the deliv-

ery took place in 2002–2003 (see the

photo). Once the new deal has been

fulfilled, Myanmar’s air force will

beef up its fighter fleet considerably:

Flight International has reported

that it had comprised 12 MiG-29s

and 24 obsolete F-7M (the Chinese

upgrade of the clone of the MiG-21,

a second-generation Soviet fighter),

by the beginning of this year. The

latter were delivered to Burma as

far back as the 1980s and are said

to have seen the termination of their

active operation in anticipation of

replacement with more advanced

MiG fighters.

At the same time with fulfilling the

Burmese contract, the MiG Corp. car-

ries on with a major order from the

Indian Navy for MiG-29K/KUB carri-

erborne fighters. In addition, the early

MiG-29M/M2 single- and twinseat-

ers are in construction under the

2007 contact with Syria, and upgrade

is underway of the first batch of the

Indian Air Force’s 62 MiG-29 fighters

under the MiG-29UPG programme

stipulated by the 2008 contract.

The situation is a bit more com-

plicated as far as the prospect of the

heavily upgraded MiG-35 fighter (the

two-seat variant is designated as

MiG-35D) is concerned. The Indian

Defence Ministry is known to have

published in late April the short

list of contenders in the tender for

acquisition and licence production

of 126 MMRCA medium multirole

fighters, with the short list com-

prising the Eurofighter Typhoon

and Dassault Rafale. Nevertheless,

acquisition of a considerable number

of MiG-35s is stipulated by Russia’s

governmental armament acquisition

programme for the period until 2020.

Belarus has mentioned the feasibil-

ity of buying such planes recently

too. “There are plans for buying

MiG-35 or Su-30 aircraft as well”,

said Sergey Gurulyov, chairman,

State Military Industrial Committee

of Belarus, during a press confer-

ence in Minsk on 4 May.

More MiG-29K/KUBs delivered while Vikramaditya kicks off trials

Myanmar receives new MiG-29 batch

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The first trilateral contract on three

Beriev A-50EI airborne early warning

and control (AEW&C) aircraft for

the Indian Defence Ministry was

fulfilled with success this spring. In

March, the third aircraft of the type,

serialled KW3553, flew to IAF’s air

base in Agra, having been fitted with

the radar system and subjected to

relevant trials in Israel.

As is known, the Beriev A-50EI

AEW&C system was developed

under the Russo-Indo-Israeli contract

signed in 2004 as a derivative of

the Ilyushin Il-76TD airlifter made

by TAPC (Uzbekistan), powered

by Beriev-installed Aviadvigatel/

Perm Engine Company PS-90A-76

engines and equipped with Israeli

radar system MSA Phalcon that was

installed by its manufacturer ELTA.

In addition, a datalink from Russian

corporation Vega is mounted on the

aircraft.

The first plane built under the

contract on the basis of the airframe

of Il-76TD c/n 94-02 first flew in

Taganrog on 29 November 2007

and entered service with IAF two

years ago, in May 2009, serialled

KW3551. The second unit, based

on the airframe of Il-76TD c/n 94-03

and serialled KW3552, conducted its

maiden flight from Beriev’s airfield on

11 January 2009 and was delivered in

March 2010. The final, third aircraft

derived from the airframe of Il-76TD

c/n 94-04 performed its first flight

in Taganrog on 9 June last year and

was ferried to Israel on 8 October.

With its delivery this spring, the

2004 contract has been fulfilled.

Nonetheless, the parties are

gearing up for making another

contract for three more aircraft. In

particular, Rosoboronexport Deputy

Director General Victor Komardin

mentioned this at the Bangalore air

show this February. He said the

delivery of the third A-50EI “will

be followed by another three”.

“We are waiting for the request”,

Mr. Komardin said in February.

To manufacture next three A-50EIs,

there is a plan to use TAPC’s backlog

of Il-76TD airlifters that will be

refined, completed and fitted with

PS-90A-76 engines by Beriev and

then equipped with the radar system

and tested in Israel as it was done

under the first contract. However,

a final configuration of the deal will

hinge on TAPC’s preparedness and

the Uzbek government’s decision to

take part in fulfilling a new export

contract.

As is known, to avoid dependence

on Uzbek suppliers, the Aviastar

plant in Ulyanovsk launched the

productionising of an upgraded Il-76

version (Project 476) in line with

the Russian governmental directive

dated 20 December 2006. The first

Russian-built flying protoype of the

Il-76-TD-90A (c/n 01-02) is to be

completed before the end of this

year. Aircraft like that are supposed

to be made not only in the military

airlifter and commercial freighter

versions, but also as a platform for

deriving a tanker plane, an AEW&C

aircraft and other applications.

For instance, at the late-April

International Air Transport Forum

in Ulyanovsk, a model of such a

promising AEW&C aircraft based

on the Project 476 airframe was

unveiled to the participants in the

forum and the public. The aircraft

featured an advanced wing design,

PS-90A-76 engines and other design

peculiarities of the future Aviastar-

built Il-76s. The aircraft has all of the

properties of the A-50 AEW&C plane

and its subsequent versions and

upgrades – the radar with the antenna

in the disc-shaped radome on top of

the fuselage, other extra antennae

and equipment cooling air intakes

in various sections of the airframe,

fuselage nose section devoid of the

navigator’s station characteristic of

the transport versions of the Il-76,

in-flight refuelling system, etc.

Obviously, the unveiled model has

the purely presentational purpose

to demonstrate the prospect of

Programme 476. However, it makes

sense to assume that it is such

a platform that this country will

use further down the road to make

advanced AEW&C aircraft both for

its own military and for export.

India got its third A-50EI

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In April, the first production

Ilyushin Il-76MF transport built by

Tashkent-based TAPC corp. last

year under the contract signed by

Rosoboronexport and Jordan in

August 2005 completed its tests

at Ilyushin’s testing facility in

Zhukovsky and was painted in the

customer’s colours prior to delivery.

Now, the aircraft has Jordanian

registration JY-JID and the logos of

the Royal Falcon and JIAC (Jordanian

International Air Cargo) carriers.

JIAC was set up in Jordan in 2005.

It hauls freight in the Middle East,

Afirca and Asia, using Il-76, An-32

and Boeing 737-200F transports. Set

up in 2007, its sister company Royal

Falcon is a specialist in charter and,

since 2009, scheduled passenger

operations with the use of Boeing

737-400, 767-200/300ER and A320

aircraft (four units in all).

The first Jordanian Il-76MF

c/n 96-02 (test registration 76954) first

flew in Tashkent on 30 September 2010

and went to Zhukovsky on 29 October

for outfitting and acceptance tests

prior to the delivery. In April this year,

TAPC assembled the second aircraft

(c/n 94-01, test registration 76953)

under the Jordanian order. It made

its maiden flight in Tashkent on 12

May and ferried to Zhukovsky for

acceptance tests on 31 May. Both

aircraft are expected to be delivered

this summer following the completion

of acceptance trials and customer’s

crews training.

The tests of Indian turbofan

engine Kaveri on Russian flying tes-

tbed Il-76LL (serial 76492), which

began at the Gromov Flight Research

Institute in Zhukovsky on 3 November

2010, were stepped up in April. Only

four sorties had been flown by early

March, at the first stage of the tests.

The pace of the trials was hindered by

problems experienced by the engine.

During a March press conference,

the Gromov Flight Research Institute

Director, Honoured Test Pilot and

Hero of Russia Pavel Vlasov, said the

tests were to resume after the cus-

tomer had provided new examples

of the Kaveri. Finally, in mid-April,

the Russian flying testbed began to

fly in earnest, logging several sorties

a week.

According to Indian newspaper

Frontier India, the Il-76LL carrying the

Kaveri turbofan had logged 11 flights

by May, with its total flying time having

accounted for about 20 h. The engine

had been tested in various operating

modes at an altitude of up to 12,000 m

and a speed of Mach 0.7. According

to Pavel Vlasov, 43 missions are to

be flown under the Russian-Indian

contract signed on 2 August 2007 with

Rosoboronexport’s assistance.

The GTRE Gas Turbine Research

Establishment, a laboratory of

India’s Defence research and devel-

opment Organisation (DRDO), has

been developing the Kaveri turbofan

since 1989. Initially, it was planned

for use on Indian Light Combat

Aircraft (LCA) Tejas, but the produc-

tion LCA is powered by US engine

F404-GE-IN20. In the mid-decade,

the Indian Air Force is to begin

to take delivery of upgraded Tejas

Mk.2 fighters yet again fitted with

US engines F414-GE-INS6. At the

same time, India hopes for an indig-

enous engine to emerge as part of

the powerplant of the Indian fifth-

generation fighter being developed

by the Aeronautical Development

Agency under the Advanced Medium

Combat Aircraft (AMCA) programme.

It is due to take to the air late in the

decade.

Two Il-76MF freighters ready for Jordan

Kaveri tests on Russian flying testbed carry on

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The Rostvertol joint stock

company has shipped two new Mil

Mi-35P attack helicopters to Peru this

spring (right photo). According to a

Rosoboronexport spokesperson, the

contract for two brand-new Mi-35Ps

and six Mi-171Sh multipurpose

medium troop carriers from Ulan-

Ude plant was signed in Lima on

22 July 2010. “This helicopter

contract was lightning-fast indeed”,

Rosoboronexport Director General

Anatoly Isaikin commented on the

deal at the time. “The contract was

signed only a month and a half

after the Peruvian side had made

its request”. The new helicopters

are to be used on counternarcotics

operations and in support of the

Peruvian military fighting the rebels

of the Sendero Luminoso extremist

organisation. The deliveries under

the contract are due for completion

before year-end.

Russian military aircraft appeared

in Peru as far back as the 1970s.

The Latin American country acquired

12 Mi-25 combat helicopters (the

export variant of the Mi-24D) from

the Soviet Union in 1982. Seven

machines more are said to have

been bought from Nicaragua in 1992.

According to Flight International, the

Peruvian Air Force had operated 16

aircraft of the type by late last year.

The newly acquired Mi-35Ps differ

from Peru’s Mi-25s in packing the

formidable fixed gun mount with

the 30-mm GSh-30K twin-barrel

automatic gun instead of the swivelling

12.7-mm four-barrel machinegun and

the sophisticated Shturm-V antitank

guided missile (ATGM) system

and the latest avionics as well. The

Mi-35P is in production by Rostvertol

concurrently with the modernised

Mi-35M. The first order for Mi-35Ms

was awarded by Venezuela five years

ago. 10 helicopter of the type were

delivered from 2006 to 2008. In

October 2008, a contract was signed

for 12 machines of the type for Brazil

(photo below). The first three of

them were delivered on December

2009 and three more followed last

summer. Thus, a third Latin American

nation gets sophisticated Rostvertol

helicopters.

Mi-35P deliveries to Indonesia

resumed last year after a seven-

year lull (left photo above). The

first two machines were shipped

in September 2003, and 2007

saw Russia and Indonesia make

an intergovernmental agreement

on a major loan to Indonesia

for acquisition of various types

of combat gear. A contract for

three Mi-35P attack helicopters

was signed as part of the

agreement. They were assembled

by Rostvertol last year and airlifted

to Jakarta by an An-124 Ruslan on

23 September 2010.

The Republic of Myanmar became

another buyer of Rostvertol’s

Mi-35Ps last year (right photo

above). A deal for such machines

was part of the December 2009

package of contracts for advanced

Russian aircraft designed for

Myanmar. Rostvertol shipped the

first four Mi-35Ps to the customer in

August last year, and the remaining

four had been prepared for shipping

by February this year.

The Mi-35M and Mi-35P shall

remain an important part of

Rostvertol’s production programme

for the near future. According to

Rostvertol Director General Boris

Slyusar, the orderbook for aircraft

of the family is full until 2015. The

media report that the talks with

potential customers from a dozen

countries have resulted in contracts

for 28 Mi-35Ms and 30 Mi-35Ps.

The major of them, probably, is the

contract for 24 Mi-35Ms awarded by

Azerbaijan last autumn. Rostvertol

is poised to kick off the assembly of

these machines in the near future.

Rostvertol steps up Mi-35 exports

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The MiG Corp. has been implement-

ing the MiG-29UPG programme under the

contract signed on 7 March 2008 for inte-

grated upgrade of the whole of the MIG-29

fleet of the Indian Air Force. In all, 62 air-

craft, including several MiG-29UB two-seat

combat trainers, are subject to upgrade. They

are to be given more up-to-date avionics,

with their weapons suite to be beefed up with

advanced weapons. In addition, airframe and

powerplant improvements will extend the

fighters’ service life by far, and the aircraft

will switch to on-condition maintenance.

The fuel load will increase owing to a confor-

mal spine fuel tank aft of the cockpit. At the

same time, the fighters will get the mid-air

refuelling capability.

Overall, the concept of upgrading the

IAF MiG-29s corresponds to that of the

MiG-29SMT that has been in service with

the Russian Air Force since 2009 and mas-

tered by Russian pilots. At the same time,

there will be a high degree of avionics and

weapons commonality with the MiG-29K/

KUB carrierborne fighters that entered ser-

vice with the Indian Navy on 19 February

2010. At the customer’s request, systems

from various foreign manufacturers are inte-

grated with the avionics suite of the upgraded

MiG-29UPG (the so-called international

avionics suite). Similar experience has been

gained from the fulfilling of the Russian-

Indian contracts for upgrade of the IAF’s

MiG-21bis to MiG-21UPG Bison standard

and for development and manufacture of the

Su-30MKI and MiG-29K/KUB fighters.

The experience has showed itself to good

advantage.

The upgraded MiG-29UPG’s fire control

system is wrapped around the advanced

UPGRADE OF INDIAN UPGRADE OF INDIAN MMiiG-29G-29ss KICKS OFF KICKS OFFTests of the first upgraded MiG-29UPGs

are under way in Zhukovsky, Moscow

Region, with the upgrades designed

and performed by the MiG Corp. at the

request by the Indian Defence Ministry.

The first IAF MiG-29UPG serialled

KBU3301 flew its maiden mission after

the upgrade at the airfield of the LII

Gromov Flight Research Institute in

Zhukovsky on 4 February 2010. The

aircraft remained airborne for about an

hour and its flight was as planned. The

MiG Corp.’s chief of flight operations,

senior test pilot Mikhail Belyayev, flew

the plane. Two more upgraded aircraft

including one twin-seater joined it

in May when all three aircraft were

demonstrated to Indian Air Force

delegation headed by IAF’s Chief of

the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Pradeep

Vasant Naik at LII airfield in Zhukovsky

on 23 May.

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Phazotron-NIIR Zhuk-M2E slotted-array

radar and OLS-UEM IRST with the laser,

thermal-imager and TV capabilities from

the NIIPP Precision Instrument Research

Institute (now Precise Instrument System

Scientific and Production Corporation,

NPK SPP). The same radar and IRST fit

the MiG-29K/KUB. The cockpit manage-

ment system is based on colour multifunc-

tion liquid-crystal displays. The interna-

tional segment of the avionics suite includes

inertial/satellite navigation, communica-

tion and electronic warfare systems being

produced and supplied by companies from

France, India and some other countries.

In addition to the conformal fuel cell

behind the cockpit and the mid-air refu-

elling boom on the portside, visual dif-

ferences between the MiG-29UPG and

the baseline MiG-29 include the under-

wing chaff/flare dispensers from Bharat

Dynamics and advanced antennae of the

defence aids suite under wing and in the

root of the right fin.

The basic weapons carried by the

MIG-29UPG are the same as those

carried by the MiG-29SMT and

MiG-29K/KUB. Unlike the weapons suite

of production MiG-29s, they also include the

RVV-AE medium-range active radar hom-

ing air-to-air missiles and such precision-

guided air-to-surface weapons, as the Kh-29T

general-purpose TV-homing missile, Kh-31A

active radar homing antiship missile, Kh-31P

passive radar homing antiradation missile,

KAB-500Kr TV-homing bombs, etc.

The MiG-29 has been in IAF’s inventory

since 1987. Overall, 80 aircraft of the type

had been delivered from the later 1980s to

the mid-‘90s, including about 70 MiG-29

singleseaters (version B, or MiG-29B) and

10 MiG-29UB twinseaters. The delivery of

the first batch of 44 fighters commenced in

1987, the second batch of 26 aircraft was

delivered in 1989 and the third one (10

units) in 1994. Three IAF air squadrons

operate the MiG-29 fighters – the 28th and

47th since December 1987 and the 223rd

since November 1989. According to Indian

warbirds.in website, at least 11 IAF MiG-

29s, including a MiG-29UB, had been

lost from 1994 to 2008 (at least four fatal

accidents and seven incidents are known).

According to Flight International, IAF had

operated 69 fighters of the type by early

2011.

Under the contract, the first six IAF

MIG-29s (four singleseaters and two twin-

seaters) shall be upgraded and tested in

Russia, where they arrived from India in

2008. The remaining 56 aircraft will be

upgraded in India at the production facilities

of the IAF 11th Repair Base, using knock-

down kits supplied from Russia. Mikhail

Pogosyan, MiG Corp. Director General/

Designer General and UAC President, said

at the Aero India 2011 air show that the

first MiG-29UPG would be returned to the

customer this year following the completion

of the tests.

Andrey FOMIN

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The first MiG-29UB UPG upgraded twin-seater fulfilled its maiden flight

at Sokol plant airfield, Nizhny Novgorod, on 19 May 2011

The second MiG-29UPG single-seater first flew

in Zhukovsky on 20 May 2011

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Antonov An-148-100B of the

Rossiya airline performed its first

international service on 16 March:

RA-61705 regional jet brought

passengers from St. Petersburg to

Berlin. Prior to that, Russian An-148s

had flown domestic services only.

Rossiya began scheduled operations

of its An-148s in December 2009,

and now it has as many as six

aircraft of the type, leased from the

Ilyushin Finance Co. Talks on turning

the nine An-148 options into firm

orders are under way. If all goes to

plan, all Rossiya’s An-148 fleet could

be beefed up with three more aircraft

of the type by year-end.

Meanwhile, later March saw

Voronezh-based VASO plant

completing the assembly of and

rolling out, for ground tests, the

first An-148-100E (c/n 41-40) built

for the Polyot airline in Voronezh.

Sberbank-Leasing is the lessor

under this contract for 10 planes.

Late in April, the aircraft was given

Polyot’s paintjob and RA-61709

registration. The delivery of the

first An-148-100E to the Polyot

airline is slated for June, and the

carrier might take delivery of one

or two more aircraft of the type

before year-end.

An-148 regional jets scheduled

operation in Russia is being carried

out for a year and a half. The first

An-148-100B airliner built in the

summer of 2009 by the VASO plant

in Voronezh and leased by the

Ilyushin Finance Co. to the launch

customer, the Rossiya airline,

commenced its scheduled services

in late December 2009. The aircraft

with RA-61701 registration hauled its

first passengers from Pulkovo airport

in St. Petersburg to Domodedovo

airport in Moscow on 21 December

2009.

The second An-148-100B

(RA-61702) arrived at Rossiya’s

base airport in late December 2009

and launched its operations in

January 2010. Four more aircraft of

the type (RA-61703, 61704, 61705,

61706) were delivered to Rossiya

airline under Ilyushin Finance Co.

lease contract in 2010.

Russian An-148s launching operations to Europe

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The Interstate Aviation Committee

(IAC) of the CIS has completed the

certification of the modified Antonov

An-158 regional airliner by having

issued Supplement to Type Certificate

ST264-An-148 that had been issued

for the An-148-100 on 26 February

2007. IAC Chairwoman Tatyana

Anodina handed the document to

Antonov President and Designer

General Dmitry Kiva in a ceremony

in Kiev on 28 February. At the same

time, Ukrainian deputy Transport and

Communication Minister Anatoly

Kolesnik gave Antonov’s boss a similar

certificate issued by the Ukrainian

State Aviation Administration.

The An-158 is a 1.74-m-stretched

version of the An-148-100 in production

by the aircraft plants in Voronezh and

Kiev. In the single-class configuration, it

carries 99 passengers out to 2,500 km,

while the two-class configuration

version seats 86 passengers on

services out to 3,100 km (compare that

to the An-148-100B that flies economy-

class 75 passengers to a distance of

3,500 km).

The An-158 prototype (UR-NTN)

derived from An-148-100 c/n 01-02

first flew in Kiev on 28 April 2010.

The An-158 logged 79 test sorties

with their total duration of 147 flying

hours under the certification test

programme that included high-alpha,

Category III landing and takeoff/landing

performance tests, external and

internal noise measurements, stability

and controllability tests, emergency

passenger disembarkation, etc. In

addition to the flight test programme,

a sizeable part of the certification

efforts was made as part of ground

tests, which included the use of the

Engineering Flight Test Bench.

Antonov production plant in Kiev

will handle the manufacturing of the

An-158, with a considerable part of the

components to be supplied by Russia’s

VASO Voronezh Aircraft Production

Association.

Russian leasing company Ilyushin

Finance Co. (IFC) became the An-158’s

launch customer in July last year,

having awarded Antonov 10 firm

orders with 10 options. IFC has

declined to name the end user of the

An-158s the company has ordered yet.

Last autumn, Antonov’s head, Dmitry

Kiva, said that Russia had ordered 20

An-158s, and there were 87 options,

including 12 for Russia, five for

Ukraine, six for Cuba and 64 for Iran.

Actually, Iran could become a major

customer for the Ukrainian An-148 and

An-158 regional jets. A memorandum

to that effect was signed with the

Iranians as far back as 31 October

2008. It provides for delivery of up to

80 aircraft, with 60 may be licence-

produced by Iranian company HESA

in Isfahan. The afore-said number may

include 16 standard An-148-100s and

64 An-158 stretches.

However, only Ilyushin Finance Co.

has made firm orders for the An-158

so far, the company that has made

the decisive contribution to the launch

of the An-148’s production in Russia

and that is the launch customer for

the plane of VASO’s assembly. Despite

its plans to diversify its business

(IFC plans to start leasing foreign-

made aircraft), the company remains

committed to pursuing its programme

of acquisition of the An-148 and

An-158 to lease them to Russian

carriers and for export.

An-158 gearing up for new orders

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Irkut Corp. is going to display a

full-scale mock-up of a 20-m-long

section of the fuselage of its

prospective MC-21 new-generation

short/medium-haul airliner at

Le Bourget for the first time. An

impressive mock-up includes pilots

cockpit and passenger cabin. By now

Irkut has already got 190 orders for

MC-21 airliner.

Malaysian investment company

Crecom Burj Resources became the

launch customer of the MC-21 at

Farnborough airshow last summer and

placed 50 firm orders (25 MC-21-200s

and 25 MC-21-300s designed for

168 and 212 seats in the single-

class tourist layout respectively). The

contract is valued at $3 billion in

list prices, with the delivery slated

for 2016–2020. Russia’s Ilyushin

Finance Co. leasing company ordered

28 airliners with 22 options. Another

Russian aircraft lessor, VEB-Leasing,

made an agreement for 15 planes

with 15 options. Two letters of

intent were signed by air carriers as

well: Russian tourist charter carrier

Nordwind ordered five MC-21s plus

two options, and a customer, who

requested anonymity, ordered the

same number of airliners. Overall,

these deals clinched at Farnborough

2010 generated a good orderbook

for the MC-21 developer,

totalling 140 aircraft. Later on,

in September, an agreement on

delivery of 50 airliners to the Russian

Technologies state corporation that

manages assets of a number of

major Russian air carriers was

signed. The planes are to be

delivered between 2016 and 2022.

So, by 2011, the MC-21 orderbook

has grown up to 190 units.

According to the developer, the

MC-21 will one-up its closest foreign

rival, the Airbus A320, in better

efficiency, since its direct operating

costs are expected to be 12–15%

less, fuel efficiency 25% higher and

maintenance costs 30% lower.

This is to be achieved through using

cutting-edge equipment and systems

from major foreign manufacturers

and a number of ingenious design

and layout solutions. For instance,

a large part of the airliner’s design,

35–37%, is composites, of which, in

particular, the wing and empennage

will be made in full.

The most important component

of the MC-21’s competitive edge

concept is the comfort unprecedented

for aircraft in the class. The MC-21’s

cabin is 3.65 m wide, which is 12 cm

more than that of the A320 and 19 cm

of the cabin of the Boeing 737. This

allows either using wider and more

comfortable seats or increasing the

width of the aisle, which will expedite

boarding and disembarkation and

enable passengers to pass clearly

of service trolleys easily. Like the

Dreamliner, the MC-21 will have

larger passenger windows.

Irkut President Oleg Demchenko

estimates that the MC-21

programme can win the company up

to 10% of the global 150–200-seat

narrow-body airliner market. Leading

Western companies, which joined

the MC-21 programme, agree with

him, believing the MC-21 output may

exceed 1,000 aircraft.

UAC President Alexey Fyodorov

said, “The MC-21 is UAC’s priority as

far as civil aviation programmes are

concerned. The plants in Ulyanovsk

and Voronezh are coming on

board; they will join UAC’s division

being established on the basis of

Irkut. The government is doing its

best to facilitate the programme.

Pursuing the MC-21 programme,

we are developing a new-generation

passenger plane and, hence,

high-tech branches of Russia’s

economy”.

There is little time left before the

airliner’s maiden flight. Irkut plans

that the first MC-21 will take to the

skies in late 2014. If all goes to plan,

its certification tests will have been

complete by 2016 and then deliveries

of early production-standard airliners

to the launch customer will kick off.

MC-21 has got 190 orders and waiting for more

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w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u42 take-off june 2011

“The delivery of the first production

plane is a landmark in the implementation

of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 programme”,

said UAC President and Sukhoi Director

General Mikhail Pogosyan during the cer-

emony in Yerevan. “Today’s event marks a

new phase of the programme – the begin-

ning of the commercial operation and full-

rate production. I am certain that the new

Russian airliner will prove itself as part of

the aircraft fleet of the Armavia airline and

that our colleagues in Superjet International

will provide comprehensive support to

Armenia’s flag carrier at the SSJ100’s ser-

vice entry stage and provide quality timely

aftersales support”.

The Sukhoi Civil Aircraft company (SCAC)

and Armavia airline signed the contract

for Russian-built airliners SSJ100/95B on

14 September 2007. The first production air-

liner (c/n 95007) designed for the Armenian

customer performed its maiden flight in

Komsomolsk-on-Amur on 4 November 2010,

and its technical acceptance demonstration

took place here on 12 April this year follow-

ing the completion of the tests and presales

preparation.

Just a day after the delivery ceremony at

Zvartnots, the SSJ100 went on its first passen-

ger flight, having brought 90 passengers from

Yerevan to Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow

early in the morning on 21 April. The aircraft

had logged 24 flights from Yerevan to Moscow,

Athens, Donetsk, Aleppo (Syria), Tehran,

Tel Aviv and Simferopol in only first 10 days in

service, and scheduled Superjet services from

Yerevan to Venice kicked off on 1 May. At the

initial stage of operation, Armavia pilots sup-

ported by Superjet International instructor-pilots

Leonid Chikunov and Sergey Korostiyev.

“The plane is excellent in terms of opera-

tion. Flights are conducted without signifi-

cant delays. All flights take place in automatic

mode at an altitude of 10,700–11,900 m and a

speed of Mach 0.78–0.8”, the Superjet’s pilot

Aram Yegoyan said upon arrival to Venice.

“The SSJ100 has excellent flight-deck ergo-

nomics and handling qualities. It is easy and

comfortable to fly an aircraft”.

FIRST SUKHOI SUPERJET LAUNCHES OPERATIONSThe first Sukhoi Superjet 100 airliner was

delivered in a ceremony at Yerevan’s

Zvartnots airport to Armenian air carrier

Armavia on 19 April 2011. The lead

production airliner (c/n 95007) was

named after the Earth’s first cosmonaut

Yuri Gagarin and given registration

number EK95015. The aircraft has a

single-class configuration for 98 seats.

A day after having been ferried to the

operator’s airport, the new airliner

commenced regular services. Russia’s

Aeroflot is to start flying its Superjets

this summer, too.

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The first two production Superjets for Armavia and

Aeroflot being preparing for delivery, April 2011

Grigory ARONOV

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“The SSJ100 fights nicely Armavia’s stra-

tegic plans of developing its network of routes

between the Middle East and Europe, using

Zvartnots airport as a hub”, stressed Armavia

President Mikhail Bagdasarov.

Established in 1996, Armavia is the leader of

the Armenian air transport market, conducting

over a hundred scheduled operations a week on

40 routes to 20 countries. In 2010, it carried about

800,000 passengers. Prior to receiving its first

Superjet, its aircraft fleet comprised three Airbus

A320s, three A319s, a Bombardier CRJ-200 and

a few Il-86s and Yak-42s (some of the latter two

have been decommissioned of late).

During the first month of regular services

with Armavia Sukhoi Superjet 100 has made

a total of 66 flights for the overall distance of

85,800 km carrying 2,885 passengers.

The second SSJ100 earmarked for Armavia

(c/n 95009) is nearing its completion by SCAC

in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. According to the

carrier’s head, Mikhail Bagdasarov, “the second

SSJ100 shall join Armavia’s fleet in June”. In

May, SCAC also was preparing the lead Superjet

for delivery to Aeroflot. The aircraft c/n 95008

flew for the first time on 31 January this year and

had been given the colours of the customer and

registration number RA-89001 late last year. Its

delivery flight from Komsomolsk-on-Amur to

Moscow's Sheremetyevo took place on 9 June.

In accordance with SCAC’s plans, at least

10 out of the 30 Superjets ordered are to be

delivered to Aeroflot this year with two air-

craft are slated for Armavia. The Aeroflot-

intended SSJ100s are to be performed by

the VEB-Leasing company, VTB-Leasing

supports the fulfilling of the contract

awarded by Armavia, and the yet-to-be-

clinched deal with Yakutiya was supposed

to be fulfilled under a contract between

SCAC and the Financial Leasing Company

dated 17 August 2005. In addition, a firm

order of 24 SSJ100s is to be placed by

the UTair carrier, UTair Director General

Andrey Martirosov has said recently, with

Perm-based Aviaseasing, which awarded the

contract for those aircraft to SCAC in June

2009, to act as a lessor.

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The first SSJ100-95B for Aeroflot and next production

Superjets in the SCAC's assembly hall, December 2010

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Early in 2007, the Russian Ministry of

Transport issued tenders for an advanced

twin-engine trainer for civil aviation flying

schools. Until recently, cadets of Russia’s

major civil aviation flying school in Ulyanovsk

(UVAUGA) had to take their graduation

exams on the Antonov An-26 and Yakovlev

Yak-40, which has cost the flying school an

arm and a leg. The growing obsolescence of

aircraft and the latter’s expiring service lives

have resulted in UVAUGA retaining only two

or three serviceable aircraft like that. Cadets

of a flying school in Buguruslan (BLUGA)

have to take their final exams on a rarity An-2

piston-engined biplane. An attempt at making

the Myasischev M-101T Gzhel single-engine

turboprop manufactured by the Sokol plant

in Nizhny Novgorod has failed for a num-

ber of reasons (seven aircraft of the type

were delivered to UVAUGA and BLUGA

in 2006–2007). Against this backdrop, nine

Diamond DA-42 light twin-diesel-engine

glass-cockpit planes were bought in Austria

in 2009 to provide basic training to cadets.

However, the Diamonds still will be unable

to meet fully all of the requirements in a

multiengine graduation exam plane for future

commercial pilots. Therefore, development

of a domestic turbine-powered twin-engine

trainer remains on the agenda.

According to the Kommersant daily,

the contenders for such an aircraft in the

Ministry of Transport tender were Yakovlev,

Myasischev and Technoavia, with the latter’s

proposal having been preferred. According to

the official websites of the State Procurement

Agency and Federal Treasury, on 25 June 2007

UVAUGA and Technoavia signed a 740-mil-

lion-ruble ($25 million) governmental R&D

contract for “development and manufacture

of a multiengine plane for final exams with

a subsequent delivery of at least 30 aircraft

to educational institutions of Russian civil

aviation for training of commercial airlines

pilots”, with the deadline in December 2009.

The plane dubbed Rysachok was given by

Kondratyev the cantilever all-metal low-wing

monoplane with a high aspect ratio wing,

sophisticated high-lift devices, classic empen-

nage, retractable tricycle landing gear with

the nosegear, and two wing-mounted M-601F

turboprops from Czech company Walter.

The crew (the cadet and the instructor pilot

or the pilot and co-pilot if the plane is used

in the multirole manner) are seated in the

cockpit with individual doors on both sides of

the fuselage. Access to the cockpit is also pos-

sible via the cargo/passenger cabin fitted with

a wide portside sliding door in the fuselage

tail section.

Thus, provision has been made for multi-

role operation of the Rysachok. In addition

to its trainer role for flying schools, it can

carry 10 passengers out to 2,000 km at a speed

of 400 km/h and at an altitude of 6,000 m

or various cargo up to 1,570 kg, six patients

on stretchers accompanied by a medic or

15 parachutists jumping out of the sliding

door. It also can fly land and maritime border

patrols, monitor roads, oil and gas pipelines,

high-power lines, conduct search and rescue

operations, including airlanding and airdrop-

ping of Emergencies Ministry rescue teams to

On 3 June, the Gromov LII Flight Research Institute in Zhukovsky witnessed the

arrival of a new light twin-engined turboprop airplane named Rysachok (Russian

for ‘little trotter’). The aircraft that made its maiden flight on 3 December 2010 in

Samara is under development on order from the Russian Ministry of Transport for

civil aviation flying schools, but it may be used for commuter passenger services,

flying club parachutist airdrop, medevac, patrol and other operations as well.

The aircraft manufactured by Samara-based TsSKB-Progress State Scientific

Production Space Rocket Centre was developed by the team led by Chief Designer

Vyacheslav Kondratyev, the unchallenged leader of the Technoavia company

known for its light multirole planes.

RYSACHOK RYSACHOK FOR FLYING SCHOOLS AND COMMUTER AIRLINESFOR FLYING SCHOOLS AND COMMUTER AIRLINES

c o m m e r c i a l a v i a t i o n | p r o j e c t

45 w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u take-off june 2011

TsS

KB

-Pro

gre

ss

TsS

KB

-Pro

gre

ss

austere airstrips pinpointed from the air, and

perform aerial photography, environmental

monitoring and other missions.

The cockpit has combined instrumenta-

tion, including three colour multifunction

displays and a number of electromechanical

instruments and indicators.

The Rysachok’s maximum takeoff weight

equals 5,700 kg, with its good power-to-weight

ratio (the two M-601F turboprops produce

750 hp each) ensuring excellent take-off and

amending performance. Even taking off with

the maximum takeoff weight, the aircraft needs

a runway of within 1,000 m, and when its

maximum take-off weight stands at 5,000 kg,

a 500-m-long unpaved airstrip is enough for

take-off. The aircraft can operate from airfields

sitting up to 2,000 m above sea level.

Unlike the previous aircraft designed by

Vyacheslav Kondratyev, manufacture of pro-

totype and production Rysachok planes will

be handled by the TsSKB-Progress in Samara.

Over the past five decades, the company has

been a specialist in development and pro-

duction rocket-and-space hardware. It has

been making all versions of the Soyuz launch

vehicle and developing advanced rockets and

spacecraft. However, the plant in Samara

(Kuibyshev at the time) had been a major

player of the nation’s aircraft industry before

1960, when it switched to developing and

making space-related products. The plant

had built over 42,000 planes from 1909 to

1960. Thus, TsSKB-Progress, a rocket-and-

space developer and manufacturer, is using

the Rysachok to regain its aircraft-making

competences.

Construction of five pre-production

Rysachok planes began during 2008–2010

under the contract signed. The static tests

plane (c/n 00-02) was built first. It was fol-

lowed last autumn by the first flying example

(c/n 00-01). After a number of ground tests of

the powerplant and systems and test taxiing

and runs, the aircraft had been prepared for

its maiden flight by winter. On 3 December

2010, pilot Vladimir Makogonov and co-pilot

Mikhail Molchanyuk took the Rysachok to

the air. Having climbed to 400 m and com-

pleted two patterns over the Bezymyanka

airfield situated on the eastern outskirts of

Samara, the new aircraft landed safely 15

minutes later. The first Rysachok was painted

at the nearby Aviakor plant in January.

In March, US engine manufacturer GE

Aviation reported that Technoavia had ordered

from it H80 turboprops for 30 Rysachok

planes with 30 more as options. The H80

is an upgraded version of the Czech-made

M601, with power increased up to 800 hp and

reduced fuel consumption. The GE Aviation

and Technoavia agreement also provides for

cooperation in certificating the US engine in

Russia and providing its after-sales support.

In late January 2011, TsSKB-Progress

Director General Alexander Kirilin said

that the company was to make two more

Rysachok planes this year. “There are 30

options designed for flying schools in the

first place. In the long run, we will launch

line assembly. The productionising we have

completed will enable us to make six planes

a year. If the project becomes successful, the

company’s facilities allow production six

planes a month to provide such planes for

all airports that sit idle now”, Mr. Kirilin

said.

The launch order by the Ministry of

Transport, which cannot objectively be very

big, may well be followed by new orders by

regional airlines, flying clubs and uniformed

services, and the Rysachok, its developers

believe, is facing good prospects in this respect.

For instance, the air arm of the Emergencies

Ministry has been keen on the Rysachok. “A

plane in the An-2 class is needed by the coun-

try”, opined Ravil Akhmetov, first deputy

Director General, TsSKB-Progress. “Just like

the famous agricultural plane, it will be in

high demand. The Rysachok is an up-to-date

twin-engined aircraft. It is relevant for pilot

training, inter- and intraregional operations,

agriculture and airlifting of ill persons”.

Andrey FOMIN

Rysachok first flying prototype in its maiden flight, 3 December 2010

TsS

KB

-Pro

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ss

Rysachok’s cockpit

w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u46 take-off june 2011

Mi-26 in India

IAF bought its first two Mi-26 heavylifters

in May 1986. The machines serialled Z2897

and Z2898 were fielded with the 126th heli-

copter unit activated at the same time. Two

more aircraft (serials Z3075 and Z3076) were

fielded with the air unit in February 1989.

The four Mi-26s have been used proactively

in India for over two decades to carry heavy

cargo and conduct unique transport opera-

tions. For instance, an externally slung pon-

toon bridge was airlifted in February 1989 in

a unique operation. Indian Mi-26s carried

MiG-21 fighters from the crash sites to their

air bases at least twice, in 1999 and 2002. In

July 2002, a Mi-26 airlifted a Beechcraft pas-

senger plane from the site of its incident at

the Kangra airport, with the operation being

unique also due to the duration of the flight

with cargo on the external sling – 3 h 25 min.

Mi-26s hauled Mi-17 helicopters from hand

landing sites at least twice, in February 2006

and September 2007. Last year, the Indian

Mi-26s were widely used to airlift heavy

equipment required for construction of a

railway in the Srinagar valley.

The way it was

The Mi-26 serialled Z3076 (c/n 14-10)

was made by Rostvertol plant in November

1988 specifically for IAF. It underwent

another overhaul in March 2008 at the

manufacturer plant, after which its assigned

life was extended up to 27 years and eight

months (until June 2016), its time between

overhauls was set at 900 h and service

life until next overhaul was set at eight

years, while the manufacturer’s guarantee

for three years of 500 flying hours (deadline

in March 2011) was provided. At the time of

the incident, the helicopter had logged 484

flying hours and 705 landings after the lat-

est overhaul and 1,815 h and 2,994 landings

since the beginning of its operation, with

the remaining time before overhaul stand-

ing at 415 h or 5.5 years. The operation and

routine maintenance had been in line with

the current documentation.

On 6 December 2010, the Mi-26 (Z3076)

departed its air base in Chandigarh to

Jammu and Kashmir to take part in airlift-

ing heavy cargo as part of the construction

of the railway there. At its destination,

a 13.5-tonne tractor and long 1.7-tonne

metalwork were loaded on board. Prior

to the flight, the ground crew had spot-

ted hydraulic system oil dripping from the

KAU-140 combined control unit responsi-

ble for lateral control of the helicopter. The

operator decided to replace the unit with

a similar one from its own backup pool of

components, which was done right at the

Satwari airport on 12 December, the man-

ufacturer’s guarantee team in Chandigarh

was not informed and a certificate of dam-

age was not issued.

Following the replacement of the

KAU-140, the replacement unit was tested

from the NS-46 onboard hydraulic power

unit and then, once the engines were start-

ed, in line with the operating flow chart.

The control system operated normally. After

Ta

ke-o

ff a

rchiv

e

CAUSE OF INCIDENT: COUNTERFEIT PARTSIn the wake of a Mi-26 crash in IndiaIn the wake of a Mi-26 crash in IndiaThere was an incident at Satwari airport in Indian state Jammu and Kashmir on 14 December 2010, involving a Mi-26 in

service with the Indian Air force (IAF). The helicopter crashed onto the ground from an altitude of about 5 m due to a

malfunction in the lateral control system. None of the nine persons on board died, but the machine proved to be beyond

repair. In spite of the Mi-26 being covered by a guarantee of the manufacturer plant, which had overhauled it, no claim was

raised with the Russian side. It turned out that on the eve of the fatal flight the operator had replaced a helicopter control

system part without having it cleared by the guarantee team, with the origin of the substitute being unknown. Today, the

factual background is known. The facts indicate that the December crash cannot besmirch the Russian-made Mi-26 in the

run-up to summing up outcome of the IAF tender for 15 heavylift helicopters no matter how much someone wants it to.

As is known, the advanced Russian Mi-26T2 and US CH-47 Chinook are rivals in the IAF tender.

f l i g h t s a f e t y | t e n d e n c y

f l i g h t s a f e t y | t e n d e n c y

47 w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u take-off june 2011

that, the helicopter with its cargo took off

and performed a test hovering. All was well.

The problems began piling up when the

crew started climbing and accelerating at

the same time. The machine started rolling

to the portside while starting veering off the

runway’s centerline. Attempts to offset the

roll were futile. According to the pilot, the

controls became hard to move about and

would not go to the right. In the end, the

helicopter hit the ground first with the main

rotor blades and then with the cockpit at a

high angle of roll and a negative angle of

pitch about 50 m away from the runway. The

fuselage nose section with the cockpit was

torn off, the machine rolled on its portside,

the main and tail rotors disintegrated com-

pletely, and fractures of the tail boom and

tail rotor pylon emerged. The crew of five,

two flight operators and two official person-

nel were injured.

Conclusions

To probe into the crash, IAF set up an

investigating committee who considered

several versions, e.g. piloting error, heli-

copter overloading and technical failure.

The probe revealed that the cargo had

been fastened well and its shift could not

facilitate the incident. The helicopter’s

load (14.5 t of cargo and 5 t of fuel), take-

off weight (48.4 t) and centre-of-gravity

location were within the limits. The flight

recorders and analysis of the helicopter’s

structure and systems on site showed that

the aircrew had not been the cause of the

crash, but also indicated that the newly

replaced KAU-140 combined lateral con-

trol unit, which had operated well enough,

had started responding in a strange way

to the inputs from the controls after the

helicopter started accelerating. This was in

the form of ‘biting’ the rod of the actuator

of the unit, with the rod then moving at

will and finally getting stuck in the fully

extended position. This resulted in the loss

of lateral control and the helicopter hitting

the ground. The rest of onboard systems

had operated well until the impact.

A request to the manufacturer of the

KAU-140 (Gidroagregat JSC in Pavlovo,

Nizhny Novgorod Region, Russia) revealed

that the serial number on the case of the unit

and its technical certificate had been doc-

tored. The entry in the faulty KAU-140’s

technical certificate on its delivery to the

operator in 2009 indicates that the KAU-

140 had been bought by IAF from a former

Soviet republic. This relieves Russia of any

responsibility for the incident.

Thus, the problem of counterfeit parts

showed up again. Trying to save on original

spares and components, the operator lost

much more – a whole helicopter that could

have been operated for at least five years

more. Luckily, the incident suffered by

the Mi-26 in Jammu and Kashmir did not

involve any loss of life.

Unfortunately, the incident is not the first

one caused by the use of counterfeit units

and components. The fatal accident of the

Kamov Ka-32T (RA-31575) of the Avialift

Vladivostok carrier during logging opera-

tions on Kalimantan in Malaysia made

quite a stir on 17 April 2004. The investiga-

tion found out that the cause had been the

failure of the TV3-117VK engine due to

the fatigue failure of the compressor tur-

bine disks installed during an overhaul by

UZGA and being counterfeit. Another well-

known crash is that of UTair’s Mi-8MTV-1

(RA-27411) in Liberia on 2 November 2007

due to the disintegration of the tail rotor

fitted with counterfeit blades, as the probe

discovered. These are only a couple of

examples widely known and pertaining to

helicopters operated by Russian carriers,

but there are more such incidents involving

Russian-made helicopters in service with

foreign operators. Usually, their true causes

are kept under wraps, because nobody wants

to won up to losing a helicopter to a failure

of second-hand units or components bought

on the cheap or to unauthorised repairs or

service life extension not authorised by the

manufacturer.

Hopefully, the lessons learnt from the

crash of the IAF Mi-26 will persuade opera-

tors both in Russia and abroad be more

careful with selecting suppliers. The use

of original parts and components, coupled

with strict compliance with technical main-

tenance and flight operation standards,

ensures flight safety, while Russian heli-

copters have reliability and ruggedness in

spades.

In the wake of a Mi-26 crash in India

chin

anew

s.c

om

f l i g h t s a f e t y | t e n d e n c y

w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u48 take-off june 2011

MAKS News Daily newspaper is an on-site publication with a 10,000 copies circulation covering all important events of the airshow, exhibitors’ news, latest aerospace headlines, news conferences reports

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