New weapons for new fighters [p.28]

SUPERJET 100 SUPERJET 100 in the air! in the air! [p.6]

Special edition for Farnborough International Airshow 2008july 2008

An-148 Russian prospects

[p.14]

Sukhoi Sukhoi bolsters

its leadership [p.24]

MiG-29MiG-29 upgrade

for European NATO countries

[p.42]

Russian fighters Russian fighters over Mediterranean

[p.46]

HeliRussia 2008 HeliRussia 2008 [p.34]

HIGH TECHNOLOGIES SAFEGUARDING PEACEFUL SKIES

Russia’s largest defence holding companymore than 40 industrial and research organizationspowerful research and productive potentialfull range of air defence systems and assetsintegrated technological process from development to serial production of weapons and military equipment full liability and timely fulfi llment of contractual obligations

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ALMAZ-ANTEY CONCERN41, Vereiskaya str. Moscow 121471, RussiaТеl.: (495) 780-54-10; Fax: (495) 780-54-11E-mail: vts@almaz-antey.ru

Dear reader,

You are holding another special issue of Take-off magazine, an

addendum to Russian national aerospace monthly Vzlyot. This issue

has been timed to Farnborough air show that has always been highly

regarded by most aerospace companies from all over the world as a

major aerospace event of the every even year. In 2008 Farnborough

International Airshow celebrates several jubilees at once. First of all,

this is 60 years of the aviation exhibitions at Farnborough aerodrome

as such. Then, it is 40 years of the international status of the show. It is

worth mentioning one more noticeable date. It was Farnborough where

Russia 20 years ago unveiled its combat aircraft at the international

airshows for the very first time in its history. Two MiG-29 fighters took

place at Farnborough 1988 then starting a march of triumphal displays

of the newest Russian combat aircraft at the different air shows all over

the world that leaded to bolstering Russian aircraft exports and clinching

new lucrative deals.

In the following years our country used Farnborough as an effective

showcase for international debuts of its new aircraft. For example,

in 1992, it was Farnborough that hosted the debut of the Russian

Generation 4+ fighters, the MiG-29M and Su-35 as well as the unique

supersonic VTOL fighter prototype, the Yak-141. In 1996, it was

Farnborough where Su-37 super-manoeuvrable fighter with thrust vector

control won the hearts of the public with its unrivalled flight performance,

thus heavily influencing the evolution of warplane in the class.

This year Russian aerospace industry comes to Farnborough having a

lot of new achievements that could interest potential customers. Famous

MiG-29 fighters debuted at Farnborough 20 years ago this time are

shown here by Slovakian Air Force – but in a new appearance, after

an upgrade to meet NATO and ICAO standards provided by Russia’s

MiG Corp. in cooperation with its American and European partners.

Some more important events occurred in Russian aerospace industry

just prior to the Farnborough airshow: Sukhoi SuperJet prospective

regional airliner entered flight tests, Antonov An-148 regional jet is

productionising at VASO plant, Tactical Missiles Corp. started promotion

of its new generation and upgraded weapons, Russian helicopter

developers unveiled new details of their prospective programmes, etc.

Most of these events became the topics for this issue.

I wish Farnborough 2008’s participants and visitors interesting

meetings, useful contacts and lucrative contracts as well as enjoying

unforgettable flight demonstration of planes and helicopters from all over

the world. I hope our magazine will become a good guide for Russian

and CIS exposition at the show.

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, 2008

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

July 2008

Editor-in-Chief Andrey Fomin

Deputy Editor-in-Chief Vladimir Shcherbakov

EditorYevgeny Yerokhin

Columnist Alexander Velovich Special correspondents Alexey Mikheyev, Vladimir Karnozov, Victor Drushlyakov, Andrey Zinchuk, Valery Ageyev,Alina Chernoivanova, Natalya Pechorina, Marina Lystseva, Dmirty Pichugin, Sergey Krivchikov,Sergey Popsuyevich, Piotr Butowski, Alexander Mladenov, Miroslav Gyurosi

Design and pre-press Grigory Butrin

Web support Georgy Fedoseyev

Translation Yevgeny Ozhogin

Cover picture Marina Lystseva

Publisher

Director General Andrey Fomin

Deputy Director GeneralNadezhda Kashirina

Marketing DirectorGeorge Smirnov

Director for international projects Alexander Velovich

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.

c o n t e n t s

CIVIL AVIATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Il-96-400T certificated

SuperJet takes wing19 May witnessed a long-awaited event: a prototype of the future Sukhoi

SuperJet 100 regional airliner took off from the airfield of the Komsomolsk-on-Amur

Aircraft Production Association (KnAAPO) for its maiden flight that it completed with

success. Counter to sceptics’ expectations, the designers proved that the SuperJet

programme, being run by a large team of Russian, US and West European companies,

has been making steady progress and will – despite unavoidable slips behind

schedule – meet its target – Russia building a sophisticated airliner competitive on

the global market. However, the developers have to do a lot before their target has

been met. They are to conduct 600 test flights under the certification programme,

its approval by foreign aviation authorities, productionising the aircraft, setting up an

aftersale support system and snagging new orders. Nonetheless, it is a safe bet to

say even now that the aircraft has established itself, with its smooth maiden flight

being another striking demonstration of that. Andrey Fomin reviews the recent

events in Sukhoi SuperJet 100 programme

Russian prospects of An-148First Russian-made An-148 unveiled in VoronezhSeveral agreements relevant to production and sales of Russian-Ukrainian regional

airliner Antonov An-148 built by the Voronezh Aircraft Production Association (VASO)

were signed on 27 June during the 1st Voronezh Investment Forum. The worth of the

deals clinched exceeded 40 billion rubles (about $1.7 billion). In addition, representatives

of the carriers – future An-148 operators – and reporters invited to Voronezh were shown

the first production An-148-100 being built in VASO’s assembly hall and earmarked to

start its trials before year-end. The manufacturing plan for the coming five years provides

for VASO making as many as 96 aircraft of the type. Andrey Fomin attended the event

in Voronezh

INDUSTRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Second Il-76TD-90 built for Azerbaijan

UAC – Civil Aircraft management company established

Phazotron launches third stage of AESA radar trials

New Ka-52 has flown

MiG-AT powered by RD-1700 starts trials

MC-21 gears up for second ‘gate’

Sukhoi bolsters its leadershipSukhoi is recognised as the major Russian aircraft

manufacturer based on its 2007 performanceIn mid-June, Russian independent analytical organisation Centre for Analysis

of Strategy and Technology (CAST), a specialist in assessing the state and

providing estimates of arms exports, published its annual rating of Russia’s

major companies based on the arms output in 2007. The Sukhoi holding

company was rated by CAST as the first among Russian aircraft manufacturers

with its income having more than doubled last year. Sukhoi’s revenue in 2007

was 47.7 billion rubles (over $1.9 billion) – a 2.6-fold increase over 2006 and

almost half of the gross aircraft sales of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC),

which unites all major Russian military and commercial aircraft makers, and more

than 20 per cent of the gross revenue from the whole Russian aircraft industry.

Sukhoi’s net income surged by almost 12 times, totalling 4 billion rubles (over

$160 million), which makes up almost a quarter of the profits of all of UAC’s

subsidiaries. Sukhoi made such a good production and commercial progress

owing to its export success last year in the first place (about 50 Su-30MK aircraft

were delivered last year) and the growing volume of work the company carried

out under the State Defence Procurement Programme. Andrey Fomin analyses

Sukhoi’s 2007 results

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6

July 2008

14

20

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New weapons for new fightersTactical Missiles Corp. kicks off advertising

campaign to promote cutting-edge guided weaponsIn early June, the Tactical Missiles Corp. launched a campaign to promote a number

of latest air-launched guided missiles on the market. The weapons promoted include

the new-generation Kh-38ME modular air-to-surface missile and several heavy

upgrades, including the Kh-58UShKE antiradiation missile equipped with a wideband

passive radar homer, Kh-59MK2 air-launched missile with a self-contained target

area recognition capability and KAB-1500LG-F-E laser beam-riding smart bomb. The

corporation’s Web site features detailed enough description of these new weapons

designed to fit the upgraded Generation 4++ Su-35 and MiG-35 fighters, which are

undergoing trials, and a future fifth-generation fighter. Over time, they might make

their way to the weapons suites of the advanced Su-34 tactical strike aircraft and

its export derivative Su-32 and latest derivatives of the global market’s bestseller,

the Su-30MK family, as well. Yevgeny Yerokhin reviews new Tactical Missiles Corp.

weapons

HELIRUSSIA 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Oboronprom and AgustaWestland agreed to cooperate

Farther and faster: Kamov unveils Ka-92 programme

Ka-90: even faster

Mi-X1: concept in detail

Mi-8 awaiting upgrade

Agreement on Mi-38’s engine signed

First Ka-62 to be built in 2009

Ka-226 gets new engine

Refining the Ansat

Mi-34 production to resume

CONTRACTS AND DELIVERIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Upgraded MiG-29sIn service with Slovak Air ForceOn the last day of this winter, 29 February, Slovak air base Sliac hosted the ceremony

of accepting the 12 MiG-29AS/UBS fighters into the Slovak Air Force’s inventory. The

fighters had been upgraded by Russian aircraft corporation MiG in Slovakia in cooperation

with a local aircraft repair plant and several Western companies. During the ceremony,

Slovak Defence Minister Jaroslav Baska gave the chief of the Slovak General Staff, Gen.

Lubomir Bulik, a symbolic key to the renovated fighters. Following that, the upgraded

MiG-29s accomplished a group demonstration flight to entertain those present, with as

many as 10 fighters taking to the skies over Sliac. Our correspondents Michal Stolar and

Miroslav Gyurosi attended the ceremony

MILITARY AVIATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Sukhois over the MediterraneanA naval task force of the Russian Navy’s Northern Fleet, led by the Admiral Kuznetsov

aircraft carrier, completed a successful cruise through the Atlantic and Mediterranean

early in February this year. The cruise kicked off on 5 December 2007 and was completed

two months later. The Russian Navy had conducted no such large scale exercises for

over a decade. The aircraft carrier battle group cruising under command of the Vice

Admiral Nikolay Maximov, CINC, Northern Fleet, was given a task of showing the Russian

Navy’s flag in key areas of the ocean. During the cruise, the Admiral Kuznetsov’s carrier

air group, comprising nine Su-33 fighters, two Su-25UTG trainers and several Ka-27PS

and Ka-29 helicopters, logged 20 flying shifts, i.e. about 400 sorties, of which more than

a hundred were flown by the fighters. Throughout the cruise, Take-off’s stringer Sergey

Vassilyev was on board the Admiral Kuznetsov, providing his report for our readers

COSMONAUTICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Another Rockot blasts off

Russian-Kazakh space cooperation getting new impetus

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34

take-off july 2008

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42

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c i v i l a v i a t i o n | n e w s

4

On 4 May the Aircraft Registry

of the Interstate Aviation

Committee (IAC) announced

its approval of a number of

certification programmes under

way over past several months. The

programmes in question include

the long-awaited certification of

the advanced Il-96-400T long-haul

transport aircraft developed

by the Ilyushin design bureau,

manufactured by VASO plant and

promoted by the Ilyushin Finance

Company (IFC). According to an IAC

spokesperson, the Aircraft Registry

“has completed the certification of

the main change of the standard

design of the Il-96-300 aircraft –

the introduction of a new model,

the Il-96-400T. Type Certificate

Supplement No. 22-96-300/D20

was issued on 7 April 2008”. At

the same time, the Il-96-400T

was issued Perceivable Noise

Certificate No. SSh175-96-400T

dated 14 March 2008. Thus, all

formal hurdles were cleared for

the unimpeded kick-off of the

Il-96-400T’s operation, with VASO

being ready to deliver the first two

production aircraft (RA-96101 and

RA-96102) to their buyer, the IFC

leasing company, for subsequent

lease to air carriers.

As is known, the launch

customer for the Il-96-400T was

the Atlant-Soyuz airline owned

by the Moscow mayor’s office.

The firm contract for two first

aircraft of the type was signed on

27 June 2005, followed by another

for three more aircraft on 29 June

2007. Keen interest in receiving

Il-96-400Ts as soon as possible

was shown also by the Aeroflot

Cargo airline that ordered six

aircraft like that from IFC on 20 June

2007, with three to be delivered in

September through December this

year and the rest during 2010.

Recently, the carrier has asked IFC

to speed up their deliveries while

Atlant Soyuz decided to postpone

Il-96-400T operation in its fleet

till 2010–2011. So, the first two

Il-96-400Ts built, RA-96101 and

RA-96102, being already painted

in Atlant Soyuz colours are now

to be repainted and transferred to

Aeroflot Cargo.

As a result, Aeroflot Cargo

reported in May that IFC had

confirmed a new schedule of

delivery of Il-96-400Ts. “According

to the official letter from the

Ilyushin Finance Company received,

Aeroflot Cargo shall take delivery

of the first aircraft in July 2008,

the second one in August 2008

and the third one in December the

same year. The first aircraft will

enter medium-distance domestic

and international services as soon

as possible. The route network for

the aircraft is being adjusted given

the updated delivery date”, the

carrier’s press release reads. The

third Il-96-400T for Aeroflot Cargo

is now under construction in the

assembly hall of VASO plant (see

the picture).

Il-96-400T certificatedIII

In June, the Aviastar-SP close

corporation delivered a new

Tupolev Tu-204-100V airliner

(RA-64043) to the Avialinii 400

carrier operating under the brand

name Red Wings. The Avistar-SP

had built the airliner on order from

the Ilyushin Finance Company

(IFC) that signed with the Red

Wings a contract for six new

Tu-204s in last August. The airliner

rolled out of the assembly shop and

began tests in Ulyanovsk in March.

At the customer’s request, it has the

maximum possible seating capacity.

In all, nine Tu-204 airliners

and freighters in various versions,

designed for Russian and foreign

buyers, are in various stages of

assembly by Aviastar-SP. Two more

Tu-204-100Vs may be delivered

to Red Wings before the end of the

year, and two more Tu-204-300s

are to go to Vladivostok in a few

months to become the fifth and sixth

planes of the type in the fleet of the

Vladivostok Avia carrier.

III

Boeing’s delivery of its

new-generation Boeing 787

Dreamliner long-haul airliners to

Aeroflot is to slip behind schedule

by more than two years, the

carrier’s Director General, Valery

Okulov, told the media in late May.

According to Okulov, Boeing had

notified Aeroflot that the delivery

time would slip by 28 months.

Aeroflot is known to have ordered

22 Boeing 787 airliners, with

deliveries slated to kick off in 2014.

Now, Dreamliners will start arriving

to the Russian carrier in 2016 at the

soonest. The slippage is due to the

airliner’s development programme

delay: if all goes to plan, its maiden

flight will take place in the four

quarter of this year at the earliest,

i.e. at least 15 months later than the

initial schedule implied.

III

According to the Russian Federal

Air Transport Agency, delivery

of advanced Yakovlev Yak-18T

Series 36 trainer aircraft to the

Ulyanovsk Higher Civil Aviation

School (UVAU GA) has begun

under the agency’s programme on

training aviation personnel and

furnishing civil aviation training

institutions with new aircraft. The

first two aircraft were brought from

Smolensk Aircraft Plant to UVAU

GA on 28 March, with the school’s

Yak-18T Series 36 fleet to total 20

in the coming months.

in brief

And

rey F

om

inA

nd

rey F

om

in

w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u6 take-off july 2008

Serg

ey P

ash

ko

vsky

SUPERJET SUPERJET TAKES WINGTAKES WING

19 May witnessed a long-awaited event: a prototype of the future Sukhoi SuperJet 100 regional passenger aircraft took off

from the airfield of the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Production Association (KnAAPO) for its maiden flight that it completed

with success. Counter to sceptics’ expectations, the designers proved that the SuperJet programme, being run by a large

team of Russian, US and West European companies, has been making steady progress and will – despite unavoidable slips

behind schedule – meet its target – Russia building a sophisticated airliner competitive on the global market. However, the

developers have to do a lot before their target has been met. They are to conduct 600 test flights under the certification

programme, its approval by foreign aviation authorities, productionising the aircraft, setting up an aftersale support system

and snagging new orders. Nonetheless, it is a safe bet to say even now that the aircraft has established itself, with its smooth

maiden flight being another striking demonstration of that.

take-off july 20086 w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u

c i v i l a v i a t i o n | e v e n t

c i v i l a v i a t i o n | e v e n t

7 w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u take-off july 2008

On 25 April, a Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Co.

(SCAC) spokesperson announced a successful

completion of the frequency tests of the SuperJet

100’s first flying prototype (95001) by the

company’s division in Komsomolsk-on-Amur.

Based on the results produced, TsAGI cleared

the aircraft’s maiden flight and initial stage

of aeroelasticity and flutter flight tests. “The

frequency tests have proven the calculations

made for the airframe, landing gear and

fly-by-wire control system”, the SCAC

spokesperson quoted TsAGI Director Sergey

Chernyshov as saying. The results of the

frequency tests as well as aircraft aeroelasticity

calculations were submitted to the aircraft

industry’s Methodological Council for it to

draw conclusions relevant to the kick-off of the

flight trials. Based on the outcome of the static

tests, TsAGI had already issued a report on the

airliner’s static strength and readiness in these

terms for its first flight.

The engine maker reported their readiness

for flight tests, too. According to Georgy

Konyukhov, NPO Saturn Deputy Director

General/SaM146 Programme Director, the

SaM146 No. 101 and No. 102 engines fitted

to the first SuperJet 100 prototype (95001) had

been tested on the wing by early May, proving

all declared characteristics. Individual and

parallel engine runs had included everything

all the way up to takeoff mode. According to

Georgy Konyukhov, the tests ironed out the last

of the criticisms listed by TsAGI’s flight-test

clearance report.

In addition, the bulk of avionics tests, tests

of avionics’ compatibility and debugging of

Andrey FOMIN

Photos by Marina Lystseva

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

w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u8 take-off july 2008

the software used in the first flying prototype

had been completed at the aircraft systems

integration bench (the so-called Electronic Bird

test bench). The test pilots crew selected to fly

the aircraft (SCAC’s chief test pilot Alexander

Yablontsev and test pilot Leonid Chikunov) had

started simulating the flight test programme,

using the Electronic Bird bench.

SCAC’s chief test pilot Alexander

Yablontsev is a former military test pilot who

has learnt to fly nearly 50 types of combat

aircraft and then became a commercial

airline pilot with a wealth of experience

in flying up-to-date airliners, including the

Boeing 737, Airbus A319 and A320 with

more than 8,300 flight hours under his belt.

Leonid Chikunov used to be a KnAAPO test

pilot trying KnAAPO-made fighters of the

Summer 2000. The Sukhoi Civil Aircraft company was established as a 100-per cent subsidiary of the Sukhoi company.

November 2000. Preliminary designing of the future Russian regional aircraft by Sukhoi

13 April 2001. Russian Aviation and Space Agency (Rosaviacosmos) head Yuri Koptev and Boeing President Philip

Condit signed a long-term cooperation agreement in Moscow, which provided, among other things, for co-development

of the advanced regional jet. Actually, the agreement kicked off the Russian Regional Jet (RRJ) programme.

20 June 2001. During the Le Bourget air show, Sukhoi, Ilyushin and Boeing signed a memorandum of

understanding (MoU) and a protocol on cooperation in studying the feasibility of designing, manufacturing

and selling the RRJ advanced regional aircraft family. The RRJ family was supposed to consist of three

baseline models - the RRJ-55, RRJ-75 and RRJ-95 as well as their extended-range (ER) and long-range

(LR) versions.

13 August 2001. The Aeroflot said it was willing to buy at least 30 RRJs, having signed a MoU with Sukhoi.

December 2001. A business plan for the programme was drawn up.

February 2002. Snecma and NPO Saturn set up a Russo-French joint venture to co-develop the SM146 engine that

was offered in April 2002 in the tender for a powerplant to fit the RRJ family. In addition to the SM146, which was

later re-designated as SaM146, the PW800 (a joint offer by Pratt & Whitney Canada and the Aviadvigatel company

headquartered in the Russian city of Perm), Rolls-Royce BR700 and General Electric CF34 competed in the tender.

9 July 2002. Rosaviacosmos announced a closed competition for developing an advanced Russian regional jet

airliner, with requests for proposals (RfP) sent to all Russian aircraft design bureaus.

30 October 2002. Technical proposals concerning the RRJ aircraft family (RRJ-60, RRJ-75 and RRJ-95) submitted

to Rosaviacosmos for the advanced Russian regional aircraft competition. In addition to the RRJ, the Tupolev Tu-414

and Myasishchev M-60-70 projects competed.

18 December 2002. The tender for a powerplant to fit the RRJ family aircraft was completed. The winner was the

SM146 engine project jointly promoted by NPO Saturn and Snecma that established the PowerJet joint venture in 2004

to that end.

19 December 2002. SCAC and Boeing signed an agreement on long-term cooperation under the RRJ programme.

Under the agreement, Boeing was to provide consulting support to its Russian partner on the basic aspects of the

programme, e.g. marketing, programme management, design, development, work with subcontractors, production,

aftersale support, etc.

March 2003. Sukhoi’s division NAPO (Novosibirsk Aircraft Production Association) was appointed prime contractor

to manufacture RRJ airliners. KnAAPO was appointed subcontractor to make wing panels and empennage. Further

down the road, the two plants swapped their roles under the production programme, with KnAAPO becoming prime

contractor in charge of construction and final assembly, while NAPO was tasked with the manufacture and aggregate

assembly of three fuselage sections and empennage.

12 March 2003. The RRJ programme wins the Rosaviacosmos competition for an advanced Russian regional aircraft.

The RRJ become part of the federal programme 'Russian Civil Aircraft Development in 2002-10 and through 2015'.

29 April 2003. In Paris, Sukhoi, Snecma and NPO Saturn signed a tripartite memorandum on development and

production of the SM146 engine for the RRJ aircraft family.

June 2003. The RRJ programme unveiled during the Le Bourget air show.

10 October 2003. The programme cleared the third ‘gate’, being ready for proposal to air carriers. Selection of

principal systems subcontractors was completed.

24 November 2003. The advisory council of air carriers earmarked as potential RRJ buyers took place in Moscow

for the first time.

23 January 2004. The general meeting of the 16 companies, which had won the tender for basic aircraft systems

supply, took place in Moscow.

28 April 2004. IAC’s Aircraft Registry accepted the RRJ certification request.

30 April 2004. The preliminary design stage is passed, with the Preliminary Design review issued.

14 October 2004. The first stage of the RRJ mock-up commission was completed under the AP-21 rules. IAC’s

Aircraft Registry issued a positive report on the digital mock-up.

28 October 2004. The RRJ programme cleared its fourth stage and was ready for the launch of aircraft

manufacture.

February 2005. The SCAC's design bureau began to hand digital models for long-life-cycle part manufacture over

to KnAAPO.

25 March 2005. Sukhoi, on the one hand, and the Sberbank, Roseximbank, VTB and VEB banks, on the other, signed

an agreement on cooperation to work out financing the RRJ development and construction.

June 2005. Full-size flight deck and passenger cabin mock-ups were unveiled at Le Bourget. The RRJ airliner

market was estimated at 800 units for 15–20 years, including 300–350 aircraft for Russian customers and

450–400 for export.

13 June 2005. Thales was selected as the avionics integrator.

14 June 2005. Contracts were made with Parker on developing and delivering the hydraulic system and with Liebherr

on developing and delivering the life support and fly-by-wire control systems.

SuperJet 100: Milestones

take-off july 20088

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9 w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u take-off july 2008

Su-27/Su-30MK family and Be-103 light

amphibians. Until then, he had served with

the Air Force and worked for LII as test pilot

following his graduation from the Test Pilot

School in 1993.

At last, on 12 May the aircraft was brought for

the first time to the runway of the manufacturer’s

Dzyomgi airfield, and Alexander Yablontsev

and Leonid Chikunov started the first taxiings

that continued on the next day in the morning.

“In preparation for the flight trials, the Sukhoi

SuperJet 100’s first taxiings and runs have taken

place. The runs gradually become faster, with

speed increasing up to 162 km/h, virtually the

rotation speed. The crew and test engineers

praised the aircraft based on the results

produced”, a SCAC spokesperson reported

on 13 May.

16 July 2005. The programme’s review was completed.

16 August 2005. The Federal Agency for Industry awarded Sukhoi an order for development of the RRJ aircraft family.

Under the federal programme 'Russian Civil Aircraft Development in 2002–10 and through 2015', the governmental

funding for 2005–09 was set at 7.9 billion rubles (about $280 million).

17 August 2005. The first firm order for 10 RRJ-95 worth $262 million was awarded by the Financial Leasing

Company (FLC) during the MAKS 2005 air show.

18 August 2005. A MoU on joint work under the RRJ programme was signed by Sukhoi and SCAC, on the one hand,

and Finmeccanica and Alenia, on the other.

7 December 2005. An Aeroflot order was snagged. Under the order, the manufacturer is to deliver 30 airliners worth

in the neighbourhood of $820 million, starting from November 2008.

17 January 2006. The Voronezh Aircraft Production Association (VASO) joins the production segment of the

programme as a manufacturer of composite structural components.

February 2006. KnAAPO and NAPO launched aggregate assembly of the first prototypes. In all, six prototypes were

laid down.

13 February 2006. The RRJ Software Development Centre was set up jointly.

11 May 2006. Work commences on obtaining EASA certification.

20 June 2006. Sukhoi and SCAC, on the one hand, and Finmeccanica and Alenia, on the other, signed an agreement

on strategic cooperation under the RRJ programme.

22 June 2006. NPO Saturn in the city of Rybinsk assembled the first full-scale SaM146 engine (No. 001), which first

test-bench run took place on 5 July 2006.

17 July 2006. The programme was rebranded, with the RRJ family aircraft started being promoted on the market

under the Sukhoi SuperJet 100 brand name. The programme was unveiled under the new name at the Farnborough

2006 air show.

December 2006. KnAAPO completed the airframe of SuperJet first protoype (95002) designed for static tests.

9 December 2006. AirUnion ordered 15 aircraft worth over 400 million, with 15 options.

19 December 2006. Dalavia ordered six airliners worth more than $170 million starting from 2008, with four

options.

28 January 2007. The Polyot airline’s An-124-100 Ruslan freighter airlifted the SuperJet 100 No. 95002 prototype

from Komsomolsk-on-Amur to LII’s airfield in Zhukovsky for static tests at TsAGI.

9 June 2007. A $100-million 10-year credit agreement was made with EBRD at an international economic forum in

St. Petersburg.

19 June 2007. At the Le Bourget air show, Finmeccanica and its subsidiary Alenia Aeronautica, on the one hand, and

UAC and Sukhoi, on the other hand, signed a general contract on strategic partnership under the SuperJet programme.

The contract stipulated the Italians’ acquisition of 25 per cent plus one share of SCAC’s stock, conditions under which

the Italians would participate in financing the programme (at least 25 per cent of the aggregate investment), principles

for setting up the joint venture, etc.

19 June 2007. During the Le Bourget air show, Sukhoi and Italian carrier ItAli clinched a deal on the delivery of

10 SSJ100/95LR airliners worth $283 million with 10 options.

July 2007. NPO Saturn made the third SaM146 prototype engine and shipped it to LII for flight tests on board the

Il-76LL flying testbed.

22 August 2007. The establishment of Russo-Italian joint venture SuperJet International on 15 July 2007 was

announced during the MAKS 2007 air show. The venture was to be headquartered in Venetia and handle SuperJet sales

as well as aftersale support, with its stock being divided 49:51 per cent between Sukhoi and Alenia respectively.

14 September 2007. Armenian airline Armavia ordered two aircraft with two more as an option.

26 September 2007. The first SuperJet flying prototype (95001) was rolled out officially in Komsomolsk-on-Amur.

6 December 2007. In Zhukovsky, LII flew the Il-76LL testbed (76454) with the SaM146 (003/2) engine running for

the first time.

20 February 2008. SCAC’s subsidiary in Komsomolsk-on-Amur ran up the SaM146 (No. 101) engine on the wing of

SuperJet 95001 for the first time.

25 March 2008. NPO Saturn announced preliminary results of the SaM146 test programme. By then,

all available engines had logged 1,167 hours, including 83 hours on the flying testbed, of which 46 hours

were logged in the course of 25 test flights. Overall, four out of eight planned engines were made for

the tests. The SuperJet's first flying prototype (95001) was equipped with engines No. 101 and 102 for

flight trials.

April 2008. Manufacture of assemblies for the first production aircraft began.

12 May 2008. SuperJet's fist flying prototype (95001) completed its first taxiing at KnAAPO’s airfield.

19 May 2008. SuperJet (95001) conducted its maiden flight in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, with pilot Alexander

Yablontsev and co-pilot Leonid Chikunov at the controls. The mission lasted for 1 h 05 min at a maximum altitude of

1,200 m.

24 May 2008. SuperJet flew its second sortie, on which it retracted its landing gear for the first time. The sortie took

more than two hours and a half and was conducted at a maximum altitude of 3,000 m.

22 June 2008. SuperJet proceeded with factory flight tests, making the third test sortie lasting 1 h 40 min.

23 June 2008. The fourth test flight lasting two hours took place.

SuperJet got airborne! Left to right:: Mikhail

Pogosyan, Sukhoi company Director General,

Ruben Ambartsumyan, SCAC flight test ser-

vice head, Victor Subbotin, SCAC Director

General, Alexander Zudilov, Sukhoi flight test

service head

take-off july 2008 9

c i v i l a v i a t i o n | e v e n t

c i v i l a v i a t i o n | e v e n t

w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u10 take-off july 2008

“It’s an excellent aircraft. The Sukhoi

SuperJet 100 is as good as airliners from Airbus

and Boeing”, said Alexander Yablontsev, sharing

his impression of the early taxiings.

To obtain clearance for the first flight, the

SuperJet 100 had to pass shimmy tests and

high-speed runs with nose wheel rotation. The

runs had continued on 14 May, and two days

later, the aircraft was shown to Russia's Industry

and Trade Minister Victor Khristenko who was

on a special visit to Komsomolsk-on-Amur. On

that day, the SuperJet 100 completed the first

rotation runs.

Finally, Monday, 19 May comes. The

industry’s Methodological Council had cleared

the maiden flight, and the crew comprised of

Alexander Yablontsev and Leonid Chikunov

rolled the aircraft to the runway of the Dzyomgi

airfield. KnAAPO’s 'veteran', the Su-17UM3

side number 802 two-seater, returned from

the weather reconnaissance mission with a

favourable forecast, and the SuperJet 100

finally took to the skies at 16 h 50 min local

time (9 h 50 min Moscow time), escorted by

KnAAPO’s Su-17UM3.

The maiden mission lasted 1 h 05 min. In

line with the mission, the aircraft climbed at

1,200 m, passed over the runway four times at

different altitudes, completed a pattern and a

landing approach. The SuperJet 100’s wheels

touched down the tarmac at 17 h 56 min local

time. The long-awaited first flight of the airliner

was complete. The programme’s chiefs and the

rest of the participants were elated. “Today is

a special day for us, because we have literally

Partners in SuperJet 100 development and production

SCAC (Moscow; subsidiary – Komsomolsk-on-Amur) Prime contractor. Aircraft development. Final assembly. Flight tests. Delivery

KnAAPO(Komsomolsk-on-Amur )

Manufacture and aggregate assembly of the F2, F3 and F4 fuselage sections, wing centre section, wing panels with high-lift devices and systems mating, fuselage mating

NAPO (Novosibirsk) Manufacture and aggregate assembly of the F1, F5 and F6 fuselage sections and vertical and horizontal stabilisers

VASO (Voronezh) Manufacture of composite parts (high-lift devices, elevators, access doors, hatches, etc.)

Alenia Aeronautica / Finmeccanica group Strategic partner. Marketing and aftersale support (SuperJet International joint venture)

NPO Saturn (Rybinsk, Moscow)

Risk-sharing partner. SaM146 engine development and manufacture (PowerJet joint venture)

Snecma / Safran group Risk-sharing partner. SaM146 engine development and manufacture (PowerJet joint venture)

Boeing Programme consultant. Consulting support in marketing, design, production, certification, quality assurance system, suppliers and aftersale support

Thales Development and delivery of the integrated avionics suite (production in cooperation with Aviapribor Holding in Moscow) and integrated and procedural simulators

Liebherr

Development and delivery of the fly-by-wire systems (production in cooperation with Voskhod PMZ in Pavlovo); development and delivery of the air conditioning, automatic pressure control and anti-icing systems (production in cooperation with PKO Teploobmennik in Nizhny Novgorod)

Messier Dowty Development and delivery of landing gear (production in cooperation with Aviaagregat in Samara)

Intertechnique / Zodiac Development and delivery of the fuel system (production in cooperation with Abris in St. Petersburg)

B/E Aerospace Development and delivery of the flight deck and cabin interior and oxygen system (production in cooperation with Respirator in Orekhovo-Zuyevo)

Autronics / Curtiss Wright Fire-suppressant system development and delivery

Honeywell Auxiliary power unit development and delivery

IPECO Crew seat development and delivery

Parker Hydraulic system development and delivery

Hamilton Sundstrand / UTC Power supply system development and delivery

Vibro-meter / Meggitt Engine vibration pickup development and delivery

Goodrich Landing gear wheel and brake development and delivery

Air Cruisers / Zodiac Survival gear development and delivery

ECES Lighting equipment and canopy windscreen wiper development and delivery

Three first Sukhoi SuperJet 100 flying prototypes at the assembly hall of SCAC

facility in Komsomolsk-on-Amur

c i v i l a v i a t i o n | e v e n t

11 w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u take-off july 2008

SuperJet second flying prototype (95003) under final assembly at SCAC

facility in Komsomolsk-on-Amur (on the foreground). The aircraft is slated to

join flight tests later this summer. The third flying prototype (95004) seen on

the background is planned to be assembled by September

c i v i l a v i a t i o n | e v e n t

w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u12 take-off july 2008

regained our wings”, said Mikhail Pogosyan,

Sukhoi’s Director General and the driving force

behind the Sukhoi SuperJet 100 programme.

“We have waited for this day to come for a long

time. Any work is about a result, and the only

real result to aircraft makers is a new aircraft

of theirs in flight. Sukhoi’s first commercial

aircraft has taken wing today. Thousands upon

thousands of people throughout the world have

shared our success for the first time throughout

the history of Russian commercial aircraft

making. We have built a beautiful aircraft

that has paved its way to the skies today. An

important difficult phase – certification tests –

is next. I am certain we will do fine”, Mikhail

Pogosyan concluded.

“I am so happy I am out of words”, said

Alexander Yablontsev, chief test pilot with

SCAC. “Finally, after so many years, we have

done something a man can be proud of. I am

glad that I had a chance to be the first to take

this beautiful aircraft to the skies. The plane

is excellent indeed. I am quite certain that it

is on a par with the best planes in the world I

have had an opportunity to fly”.

The advanced airliner is facing

600 certification flights. The certification

programme is planned to be completed in

less than a year so that deliveries for launch

customers can begin already in the first half of

2009. By the time the prototype kicked off its

flight tests, the manufacture of parts for the

first production aircraft had been underway,

with the lead airliner entering the aggregate

assembly stage in April.

Time will show if the developer manages to

stick to the tight schedule. The experience of

major foreign aircraft manufacturers indicates

that the time between the maiden flight and

type certificate issuance for a radically novel

airliner is usually about a year, sometimes two.

For instance, the certification of the Boeing 777

required 11 months of intensive flying of nine

aircraft that logged a total of 7,000 flight hours

(the first aircraft was delivered to the launch

customer on 7 June 1995, five days short of

one year after a prototype had completed the

maiden flight). As far as the A380 is concerned,

its certification programme from the airliner

making its maiden flight on 27 April 2005 to it

receiving the FAA and EASA type certificates

on 12 December 2006 lasted just over

19 months and involved 800 sorties totalling

upwards of 2,600 flight hours, four flying

and two static prototypes and the first two

production planes. Still, the launch customer

had waited more than 10 months for the first

delivery. The certification of Embraer’s new

model, the E170, took two years sharp (the

maiden flight on 19 February 2002, US and

EC type certificates on 20 February 2004, the

first delivery to the launch customer in March

2004) and involved seven aircraft. Boeing’s

SCAC chief test pilot Alexander Yablontsev (left) and Victor Khristenko, Russia's industry

and trade minister, in the cockpit of the first Sukhoi SuperJet, 16 May 2008

c i v i l a v i a t i o n | e v e n t

13 w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u take-off july 2008

cutting-edge Dreamliner is to wrap up its

certification trials within nine months, using

six prototypes to this end, with the prototypes

to log up to 120 sorties a month – about

1,000 flights in total.

Will the SuperJet 100’s developer manage

to maintain a similarly high tempo to beat

the clock in a manner unprecedented for the

Russian aircraft industry? The certification

test programme was devised with Boeing

providing consulting support, and we would

like to believe the announced deadline is

not only a marketing trick to lure buyers.

There are certain ground for optimism. By

the time when the first SuperJet 100 started

its trials, final assembly of the second

flying aircraft (95003) and assembly of the

airframe of a next flying prototype (95004)

had been in full swing in SCAC’s assembly

hall in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. Two more

examples – the fourthflying prototype (95005)

and the durability test prototype (95006) – are

to arrive there soon.

That the airliner’s developer is working in

earnest is proven by the SuperJet 100 flying

again just five days after its first sortie to defy

sceptics. It spent more than 2.5 hours airborne

on Saturday, 24 May, flying for the first time

with its landing gear retracted. Its maximum

altitude on that mission equalled 3,000 m and

its maximum speed was 410 km/h.

We shall continue to keep an eye on Sukhoi’s

future regional airliner programme. Meanwhile,

Take-off would like to congratulate all the

participants and those interested in the future

of Russian aviation on the emergence of a new

airliner and to wish the developer intensive and

safe flights!

Firm orders for SuperJet 100 (as of July 2008)

Date Customer Number Delivery OptionsPrice, million USD*

17 Aug 2005

FLC 10from 2008

– 262

7 Dec 2005

Aeroflot 30from Nov 2008

– 820

9 Dec 2006

AirUnion 15from 2009

15 400

19 Dec 2006

Dalavia 6from 2008

4 170

19 Jun 2007

ItAli 10from Dec 2009

10 283

14 Sept 2007

Armavia 2from 2008

2 55

Total 73 31 1,990

* list prices

Serg

ey P

ashko

vsky

SuperJet 100 was escorted in its maiden flight by KnAAPO's

'veteran', Su-17UM3 twin-seater

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

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

The basic agreement signed in Voronezh

on 27 June was the one between the United

Aircraft Corporation (UAC) and Ilyushin

Finance Company (IFC), under which the

latter is to buy 34 An-148-family planes from

UAC in 2008-11 to lease them to airlines further

down the road, and additional 30 aircraft dur-

ing 2011-12. UAC President Alexey Fyodorov

and IFC Director General Alexander Rubtsov

signed the agreement. According to the IFC

boss, a large launch order for the type ena-

bles UAC to have VASO launch the An-148’s

full-scale production. In this connection, a

relevant deal between UAC and VASO is to be

formalised in the coming days.

The second deal closed during the forum

in Voronezh is an An-148 leasing agree-

ment signed by IFC Director General

Alexander Rubtsov and Mikhail Alexeyev,

Director General of the Moskovia airline.

Under the agreement, Moskovia is to lease

15 An-148-100E extended-range aircraft dur-

ing 2008-13, of which 10 are firm orders and

five are options.

The production of the An-148 in the com-

ing years is expected to become a key line of

business for VASO, because demand for the

type has been growing with Russian and foreign

carriers. To date, IFC, the principal buyer and

lessor of Russian-built commercial aircraft, has

signed several firm contracts with air companies

for more than three dozen An-148s.

RUSSIAN RUSSIAN PROSPECTS OF PROSPECTS OF

AN-148AN-148First Russian-made An-148

unveiled in VoronezhSeveral agreements relevant to production and sales of Russian-Ukrainian

regional airliner Antonov An-148 built by the Voronezh Aircraft Production

Association (VASO) were signed on 27 June during the 1st Voronezh Investment

Forum. The worth of the deals clinched exceeded 40 billion rubles (about $1.7

billion). In addition, representatives of the carriers – future An-148 operators –

and reporters invited to Voronezh were shown the first production An-148-100

being built in VASO’s assembly shop and earmarked to start its trials before

year-end. The manufacturing plan for the coming five years provides for VASO

making as many as 96 aircraft of the type. A Take-off correspondent attended the

event in Voronezh.

Andrey FOMIN

Photos by the author

take-off july 200814

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

15 w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u take-off july 2008

As is known, the Russian launch customer

for airliners of the type is the Rossiya govern-

ment-owned transport company that awarded

IFC a firm order during the MAKS 2007 air

show for leasing six An-148s (with six more as

an option) designed to oust the carrier’s Tu-134s

from its fleet. The deal followed in the wake of the

August 2005 agreement for eight An-148-100Bs

for the Pulkovo air company, with 10 options.

Following Rossiya and Pulkovo’s merger, the

agreement was not abandoned, morphing into

a firm order, under which the advance payment

has already been made.

Another carrier ordering An-148s is

Voronezh-headquartered Polyot that awarded

IFC 10 firm orders in the An-148-100B ver-

sion on 20 June 2007. The contract stemmed

from the August 2005 agreement for leasing

15 An-148-100B passenger planes and five

An-148T transports until 2010. Now, Moskovia

has joined the two customers expecting soon to

start taking delivery of its 10 An-148-100Es

under the firm contract.

The situation is a bit more complicated as far

as one of the early An-148 orders announced

as far back as April 2005 is concerned. As is

known, the KrasAir carrier, which is now a

member of the AirUnion joint stock company,

ordered 10 An-148-100Bs with options for

five An-148-100Es. The emergence of the

AirUnion alliance and a number of changes

to KrasAir’s operation has resulted in no firm

deals on the An-148 clinched since 2005 and

AirUnion ordering 15 Sukhoi SuperJet 100s

in December 2006. At the same time, another

carrier, which used to be an AirUnion alli-

ance member but will not join the joint stock

company of the same name being established

under the Russian president’s decree dated

2 May 2007, has been displaying keen inter-

est in the aircraft for several years now. It is

regional carrier Sibaviatrans headquartered in

Krasnoyarsk. The company operates a fleet of

four Tupolev Tu-134s, six Antonov An-24RVs

and 11 Mil Mi-8 helicopters and is very inter-

ested in replacing its Tu-134 workhorses with

far more efficient An-148s.

Sibaviatrans Director General Victor Korol

told Take-off that talks between his company

and IFC on leasing An-148s had been under

way for two years and Sibaviatrans could joint

the An-148 operators’ club if agreement was

reached on the price. According to Victor

Korol, one of the principal strengths of the

An-148 over the obsolete Tu-134 is higher

fuel efficiency that is especially topical given

the current avgas price hike. The Tu-134’s

average fuel consumption per hour equals

2,700–2,800 kg/h while that of the An-148-100B

stands at only 1,600 kg/h. An almost 75 per cent

fuel efficiency increase, a higher cruising speed,

a shorter runway required, a longer range with

the same payload, sophisticated avionics suite

and a lack of restriction on operating in the

EU – all favour the An-148. “I whish it were a

bit less expensive”, laments Korol, who, how-

ever, still hopes to cut a mutually beneficial deal

with the supplier.

Mention should be made that the growing

demand for the An-148 is due to a large extent to

the recent resolution by the Russian-Ukrainian

intergovernmental commission to cooperate

in the An-148 production and resume the pro-

duction of the An-124 heavylifter. The inter-

governmental resolution has been based on the

agreements between UAC and the Aviation of

Ukraine state aircraft-making concern cover-

ing joint development of advanced aircraft

and co-production, certification and use of

the An-148 and An-124. In particular, the

commission has adopted a Russian-Ukrainian

cooperative An-148 production through 2015

and settled the matter concerning the techni-

cal documentation transfer by the developer,

Antonov, to the manufacturer, VASO.

In addition, UAC and VTB bank have

recently come to terms on a 1.1 billion-ru-

bles loan (over $45 million) to the plant in

Voronezh, with the plant to receive another

1 billion rubles from UAC. VASO will spend

the money on increasing the output and reno-

vation of the production facilities. This enables

VASO finally to launch the full-scale An-148

production under UAC’s commercial aircraft

production plan, under which the company

is going to make as many as 96 aircraft of the

Alexander Rubtsov, IFC Director General (left) and Alexey

Fyodorov, UAC President signing a contract on 34 An-148

production in Voronezh

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

w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u16 take-off july 2008

type during 2008-12. The launch of full-rate

production will act like a charm upon poten-

tial customers’ doubts as to the feasibility of

the programme and is expected to encourage

them to award new orders.

The leaders of carriers concerned as well

as the media had an opportunity to see how

the An-148 production programme has been

pursued in VASO’s assembly shop on 27 June.

There is the first production An-148-100

(c/n 40-03) there now. Its fuselage has been

mated, with the mating of the wing nearing

completion. Its wing high-lift devices, empen-

nage, fillets, fairings, pylons and transparency

are to be mounted during July and August,

with the aircraft to be put on its landing gear

and fitted with hatches and doors by the end

of September. Following the final assembly,

installation of all systems and painting, VASO’s

first An-148-100 will be taken for flight tests in

November or December, undergo relevant

trials and then will be ready for delivery to the

launch customer.

At the same time, VASO is manufactur-

ing other production An-148s. Assembly of

the second aircraft (c/n 40-04) is to begin in

September, with its tests to start in February

or March 2009. It will be followed by An-148

c/n 40-06 slated to be assembled from

December 2008 to May or June 2009. In

all, VASO is going to have built six pro-

duction-standard An-148s before 2009’s

year-end – one this year and five during 2009.

The Ukrainian partners have supplied some of

their components so far. For instance, fuselage

section F1 and F2 and the wing panels for use

on the early VASO-made planes are provided

by the Aviant plant in Kiev and the wing cen-

tre section by KSAMC in Kharkov. However,

starting from the very first production airliner,

VASO has been making fuselage section F3,

the empennage, wing high-lift devices, engine

nacelles and their pylons and numerous com-

posite hatches and doors on its own.

The An-148 localisation by VASO will be

intensified considerably further down the line.

To this end, VASO is beginning to make its

own rigging in July to build the F1 and F2

fuselage sections and wing, with the rigging to

be completed next year. In addition, to ramp

up the outcome, VASO in September will start

making the backup rigging slated for comple-

tion by mid-2010.

Owing to that, VASO-built An-148s will

start having locally made F1 fuselage sections

starting from the sixth production aircraft,

the ninth plane will receive the first locally

produced F2 section and the 16th one will

get the locally manufactured wing. Thus, the

first all-VASO-made An-148 is to be the 16th

production aircraft slated to kick off its tests in

summer 2010. Starting from the 26th aircraft

(estimated ready time – late 2010), VASO will

be able to do without Ukrainian-made com-

ponents in the An-148 production.

At the same time, there are plans to

encourage more Russian plants to take

part under the An-148 programme due to

VASO’s future growing commitments to

other programmes, e.g. productionising of

the Ilyushin Il-112V tactical transport tur-

boprop, participation in the Il-76’s produc-

tion in Russia, making composite compo-

nents for Sukhoi SuperJet 100, continued

production of the Il-96s, etc. Therefore,

production of F1 fuselage sections, hatches

and doors are to be vested with the aircraft

plant in Saratov and that of the wing centre

section to Aviakor in Samara. Samara-based

Aviaagregat will supply landing gear. VASO

will retain production of F2 and F3 fuselage

sections, wing, high-lift devices, empen-

nage, engine nacelles, nacelle pylons and

all composite parts and final assembly as

well.

The measures being taken to renovate the

production facilities and manufacture the rig-

ging will result in VASO building 18 An-148

airliners in 2010 (an aircraft per month in ear-

lier 2010 and two per month later in the year).

The output will achieve the expected 36 air-

craft a year (three a month) in 2011 and will

have remained so at least until 2015. This is to

help UAC to meet its target – having VASO

make 96 aircraft of the type during 2008-12

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

17 w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u take-off july 2008

and 108 follow-on airliners during 2013-15 (a

total of 204 An-148s in eight coming years).

The developer estimates the An-148’s total

market capacity until 2022 at 590 units in

various variants. 270 of them (46 per cent)

may be procured by Russian carriers, 110

(19 per cent) by those in other CIS countries,

including Ukraine intent on carrying on the

An-148’s production both independently at

the Kiev-based Aviant plant and in coop-

eration with Russia, 150 planes (25 per cent)

could be exported to Asia, Africa and the

Middle East and 60 (10 per cent) to Europe

and America.

It is important that in addition to the base-

line An-148-100B (now being production-

ised) designed to seat 68–73 passengers in

the two-class cabin or 75 in the single-class

layout (80–85 if the seats are set real close) and

its An-148-100E extended-range as well as

An-148-100A shorter-range versions, a whole

family of airliners is to be promoted on the

market while featuring a considerable design,

powerplant, avionics and service systems com-

monality. During the unveiling of the An-148

programme in Voronezh, Antonov Designer

General Dmitry Kiva for the first time went

into detail on the ‘stretch’ – the An-148-200 –

featuring two fuselage plugs 1.7 m long, which

will increase the seating capacity to 86–89

passengers in the two-class cabin and to 92–99

seats in the single-class one. According to

Dmitry Kiva, the first An-148-200 may be

furnished for testing already next year.

In addition, the An-148-100ABJ (ABJ

stands for Antonov Business Jet) bizjet featur-

ing enhanced comfort and extended range is

planned to be derived from the An-148-100.

Depending on the layout of its cabin, the

An-148-100ABJ will be able to seat 10, 14,

18, 28 or 39 passengers comfortably. On the

customer’s request, the production An-148’s

versions carrying different avionics suites (for

example, those from Honeywell or Collins)

and powered by some other powerplants (e.g.

CF34-10, BR710, SaM146, etc.) may well be

developed.

A separate group of the An-148’s future deriv-

atives may involve adaptation of the aircraft for

cargo hauling. The simplest of the versions is the

An-148C-100 with a carrying capacity of just

over 10 t and a side cargo door. A more impres-

sive derivative, which retains a high degree of

commonality with the An-148-100 airliner and,

as far as some of the systems are concerned,

An-74 transport, is the An-148T multirole

freighter with a lifting capacity of 13.5 t and a

cargo ramp in the rear. Finally, a further aircraft

in the line of cargo planes of the An-148 family

may be the advanced An-148T-100 transport

having the 20 tonne carrying capacity, a larger

fuselage cross-section and a takeoff weight of 62 t

(the An-148T has that of 45 t). An increase in the

aircraft’s dimensions necessitates a more radical

change to its design and a more efficient pow-

erplant (fitting the aircraft with the 11,000 kgf

AI-727M engines is under consideration). The

An-148T and An-148T-100 may serve the base

some time in the future for developing a wide

range of derivatives for various applications and

versions powered by other engines or carrying

other avionics.

However, all of the above is the matters

of the future. So far, VASO in Voronezh is

assembling the lead production An-148-100.

Anyway, what was shown at the plant as well

as new deal clinched on that day is a cause of

some optimism as for the future of the An-148

programme on the Russian market. “A lot

of preparations have preceded the signature

of these agreements today. We are certain

VASO has everything it needs – all technologi-

cal, financial and economic capabilities – to

launch full-rate production of the An-148.

The programme is among the first endeav-

ours sponsored and guaranteed by UAC. It

is not unimportant to us that the An-148’s

production in Voronezh is an element of the

revival of the company that will become a

key participant in several UAC’s promising

programmes, once it has completed its tech-

nological upgrade. The programme enjoys the

immediate support by the federal and regional

authorities”, UAC President Alexey Fyodorov

said in Voronezh on 27 June.

Existing cooperation

for An-148 production

VASO

Aviant

KSAMC

Prospective cooperation

for An-148 production in Russia

VASO

Saratov plant

Aviakor

Aviaagregat

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

18

Early in May, the new Ilyushin

Il-76TD-90SW transport aircraft

(c/n 9309) flew its maiden sortie

from the factory airfield of the

Tashkent Aircraft Production

Corp. named after Valery Chkalov

(TAPC). It was powered by

PS-90A-76 engines from the Perm

Engine Company. TAPC built the

aircraft on order from Azeri carrier

Silk Way Airlines and it is the

second freighter of the type the

customer has ordered. The first

Il-76TD-90SW (c/n 9307), which

differs from earlier-made Il-76TDs

in being powered by Perm Engine

Company PS-90A-76 engines,

was built in Tashkent in 2006 and

delivered to the Azeri air carrier

last year to be given registration

number 4K-AZ100 (see the photo).

Flight tests of the second Azeri

aircraft are slated for completion in

mid-summer, after which it will be

ferried to the customer. Azerbaijan

has already given it registration

number 4K-AZ101. Silk Way

Airlines is among the largest private

carriers in Azerbaijan. It handles

charter and scheduled operations

worldwide using an Il-76TD and

An-12 fleet.

It is noteworthy that this aircraft

is the fourth Il-76 built in Tashkent

over the past three years powered

with advanced PS-90A-76 engines

fit for services to the European

Union and North America. Two more

aircraft of the type, designated as

Il-76TD-90VD, have been operated

by Russian airline Volga-Dnepr

with success.

Second Il-76TD-90 built for Azerbaijan

On 30 May, the United Aircraft

Corporation (UAC) announced

that it had set up a subsidiary to

productionise and sell commercial

aircraft. The subsidiary is

called the UAC – Civil Aircraft

management company. “The

100-per cent subsidiary will allow

establishing a single centre on the

Russian market, responsible for

development, production, sales

and aftersale maintenance of

commercial aircraft”, UAC’s press

release reads.

UAC’s production programme

and the ensuing hike in production

calls for pooling the production

facilities, massing key resources,

expediting technical upgrading

programmes and changing

the production partnership

arrangements. In addition, the

corporation needs to arrange a

new commercial aircraft selling

and aftersale support system

aimed at revealing and meeting

the customer’s needs.

In line with the resolution of

UAC’s board of directors, the

office of Director General of the

management company shall

be initially assumed by Alexey

Fyodorv, UAC’s president and

chairman of the board.

Having set up the management

company, UAC direct responsive

control of a considerable increase

in the civil aircraft output provided

for by the UAC Development

Strategy Guidelines through

2025 and civil aircraft production

schedule for 2008–12 approved by

the federal executive authorities.

The management company takes

over control of sales, including

making contracts with airlines on

behalf of UAC for aircraft deliveries

and managing the production and

aftersale support of the Tupolev

Tu-204/214, Tu-334, Antonov

An-148, Ilyushin Il-96 and Il-114

aircraft families. At present, the

economic performance of the

manufacturers of these aircraft

do not meet the requirements

of UAC, and a problem facing

the management company is to

boost the profit margin of the

existing aircraft models through

slashing production costs in the

first place.

In accordance with UAC’s

plans, investment in the technical

upgrading of the commercial

aircraft manufacturers through

2010 is to total about 10 billion

rubles (over $400 million). The

bulk of money will be carved up

by the VASO and KAPO joint stock

companies and Aviastar-SP close

corporation. UAC – Civil Aircraft

will control investment cash flows

and take care the money is spent

effectively under UAC’s strategy of

technical upgrading.

UAC – Civil Aircraft management company established

III

Another meeting of the board of directors of United Aircraft Corp., chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and UAC Chairman of the Board Sergey Ivanov, took place on 28 May in Moscow. In the run-up to the annual general meeting of stockholders of UAC, the board of directors approved a preliminary annual report for 2007 and annual accounts of the corporation. It was noted that UAC had started with a capital of 97 billion rubles (about $4 billion) last year, and its capitalisation had stood at 110 billion rubles ($4.5 billion) by late 2007, i.e. the cost of a share had increased by 13 per cent. UAC’s preliminary consolidated proceeds in 2007 accounted to about $100 billion rubles ($4 billion). The total profit generated by the corporation’s members was almost 8.5 billion rubles (about $350 million). The parent company’s 2007 net profit, exclusive of its subsidiaries, exceeded 121 million (around $5 million).

III

The annual general meeting of stockholders of the Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant (UUAP) on 27 May approved the handover of the functions of the sole executing agency of the company to the Helicopters of Russia JSC. The resolution stemmed from the policies on centralising the functions of managing Russia’s helicopter industry. Earlier this year, Helicopters of Russia has been approved as the management company for the Mil Helicopter Plant, Kamov, Vperyod company and Stupino Machinebuilding Production Company. Leonid Belykh retained his job of UUAP Director General.

III

A new Tupolev Tu-214 aircraft (RA-64515) made its first flight from the airfield of the Kazan Aircraft Production Association (KAPO) on 27 April. The aircraft is the Tu-214SR relay variant ordered by the administrative department of the Office of the President of the Russian Federation. The Tu-214SR became the first of six new Tu-214-family aircraft designed to operate in support of top Russian officials. According to the Kommersant daily, once the tests have been completed, the aircraft will be delivered to the customer, joining the ‘presidential’ fleet operating as part of the Rossiya air company. The Kommersant reports that the second aircraft of the type, which is being built by KAPO, could be delivered in October or November this year.

in brief

Felix

Mayer

Phazotron NIIR CorporationOpen Joint Stock Company

1 Elektrichesky Pereulok, Moscow 123557Phone: +7 495 253 56 13. Fax: +7 495 253 04 95E−mail: phaza@aha.ru Web: www.phazоtron.com

take-off july 2008 w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u

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

20

Stage 3 of the programme on

testing the advanced Phazotron-NIIR

Zhuk-AE multirole active

electronically scanned array (AESA)

radar kicked off in late June. The

corporation’s Director General Yuri

Guskov told Take-off that the radar

had been again mounted on board

the MiG-35’s demonstrator (aircraft

number 154) earlier in the month

following a series of lab tests and

improvements and now has entered

flight trials. The tests are aimed at

gauging the general operation of the

radar and its basic performance in

air-to-air and air-to-surface modes

on board the aircraft.

As was reported by Take-off

earlier, Phazotron-NIIR has been

developing the Zhuk-AE active

electronically scanned array radar to

fit the heavily upgraded Generation

4++ MiG-35 fighter that MiG Corp.

offered in the Indian Air Force-held

tender for 126 advanced multirole

medium fighters under the MMRCA

programme (for details on the

Zhuk-AE, see Take-off, February

2007, p.30). A Zhuk-AE prototype

had been mounted on MiG-35

demonstrator No. 154 for the first

time by early 2007 and displayed as

part of the aircraft at the Aero India

air show in Bangalore in February

2007, becoming Russia’s first true

AESA radar on board an aircraft

and causing quite a stir among

Indian experts.

Given the peculiarities of the

nose section of MiG-35 prototype

No 154, the first Zhuk-AE example

had an active phased array 575 mm

in diameter, which provided for 680

transmit-receive (T-R) modules 5W

each (a total of 170 quad-pack

modules) produced by Mikran

scientific production company

in the city of Tomsk. At the first

and second stages of the test

programme, which were held last

year along with a series of lab tests

and improvements, the designers

checked the radar’s integration

and interaction with other systems

onboard MiG-35 prototype and

conducted the radar’s first in-flight

activation with a limited number

of T-R modules installed. Special

attention was paid to testing the

radar’s power supply and cooling

systems that, along with active

T-R modules proper, are the most

critical systems of the AESA radar.

At the same time, rig tests were

being run to refine power supply

modules (that total 23 as part of the

Zhuk-AE) and other systems of the

cutting-edge radar.

At this stage of the trials, the

Zhuk-AE is so far equipped with an

incomplete set of T-R modules (about

a third of the number required) that

will nonetheless, is quite enough to

appraise the operation of the AESA

radar on board an aircraft and prove

its basic characteristics through an

experiment. The decision was taken

due to a possibility of an accidental

failure of the whole set of expensive

T-R modules (a T-R module costs in

the neighbourhood of $1,500) due

to a commonplace glitch during the

trials and unavoidable slippage of

the programme behind the schedule

as long as new T-R modules are

made (this takes some time due to

technological peculiarities).

During the third stage of flight tests

onboard the MiG-35 demonstrator,

the new Zhuk-AE radar will be fitted

with the full set of T-R modules for

the final development and large-scale

testing as part of the fighter. According

to Yuri Guskov, introduction of the

final variant of the Zhuk-AE to the

MiG-35 prototype may take place

this summer, and, following relevant

tests and refinements, the MiG-35

carrying the full-fledged Zhuk-AE

AESA radar will have been provided

to the Indian Air Force before

year-end for evaluation tests in line

with the tender’s requirements. To

speed up the flight trials of the AESA

radar and the fighter as a whole,

MiG Corp. is about to make several

MiG-35 prototypes and order several

Zhuk-AE radars from Phazotron-NIIR

to fit them.

Concurrently, Phazotron-NIIR

Corp. is researching into further

development of the AESA radar,

particularly, it is going to get back

to the initial variant of the radar with

the 688 mm active phased array

made up by 1,064 T-R modules and

switch to advanced T-R modules

with radiated power double that of

the current ones. A special high-tech

production facility is being built near

the city of Tomsk to make active T-R

modules to make up at least three

dozen active phased-array radars a

year. According to Yuri Guskov, this

number is quite enough to sustain the

MiG-35 programme in case the fighter

comes on top in the Indian tender. It

also is important that the Russian Air

Force has displayed interest in the

Zhuk AESA radar as well. According

to Phazotron-NIIR’s Director General,

satisfied with testing the Zhuk-ME

on the MiG-29SMT fighter, RusAF is

eyeing further upgrade of its MiG-29

fleet, with upgrades including the

introduction of AESA radars from

Phazotron-NIIR.

Phazotron launches third stage of AESA trials

Pio

tr B

uto

wski

Pio

tr B

uto

wski

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

22

A new Kamov Ka-52 two-seat

combat helicopter – the first aircraft of

the type built by the Arsenyev-based

Progress aircraft-making company –

made its maiden flight from the factory

airfield on 27 June. Until then, only

the Ka-52 prototype built by Kamov’s

prototype manufacture division near

Moscow had been undergoing tests,

having flown for the first time on

25 June 1997.

The importance of the event

was highlighted by the first flight of

Progress’s first production Ka-52 was

attended by Russian Helicopters JSC

Director General Andrey Shibitov and

his first deputy Igor Pshenichny, Kamov

Designer General Sergey Mikheyev and

other representatives of the developer.

According to Andrey Shibitov,

the completion of the first Ka-52 by

Progress and the machine’s kick-off

of the test programme are “a hallmark

event for the Russian helicopter

industry”.

“The Ka-52 is a priority in the

product range of the Russian

Helicopters holding company as a

machine designed for the Russian

Defence Ministry”, the head of Russian

Helicopters said.

After its first flight, the new Ka-52

was given to Kamov for debugging.

The development work on it is to be

complete by September this year, when

the first Ka-52 made by Progress begins

its official trials. According to Progress

Director General Yuri Denisenko,

the company will launch full-scale

production of the aircraft this year, with

the government having already ordered

some number of Ka-52s.

New Ka-52 has flown

A modified MiG-AT jet trainer

powered by an advanced

Russian-made RD-1700 turbofan

instead of one of its two organic

French-made Larzac engines flew its

maiden mission from the airfield of

the Gromov LII institute in Zhukovsky,

Moscow Region, on 27 June. The

Soyuz TMKB Tushino-based design

bureau designed the engine. It

was built and bench-tested by the

Chernyshev Moscow Machinebuilding

Enterprise that funds the whole of

the programme on developing and

testing the new engine. Under the

programme, the plant has made nine

RD-1700 prototypes.

The first MiG-AT trainer prototype

(side number 821) was selected for the

engine’s flight tests after it had completed

the test programme that commenced in

March 1996 and involved two Larzac

engines. Thus, the MiG-AT turns into

a flying testbed for trying advanced

engines (the second aircraft with side

number 823 is to start testing in the

near future another Russian-developed

turbofan – the AL-55I under development

by NPO Saturn on order from the Indian

Air Force).

MiG Corp.’s test pilot Oleg

Antonovich, who holds the title of Hero

of Russia, flew the RD-1700-powered

MiG-AT on its maiden sortie. He

checked the operation of the new

powerplant in various modes on a

35-min. mission flown at an altitude

of up to 3,000 m. According to

Antonovich, the RD-1700 worked

without a hitch.

MiG-AT powered by RD-1700 starts trials

Come August, the MC-21 short/

medium-haul airliner development

programme is to pass the second

‘gate’, i.e. the stage of conceptual

design, which is to be submitted to the

UAC and the government for approval.

Oleg Demchenko, president of Irkut

Corp., the prime contractor under the

MC-21 programme, announced the

news at the recent ILA 2008 air show

in Berlin. At the same time, a pool of

subcontractors is to be determined

and a tender for a powerplant to

be released. It is known so far

that the MC-21’s prime contractor

is the Yakovlev design bureau, a

member of Irkut corp. Another of

Irkut’s subsidiaries, Beriev company,

is to develop the empennage and

the Sukhoi company has landed a

contract on designing the composite

wing known as the ‘black’ wing.

The ‘black’ wing is to be a feature

of the MC-21, being a highest risk of

the programme at the same time. “It is

Risk No. 1”, stresses Demchenko, “but

production of composites is needed

not only under this programme. It is

needed by Russia in a wider sense.

Production of composites should

become a national programme

in Russia unrelated to any specific

aircraft development project. This

should be done by the government,

because even our corporation, which

is quite successful, cannot take on

the problem single-handedly”. Overall,

composites are to make up 40 per

cent of the MC-21’s structure.

In September, after the MC-21

passes the second ‘gate’, Irkut plans to

launch the initial designing that could

be completed in 2009 with passing

another – the third – gate. Then detail

designing can kick off.

Oleg Demchenko noted that under

the business plan, the programme was

to start paying off after the 200th aircraft

was delivered. Actually, it might be a

tad more complicated, with the main

risk here being the continuous growth

of prices of metal and components.

Therefore, until the layout has been

approved, Irkut is making preliminary

inquiries with air carriers without any

commitments. However, the money

allocated by the government is so

far enough to make a good, quality

airliner on time, Demchenko says. “I

would like to emphasise that there has

not been such large-scale programme

financing in post-Soviet Russia yet”,

Irkut’s boss remarked. Earlier, he

had said that 1.6 billion rubles (over

$65 million) were to be spent on the

MC-21 conceptual design stage in

2008 alone.

Overall, Irkut’s analysts expect that

the MC-21 market capacity may equal

1,000 aircraft, of which 600 units fall

on Russia where the advanced airliner

is to oust the huge fleet of obsolescent

avgas-guzzling Tu-154s in the first

place.

MC-21 gears up for second ‘gate’

Ale

xey M

ikheyev

Ka

mo

vV

lad

imir S

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erb

ako

v

i n d u s t r y | r e s u l t s

w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u24 take-off july 2008

According to Sukhoi’s 2007 annual report

published at the official corporate web site

(www.sukhoi.org) on 23 June, the bulk of the

sales revenues (71.3 per cent) fell on aircraft

exports that generated an income of 33.9 bil-

lion rubles (over $1.35 billion). Mention should

be made that the sum is almost a quarter

of the gross revenue from all 2007 Russian

arms exports, which earned Rosoboronexport

$6.1 billion. Of the money mentioned, Sukhoi

got $280 million out of services and aftersale

maintenance it is authorised to provide abroad

independently.

Last year’s success of Sukhoi in terms of export

revenues was due to both the current implemen-

tation of the contracts clinched with Venezuela

and India and the kick-off of the deliveries of

aircraft to two new customers, Malaysia and

Algeria. Under the former two deals, new batches

of KnAAPO-built Su-30MK2 fighters have been

shipped to Venezuela (in all, 12 aircraft) and

18 Su-30MKIs more went to India under the

contract, whose prime contractor is Irkut Corp.

In addition, Irkut delivered eight Su-30MKI kits

more for licence production in India. In 2007,

Malaysia and Algeria took delivery of their first

Sukhoi fighters – six Su-30MKMs and four

Su-30MKAs from Irkut as well.

This year, deliveries under the contracts will

continue, with two of them to be completed.

KnAAPO is going to ship the last batch of

24 Su-30MK2s ordered to Venezuela in the

summer. 12 Su-30MKM fighters more will have

been delivered from Irkutsk to Malaysia before

year-end, with the fleet of the fighters of the

type in RMAF’s inventory to total 18. Irkut will

also keep on deliveries of complete Su-30MKIs

and their assembly kits for licence production

in India and will ship more Su-30MKAs to

SUKHOI BOLSTERS ITS LEADERSHIPSukhoi is recognised as the major Russian aircraft manufacturer based on its 2007 performanceIn mid-June, Russian independent analytical organisation Centre for Analysis of Strategy and Technology (CAST), a specialist

in assessing the state and providing estimates of arms exports, published its annual rating of Russia’s major companies

based on the military materiel output in 2007. The Sukhoi holding company was rated by CAST as the first among Russian

aircraft manufacturers with its income having more than doubled last year. Sukhoi’s revenue in 2007 was 47.7 billion rubles

(over $1.9 billion) – a 2.6-fold increase over 2006 and almost half of the gross aircraft sales of the United Aircraft Corporation

(UAC), which unites all major Russian military and commercial aircraft makers, and more than 20 per cent of the gross revenue

from the whole Russian aircraft industry. Sukhoi’s net income surged by almost 12 times, totalling 4 billion rubles (over $160

million), which makes up almost a quarter of the profits of all of UAC’s subsidiaries and more than quarter of those of the

domestic aircraft industry as a whole. Sukhoi made such a good production and commercial progress owing to its export

success last year in the first place (about 50 Su-30MK aircraft were delivered last year) and the growing volume of work the

company carried out under the State Defence Procurement Programme.

Andrey FOMIN

Ale

xey M

ikheyev

i n d u s t r y | r e s u l t s

25 w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u take-off july 2008

Algeria. According to Irkut Corp. President Oleg

Demchenko, the Irkutsk Aircraft Plant’s pro-

duction plan for 2008 provides for making 36

Su-30MKI/MKM/MKA fighters. In addition to

making the final Su-30MK2s for Venezuela, the

plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, for its part, is to

deliver three Su-30MK2s this year under a new

contract made with Indonesia in August 2007,

with another three Su-27SKM single-seaters

to be delivered to Indonesia in 2009 under the

contract. Thus, the total Sukhoi fighter output in

2008 is estimated at about 50 units.

Actually, this correlates with the estimate by

authoritative US analytical company Forecast

International saying the market capacity for

Sukhoi fighters in 2008–12 is 177 aircraft, or

over 12 per cent of the global market’s segment

in question that Forecast International esti-

mated at 1,449 aircraft. According to Forecast

International, Sukhoi in the near future will

rank fourth in the world in terms of fighter sales,

trailing only Lockheed Martin (estimated 346

aircraft, or 23.9 per cent), Eurofighter (290 units,

or 20 per cent) and China’s Chengdu (228 war-

planes, or 15.7 per cent) and leading even Boeing

(159 fighters, or 11 per cent).

However, to maintain such a sales level on

the global market, the Su-30MK family’s fight-

ers that are all the rage with customers today

may turn out to not enough. Certainly, various

variants of there are going to be in produc-

tion under the existing and future contracts for

some years more. For instance, the delivery of

28 Su-30MKIs to Algeria are planned to be

complete in 2009, but the country is pondering

ordering 14–18 aircraft of the type more. Irkut

will have delivered its Su-30MKI assembly kits

to India even longer – until 2014 at the least.

However, to increase the export capabilities and

land new orders for the fighters of the Sukhoi

family, a heavy upgrade with the use of fifth-gen-

eration technologies is needed. Such an upgrade

has been performed, and the first prototype of

the Su-35 designed to succeed the Su-30MK in

the next decade conducted its first flight on 19

February this year (for details see Take off, May

2008, p. 24–29).

Featuring a number of considerable design

improvements aimed at enhancing reliability

and extending service life, the Su-35 is powered

by advanced NPO Saturn 117S engines with

a 16 per cent thrust increase and thrust vector

control and is fitted with a cutting-edge avion-

ics suite wrapped around the Tikhomirov-NIIP

Irbis-E phased-array radar unique in terms of

target acquisition range. The aircraft also mount

an extensive weapons suite comprising latest

air-launched weapons. Next two prototypes are

being completed in Komsomolsk-on-Amur.

Once their tests have been completed, KnAAPO

plans to launch the Su-35 production in

2010–11. Several potential buyers have shown

interest in the Su-35. According to the regional

press, Venezuela and a Middle Eastern country

may be launch customers. Sukhoi’s hopes of

returning to the Chinese market are pegged on

this aircraft as well.

Overall, Sukhoi’s annual report reads, the

company is going to retain its positions on the

warplane market until 2015 through carrying

on with Su-30MK (Su-27SKM) deliveries and

launching Su-35 production. To bolster these

positions in 2016–25, Sukhoi is working on the

development of a fifth-generation fighter. PAK

FA is intended to meet the requirements of the

Russian Air Force in the first place. However,

the fifth-generation fighter’s export version may

hit the global market from the later next dec-

ade. In this connection, 18 October 2007 was

a milestone, with Russia and India signing an

intergovernmental agreement on joint fifth-gen-

eration fighter development and production.

Sukhoi and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL)

were earmarked as prime contractors. After that,

Indian delegations have paid numerous visits to

Russia, specifically to the Sukhoi design bureau

and KnAAPO. The latter started making the

first prototypes of the PAK FA last December.

Sukhoi’s representatives have gone to India a few

times to visit HAL. The talks covered the basic

issues of joint development and production of

the fifth-generation fighter, and a finalised con-

tract on it may be made in the near future.

According to experts, the Russian-Indian

fifth-generation fighter in terms of configura-

tion and powerplant will be a derivative of the

PAK FA whose prototype is slated for maid-

en flight in 2009. It also will use individual

Indian-developed systems. The Russian-Indian

next-generation warplane development pro-

gramme implies both its joint financing and

joint manufacture by KnAAPO and HAL. Such

aircraft are expected to enter service not only

with the Indian Air Force, but with the air forces

of third parties as well.

The second component of last year’s sales

proceeds and income growth of Sukhoi is an

increase in the work under the State Defence

Procurement Programme. As is known, the

share of Sukhoi warplanes in the tactical fleet

of the Russian Air Force has exceeded 60 per

cent to date, with the tactical bomber and attack

aircraft fleets as well as the Russian Navy’s

fighters arm operating Sukhoi aircraft only. It

is an open secret that deliveries of new combat

aircraft to the Russian Air Force virtually ceased

in the early 1990s but the recently adopted State

Defence Procurement Programme through 2015

provides not only for overhaul and upgrade of the

existing aircraft but for a gradual switch to newly

built warplanes deliveries.

In 2001–03, Sukhoi began a drastic upgrade

of the Su-25 attack aircraft, Su-24M bombers

and Su-27 fighters. The Russian Air Force’s

Combat and Conversion Training Centre

(CCTC) in Lipetsk took delivery of the first

Deliveries of main types of fighters in 2007

Su-30MK Su-27SM F-15E F-16C/D F-18E/F/G F-22

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Fighters deliveries forecast for 2008–2012

(source: Forecast International)

Lockheed Martin(F-16)34624%

Eurofighter(EF2000 Typhoon)

29020%

Cengdu(FC-1, J-10)

22816%

Sukhoi(Su-27/30/35)

17712%

Boeing(F-15, F-18)

15911%

Others(MiG-29/35,

Gripen, Rafale, etc.)24917%

KnAAPO(Su-30MK2)

Irkut(Su-30MKI,

MKM, MKA)

export deliveries

deliveries to national Air Force

KnAAPO

i n d u s t r y | r e s u l t s

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two Su-25SM attack aircraft last year, with

the 121st Aircraft Repair Plant in the Kubinka

town upgrading Su-25s using the Sukhoi design

bureau’s documentation. The Novosibirsk

Aircraft Production Association (NAPO) start-

ed the so-called series upgrade of Su-24M tacti-

cal bombers in 2007 and handed six upgraded

Su-24M2s to RusAF, of which four were fielded

with a bomber air regiment in the Russian Far

East and two with CCTC in Lipetsk.

KnAAPO carried on with overhauling and

upgrading RusAF’s Su-27 fighters. In 2003 and

2004–06, the company gave back five and then

24 Su-27SM fighters more to the Air Force

that fielded them with CCTC and a fighter air

regiment in the Russian Far East respectively.

In 2007, KnAAPO launched upgrading the

Su-27s of a second RusAF fighter regiment to

Su-27SM standard by delivering the first eight

Su-27SMs to a Guards fighter air regiment

in the Primorsky Territory. These efforts shall

continue this year.

In addition, sizeable deliveries of warplanes

to the Russian Air Force began in 2007 finally.

Last year, the first two production Su-34 tacti-

cal strike aircraft, which were built by NAPO

in 2006 and accepted by RusAF in the same

year, were delivered to the service last year. One

of them has continued the official test pro-

gramme at the Defence Ministry Main Flight

Test Centre (GLITs) in Akhtubinsk, while the

other is being scrutinised by flying and ground

crews at CCTC in Lipetsk. This aircraft with

side number 02 participated in the flypast over

Red Square in Moscow during the Victory Day

Parade on 9 May 2008. A five-year governmen-

tal contract on fielding production Su-34s with

RusAF is in the pipeline. Russian Vice-Premier

Sergey Ivanov has repeatedly said that as many

as 58 such aircraft will have been delivered to

RusAF until 2015, with their production to

continue afterwards.

The State Defence Procurement Programme

also makes provision for deliveries of newly

built Su-27SM2 (Su-35) fighters to RusAF

after 2010–11 and for launching deliveries of

first fifth-generation fighters after 2015 follow-

ing the completion of the PAK FA’s official

trials and KnAAPO’s launch of its full-scale

production in cooperation with NAPO. “The

development and production of warplanes for

the Russian Defence Ministry, including the

upgrade of the Su-24 and Su-27 and pro-

duction of the advanced Su-34, Su-27SM2

and PAK FA, and for export (Su-32, Su-35,

Su-27SKM and Su-30MK) are high on the

holding company’s priority list”, reads Sukhoi’s

annual report. Owing to that, the company is

going to achieve one of its strategic objectives

– “driving [Sukhoi’s] tactical warplane share of

the global market up to 10–12 per cent”.

However, consolidating the positions on

Sukhoi’s traditional combat aircraft market

is not the only priority of Sukhoi. Another

is “the positioning of the holding company

by 2015 as a centre of global commercial

aircraft production in the regional aircraft

class”. The task is to be fulfilled in the near

future with productionising the advanced

regional airliner, the Sukhoi SuperJet 100

(SSJ100), under development in close coop-

eration with numerous foreign majors. Last

year, the SSJ100 programme passed several

key milestones – the first prototype entered

and passed most of its static tests, the first

flying prototype was rolled out and new firm

orders were snagged, including first orders

from foreign carriers.

This year is expected to become a most

difficult for the SSJ100 programme. The

SuperJet’s first flying prototype conducted

its long-awaited maiden flight on 19 May and

is to begin its certification tests in July, with

three more flying prototypes being completed

by KnAAPO now to join it during the com-

ing six months. The certification programme

is to be wrapped up in the first half of 2009

when deliveries of the production SSJ00s may

commence. To date, Sukhoi’s order book

has swelled to 73 firm orders. The estimated

SSJ100 output rate is to stand at 60–70 air-

craft a year by 2010–11, and the airliner’s

total market capacity is estimated at least at

800 aircraft for the near 20 years, of which

about 500 may be exported (for more details

on the state and prospects of the SuperJet 100

see a separate article in this issue).

Owing to the SSJ100 programme, Sukhoi

plans to “establish the holding company as a

leader on the global commercial aircraft market

in 2016–25”, with its share of the global region-

al aircraft production growing up to 18–20 per

cent, Sukhoi’s annual report maintains.

Firm orders backlog for 70-100-seat regional jets (as for early 2008)

Embraer E-jet Bombardier CRJ Sukhoi SuperJet

(E170/175, (CRJ700/705, (SSJ100/95)

E190/195) 900,1000)

500

450

400

350

300

250

200

150

100

50

00

430

155

73

Yevg

eny Y

ero

khin

Sukh

oi

w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u28 take-off july 2008

Tactical Missiles Corp. unites most of Russian

developers of guided missiles fitting fixed-wing

and rotary-wing aircraft in service with both the

Russian and foreign militaries. The corpora-

tion’s subsidiaries are the manufacturers of both

all up-to-date Russian air-to-air guided mis-

siles carried by fighters (R-73E dogfight mis-

sile, various variants of the RVV-AE and R-27

medium-range missiles and R-33E long-range

missile from the Vympel design bureau) and

a wide range of tactical air-to-surface guided

missiles (Kh-25M short-range missile fam-

ily from the corporation’s headquarters com-

pany, Kh-29L/T short-range missile from the

Vympel design bureau, Kh-25MP and Kh-31P

antiradiation missiles from the headquarters

company and Kh-58E from Raduga design

bureau, Kh-31A and Kh-35E antiship missiles

from the headquarters company and Kh-59MK

from Raduga, etc.) and also a whole number of

KAB-500 and KAB-1500 smart bombs with

various guidance packages from Region com-

pany.

The performance of the missiles is on a

par with those of advanced Western designs,

however, to meet market requirements better

and enhance the effectiveness of upgraded and

cutting-edge aircraft, Tactical Missiles Corp.’s

have been for several years both developing rad-

ically novel guided weapon types and upgrading

the existing missiles and guided bombs heav-

ily. The efforts have been under way under the

comprehensive air-launched weapons develop-

ment programme devised by Tactical Missiles

Corp. and its partners in 2006, the corpora-

tion’s President Boris Obnosov said during

the MAKS 2007 air show last August. “Under

the State Armament Programme for 2007–15,

which was approved in December 2006, more

than 60 billion rubles (approx. $2.5 billion) will

be allocated for air-launched weapon develop-

ment”, said Vladislav Putilin, deputy chair-

man of the Military Industrial Commission

under the Russian government. For instance,

the funding of the research and development

into air-launched weapons was to be increased

by 2–2.5 times last year.

Tactical Missiles Corp. unveiled several

newly developed and upgraded tactical guided

missiles, which are in development under the

comprehensive air-launched weapon develop-

ment programme, at the MAKS 2007 air show

(Take-off, November 2007, p. 17). They includ-

ed the new-generation Kh-38ME modular tac-

In early June, the Tactical Missiles Corp. launched a campaign to promote a number of latest air-launched guided missiles on

the market. The weapons promoted include the new-generation Kh-38ME air-launched modular guided missile and several

heavy upgrades, including the Kh-58UShKE antiradiation missile equipped with a wideband passive radar homer, Kh-59MK2

air-launched guided missile with a self-contained target area recognition capability and KAB-1500LG-F-E laser beam-riding

smart bomb. The corporation’s Web site features detailed enough description of the weapons designed to fit the upgraded

Generation 4++ Su-35 and MiG-35 fighters, which are undergoing trials, and a future fifth-generation fighter. Over time, they

might make their way to the weapons suites of the advanced Su-34 tactical strike aircraft and its export derivative Su-32 and

latest derivatives of the global market’s bestseller, the Su-30MK family, as well.

NEW WEAPONS NEW WEAPONS FOR NEW FIGHTERSTactical Missiles Corp. kicks off advertising campaign to promote cutting-edge guided weapons

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

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

29 w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u take-off july 2008

tical air-to-air missile, modified Kh-58UShKE

antiradiation missile and upgraded Kh-31AD

antiship missile. However, no characteristics

of theirs were disclosed at the time. For various

reasons, some other sophisticated air-launched

weapons were not displayed at MAKS 2007,

though permission was granted by the presiden-

tial decree dated 21 August 2007 (see the official

Web site of the Russian president at www.krem-

lin.ru). It took the developers almost a year to

cut through the red tape. Finally, the corpora-

tion has managed to have advertising passports

approved for several of advanced air-launched

weapons. This allowed some detail on their

characteristics to be published.

Among the latest designs from Tactical

Missiles Corp., the family of new-generation

Kh-38ME modular multirole short-range

air-to-surface missiles under development by

the corporation’s headquarters company will

certainly be turn quite a few heads. According

to the corporation’s Web site (www.ktrv.ru),

the weapons are designed to kill a wide range

of armoured, hard and soft single and multiple

ground targets and surface threats in the littorals

as well. “The Kh-38ME’s beefed-up perform-

ance is ensured through developing a modular

line of missiles packing various combinations

of guidance systems and warheads”, Tactical

Missiles Corp.’s Web site says.

The model line includes four basic versions:

- Kh-38MLE with a combined guidance

system made up by the INS and semiactive laser

homing head;

- Kh-38MKE with a combined guidance

system made up by the INS and satnav update

capability;

- Kh-38MTE with a combined guidance sys-

tem made up by the INS and heat-seeker;

- Kh-38MAE with a combined guidance

system made up by the INS and active radar

homer.

Over time, the Kh-38ME variants are to

oust the corporation’s existing versions of the

Kh-25M and Kh-29 missiles from Russian war-

planes’ weapons suites. In terms of the dimen-

sions, the new weapon is to occupy a niche

between them, with the Kh-38ME’s launch

weight to equal 520 kg (the Kh-25M’s weight

hovers about 300 kg depending on the ver-

sion, while the Kh-29L/T weighs 660–690 kg

at launch). The Kh-38ME’s 250 kg warhead

is to have various types of payload. The mis-

sile measures 4.2 m in length and 310 mm in

diameter while the Kh-25ML and Kh-29L/T

being 3.7 m and 3.9 m long and 275 mm

and 380 mm in diameter respectively. The

Kh-38ME’s maximum range will be 40 km

(the Kh-25ML and Kh-29L have a range of up

to 10 km and only the upgraded Kh-29TE has

a range of 20–30 km). According to the Web

site of Tactical Missiles Corp., fixed-wing and

rotary-wing aircraft of various types will be able

to carry Kh-38ME missiles.

Another Tactical Missiles Corp. novelty

recently announced by the corporate Web site is

the Kh-59MK2 medium-range air-to-surface

missile being derived by the Raduga joint stock

company from the Kh-59MK radar homing

missile that is already known but is only enter-

ing full-rate production. The Kh-59MK, for

its part, is itself a derivative of the production

Kh-59ME tactical TV-guided air-to-ground

missile. By the way, unlike the Kh-38ME,

which full-scale mockup was displayed at

MAKS 2007, information on the Kh-59MK2

has been published for the first time.

According to the corporation’s Web site,

the Kh-59MK2 can be used in any season,

under the 10-3–105 lux condition and in any

terrain. The weapon is designed to kill a wide

range of static ground targets with known coor-

dinates, including those with no radar, infra-

red and optical signatures. The missile is a

fire-and-forget weapon reliant on autonomous

target area identification. The low-altitude

route is downloaded to the missile together

with its mission. The Kh-59MK2’s navigation

and self-contained control system is wrapped

around the BINS strapdown inertial naviga-

tion system, NAP satnav receiver and OE-M

electro-optical system. It provides a circular

error probable (CEP) of 3–5 m.

The Kh-59MK2 will have a launch weight of

up to 900 kg (the Kh-59ME’s and Kh-59MK’s

launch weight equals 930 kg), with the weight

of the penetrator or cluster-type warheads to

be 320 kg and 283 kg respectively. The mis-

sile is 5.7 m long, with its diameter measuring

380 mm (nose section – 420 mm) and its

wingspan standing at 1.3 m. The maximum

range is estimated at 285 km. The weapon

can be fired within the 200–11,000 m altitude

bracket with the launch platform travelling at a

speed of Mach 0.5–0.9. The target aspect angle

at launch may be up to ±45 deg. After launch,

the Kh-59MK2 will fly at a speed of 900–

1,050 km/h and at an altitude of 50–300 m

depending on the relief.

The advanced Raduga Kh-58UShKE anti-

radiation missile, which full-scale mockup

was unveiled at MAKS 2007, differs from the

known Kh-58E and Kh-58UShE missiles

in a sophisticated folding wing. The pop-up

wing enables the weapon to be launched from

both external weapon stores of the existing air-

craft and internal weapons bays. According to

Tactical Missiles Corp.’s Web site, in the former

case, Kh-58UShKE missiles will be attached to

AKU-58 catapult launchers and in the latter

case to UVKU-50 ones.

The Kh-58UShKE carries a wideband pas-

sive radar homing head operating in the A, A’,

B, B’ and C bands and a navigation/autono-

mous guidance system based on the BINS

Yevgeny YEROKHIN

photos by the author

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

w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u30 take-off july 2008

strapdown navigation system. The missile is

designed to eliminate ground radars operating

in pulse radiation mode in the 1.2–11GHz

band and in continuous radiation mode in the

A band. The missile can be launched at both

pre-programmed and pop-up radar targets. The

developer estimates the probability of the mis-

sile hitting within a circle with the 20 m radius,

within which the target sits in the centre, at 0.8

at least.

Like the Kh-58E and Kh-58UShE vari-

ants, the Kh-58UShKE has a launch weight of

650 kg, with its HE warhead weighing 149 kg.

The weapon is 4.19 m in length and 380 mm

in diameter, and its wing span measures 0.8 m

(the wing of the Kh-58E and Kh-58UShE with

organic delta wings spans 1.17 m). In case of

internal carriage, the lateral dimension of the

missile with the wings and empennage folded

drop to 0.4x0.4 m. When launched from under-

wing hardpoints at an altitude 200–20,000 m,

the missile has a maximum range of 76–245 km

(the range of the previous versions is within

200 km). The minimum range in case of the

200 m altitude launch is 10–12 km, with the

aircraft flying as fast as Mach 1.5 and the target

aspect angle at launch being up to ±15 deg. The

solid-propellant motor accelerates the weapon

to 4,200 km/h, or almost 1,200 m/s.

Tactical Missiles Corp. also provided infor-

mation on an advanced 1,500 kg guided bomb,

the KAB-1500LG-F-E with the gyro-stabi-

lised laser homing head (its predecessor, the

KAB-1500L, mounts the so-called ‘feathering’

gimballed laser homer). A full-scale mockup

of a smart bomb fitted with such a homer, the

500 kg KAB-500LG, was unveiled as far back

as in August 2003 during the MAKS 2003

air show. However, the lack of permits for

displaying bombs with such guidance systems

prevented further exhibiting of such weapons.

Recently, their developer Region has managed

to obtain an advertising passport for several of

its latest products, and Tactical Missiles Corp.

published data on the KAB-1500LG-F-E at

its Web site.

The 1,525 kg bomb with the 1,170 kg

HE warhead (HE fill weighs 440 kg) is

reported to be designed for eliminat-

ing stationary surface pinpoint targets

(reinforced-concrete shelters, railway and

motorway bridges, military and industrial

installations, ships, ammunition dumps, rail

junctions, etc.). Tactical aircraft – fight-

er-bombers and attack aircraft carrying laser

target designators – can use it round the

clock. The weapon has an impact fuse with

three degrees of delayed action. The CEP is

4–7 m. The bomb is 4.28 m long and

580 mm in diameter with the 0.85 m and

1.3-m wing span in the folded-wing and

extended-wing configurations respectively.

The KAB-1500LG-F-E is released from an

altitude ranging from 1 km to 8 km at the

carrier’s speed from 550 to 1,100 km/h.

Tactical Missiles Corp. has launched a

campaign to promote its latest weapons. For

instance, at the recent ILA 2008 air show

in Berlin, Russian aircraft corporation MiG

included many advanced weapons systems,

which had not been published before, into the

weapons suite of the latest heavily upgraded

version of MiG-29 family fighters it offers, the

MiG-35. In addition to the above Kh-38ME

(MLE/MKE/MTE/MAE) and Kh-59MK2

missiles, which data have been shown by

Tactical Missiles Corp.’s Web site, the MiG-35

booklet circulated at ILA 2008 mentioned some

other latest air-to-surface and air-to-air weap-

ons. Probably, more detail on these weapons is

to be expected to be given soon.

Basic characteristics of advanced air-to-surface missiles from

Tactical Missiles Corp.

Type Kh-38ME Kh-59MK2 Kh-58UShKE

Launch weight, kg

520 900 650

Warhead weight, kg

250 320/283 149

Maximum range, km

40 285 245

Length, m 4.2 5.7 4.19

Diameter, mm

310 380/420 380

Wing span, m

… 1.3 0.8/0.4

Guidance

INS +laser, satnav,

IR, active radar

homing

INS + satnav

+ optronic

INS+passive radar

homing

NEW-GEN TECHNOLOGIESTO SAFEGUARD YOUR SKIES

Russian Aircraft Corporation “MiG” has supplied over 1600 MiG-29 fi ghters to guard the skies of dozens countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and America. By combining the operational experience with the latest technological achievements RAC “MiG” has developed the new family of multirole combat aircraft. The MiGs’ superiority is secured by the newest AESA Radar, state-of-the-art optronic systems, up-to-date onboard self-defense suite, gravity-defying supermaneuverability and other innovations.

Russian Aircraft Corporation “MiG”Bld. 7, 1st Botkinsky proyezd, Moscow, 125284, RussiaPhone: +7 (495) 252-80-10Fax: +7 (495) 250-19-48www.rskmig.com

Vyacheslav BOGUSLAYEVChairman of the Board of Directors,Motor Sich JSC

Motor Sich JSC is one of the world leaders in

development, manufacture, testing, in-service

support and overhauling of engines for vari-

ous-purpose airplanes and helicopters operated

in more than 120 countries of the world.

The world-famous companies, such as

Antonov ANTK, Ilyushin Aviation Complex JSC,

Beriev TANTK JSC, Tupolev JSC, Yakovlev

Design Bureau, Kamov JSC, Mil MVZ JSC, Aero

Vodochody of Czech Republic and Hongdu of

China are among the main consumers of our

products. The biggest deliveries are channelled

to Russia, India, China, and Algeria. Systematic

efforts aimed at expanding our sales markets in

Asia and Latin America resulted in the increased

amount of exported products from Motor Sich

JSC.

Motor Sich JSC is the biggest multi-industry

science-intensive company in the field of devel-

opment and manufacture of up-to-date gas-tur-

bine engines and power-generating plants pos-

sessing all required Ukrainian and international

certificates and certified quality of production

facilities. The company continuously improves

the system of quality and has been granted cer-

tificates of the IAC Aviation Register and State

department of aviation transport of Ukraine.

All company’s products offered to the interna-

tional market feature high functional character-

istics and are manufactured on the certified pro-

duction basis. The quality system of Motor Sich

JSC has been certified by transnational company

Bureau Veritas Certification for compliance with

the requirements of International standard ISO

9001:2000 relating to production, repair and

maintenance of aeroengines, gas-turbine drives

and designing of gas-turbine power-generation

stations. The manufacture of up-to-date aero-

engines as well as overhaul of all engines pro-

duced earlier are certified by

IAC Aviation Register and

State department of aviation

transport of Ukraine. Motor

Sich JSC has been also

recognized by IAC Aviation

Register as a Development

Agency of aeroengines for

civil aircraft.

Motor Sich JSC is a unique

enterprise that accummulat-

ed the cutting-edge aviation

technologies, high-efficiency

equipment, intellectual and

production potential.

In different historical periods the company

mastered gradually series production of engines

for the needs of domestic aviation: begin-

ning from the first aircraft piston engines to

gas-turbine engines for the world-biggest Mi-26

helicopters and An-124 Ruslan and An-225

Mriya airplanes.

At present the major task of the company is

to manufacture engines for aircraft and indus-

trial plants competitive with the most up-to-date

products of the world industry leaders. At this

stage we make preparations for the quantity

production of aircraft engines such as D-27,

AI-222-25, AI-25TLSh, AI-450, D-36 Series 4A,

D-436-148, AI-450-MS for An-70, Yak-130,

An-74TK-300, An-148 airplanes and refurbish-

ment of Mi-2 and L-39 being operated now.

The engines of D-436 family produced by

Motor Sich JSC are the most up-to-date engines

in this class in the CIS countries. They meet

the most stringent standard requirements with

regard to cost-efficiency, emissions and noise.

Productionizing of the D-436-148 turbofan is

one of the priority directions of the company

activity. This modification based on the best

design solutions makes at present the core of

our promising program.

The D-436-148 is a unique engine equipped

with a full-authority electronic digital control

system that helps to optimise its operation

at all phases of flight, increase reliability,

decrease fuel burn and maintenance expenses.

Originally it was designed for installation in the

Russian-Ukrainian airplane An-148 and accord-

ing to experts opinion it has good prospects for

application in the other planes.

The up-to-date two-shaft AI-450-MS APU with

equivalent power of 222 kW is based around the

AI-450 gas generator. All its parts and units were

developed by Motor Sich designers with the use

of up-to-date CAD methods. The availability of

electronic mockup of this unit enabled to per-

form its assembly and installation in the engine

nacelle without any rework.

Use of AI-450-MS APU enables to decrease

operating time of propulsion engines, improve

safety of servicing and decrease expenses for

auxiliary on-ground equipment and maintenance

personnel. The engine meets all up-to-date tech-

nical requirements and its digital control system

provides faults control, diagnostics, indication

and operating time recording.

The AI-222 engines arouse intense interest

in our challenging programme for trainers and

combat trainers used both for training flying

cadets and military pilots.

The new turbofan AI-222-25 was optimised for

operation in trainers, combat trainers and light

combat trainers and meets stringent require-

ments for this class of engines. The use of

AI-222-25 engines will enable to create aircraft

with high level of competitive power.

On customer’s demand the AI-222-25 may

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

take-off july 200832 w w w . t a ke - o f f . r ucommercial

MOTOR SICH MOTOR SICH AT FARNBOROUGH 2008AT FARNBOROUGH 2008

D-436-148

AI-450-MS

An-148

commercial

be completed with nozzles with thrust vector

control and its modifications with afterburners

may be built.

The effective use of helicopters is impos-

sible without up-to-date helicopter engine.

Rotary-wing aircraft are in need of improved

powerplants and engines with optimum power

enabling to increase considerably flight range

and speed, payload, power-to-weight ratio and

cost-efficiency.

Motor Sich JSC produces a wide range of

helicopter engines.

The characteristics of a new propulsion

helicopter engine TV3-117VMA-SBM1V which

creation and certification was completed in

September 2007, on the eve of Motor Sich cen-

tenary, comply with the latest technical require-

ments (AP-33 air regulations) and the engine

received type certificate No.CT 267-AMD issued

by IAC Aviation Register. It is based on certified

serial turboshaft engine TV3-117VMA-SBM1

and employs its gas generator and free tur-

bine. The engine incorporates the best design

features aimed at improvement of parameters

and providing specified service life of prototype

engines. So the use of compressor turbine with

TV3-117VMA-SBM1 allowed to exclude cover-

ing discs with limited service life employed in

the TV3-117.

The TV3-117VMA-SBM1V has the same

weight, overall characteristics and mounting

dimensions as the engines operated on board of

Mil and Kamov helicopters. The earlier produced

TV3-117 engines may be reworked into design

version of TV3-117VMA-SBM1V during overhaul

at Motor Sich.

Engine ACS differs from that used in helicop-

ters slightly and practically no rework of helicop-

ter airborne systems is required. Depending on

helicopter type on which the engine is mounted

the ACS enables to set takeoff power within

2000 to 2500 hp range but

emergency power makes

2800 for all ACS settings.

Higher performance on

maintaining takeoff power

at different ambient tem-

perature and starting alti-

tude, i.e. stable engine

start up to 6000 m and

stable operation at 9000

m altitude, provided for in

the TV3-117VMA-SBM1V

design were investigat-

ed and confirmed in the

course of a number of tests

in high-altitude chamber.

Present ly the

first overhaul period established for the

TV3-117VMA-SBM1V engine makes 3,000 hours

and total service life – 9,000 hours. It is being

planned to increase subsequently the first over-

haul period and TBO up to 4,000 hours and total

service life up to 12,000 hours.

Thus installation of TV3-117VMA-SBM1V

engines with minor expenses allows to sig-

nificantly improve characteristics of new and

earlier rotary-wing aircraft especially in hot and

mountainous regions, to improve combat load

as well as to provide high flight safety should

one engine gets damaged in combat.

Since 1982 Motor Sich has been producing

the most powerful helicopter engine in the world

D-136 of modular design. The engine has been

developed by Ivchenko-Progress SE around the

D-36 engine. This engine makes the Mi-26 and

Mi-26T helicopters the best in the world with

regard to lifting capacity and fuel consumption

per one tonne-kilometre of transported cargo.

Today 235 helicopters powered with 470 engines

performing different functions are in operation.

Reliability and gradual modernisation of the

D-136 make possible soft landing of the heaviest

helicopter even in case of one engine failure. The

Mi-26 is one of the best helicopters operated by

Emergency Ministries in several CIS countries.

Modular design enables to replace faulty mod-

ules directly on site by

the specialists of Motor

Sich Product Support

Department.

One of priority lines

of Motor Sich activities

is production of indus-

trial on-ground instal-

lations.

Great experience of

the company in gas-tur-

bine machine-building

allowed to diver-

sify production and

strengthen its position

in energy equipment

market due to manu-

facture of gas-turbine drives and gas-turbine

power stations.

Throughout a century the production activities

of the company were aimed at development and

improvement of aviation equipment, creation of

smoothly running servicing system for the prod-

ucts supplied to the customers, which allow to

provide competitive servicing of engines practi-

cally in any point worldwide.

In order to ensure adequate and economically

efficient operation of dozens of thousands of

engines, the company established a network of

post-warranty maintenance centres and regional

offices spread all over the world. The qualifica-

tion of specialists and modern equipment ensure

high level of rendered services ranging from

diagnostics to repair directly on site observing

the most stringent requirements to the quality

of work. We perform light and major overhaul of

our articles restoring expensive parts and units

with the use of advanced processes.

Participation in air shows and exhibitions

being the site for demonstration of export poten-

tial and negotiations has always been an event

of great importance for us. Farnborough 2008

international exhibition is a world show of tech-

nical achievements, powerful promotion of new

equipment and the place for exchanging scientif-

ic and technical information. Participation in this

show assists in making new contacts, develop-

ment of joint projects, meetings with customers,

opens the way for entrance to markets.

We welcome our traditional partners and are

always ready to meet new partners interested in

joint work and mutually beneficial cooperation.

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 take-off july 2008 33

AI-222-25

Yak-130

Motor Sich JSC, 15, 8th of March Str.

Zaporozhye 69068, Ukraine Tel.: +38 (061) 720-47-77 Fax.: +38 (061) 720-50-00

e-mail: motor@motorsich.com

TV3-117VMA-SBM1V

Ка-50

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34

The HeliRussia 2008 helicopter

show, which took place in Moscow

from 15 to 17 May, brought together

all major Russian rotorcraft develop-

ers, manufacturers and operators as

well as demonstrated its international

nature graphically. A good case in

point is the joint news conference

held by Oboronprom – the founder

of the Russian Helicopters joint stock

company – and European compa-

ny AgustaWestland on the first day

of the show, during which the two

announced the launch of large-scale

long-term cooperation in helicopter

production.

The cooperation is based on the

memorandum of understanding

signed last summer and aimed at

deepening the relations between the

two companies in various fields of

helicopter business. Oboronprom and

AgustaWestland agreed to deepen

their cooperation gradually.

The first step along this path has been

the signature this May of a long-term

contract and a five-year distribu-

tion agreement by AgustaWestland,

Oboronprom and Lloyd’s Investments

Corp. Their agreement makes provi-

sion for the Russian company to buy

AgustaWestland’s helicopter to the

tune of about 450 million euros until

2012. Already this year, 10 machines

worth about 65 million euros are to

be sold on the Russian market – two

single-engine AW119Ke helicopters,

two AW109 Powers, four lightweight

twin-engine Grands and two medium

two-engined AW139s.

Under the agreement,

AgustaWestland’s helicopters are to

be marketed in Russia and most of

the CIS member countries for use in

the VIP carrier role, in support of oil

and gas producing companies and in

emergency and rescue operations.

The second stage of coopera-

tion will be when Oboronprom and

AgustaWestland set up several main-

tenance centres in Russia to service

AgustaWestland-made helicopters.

At the third stage of the growing

cooperation, there may be launching

joint production of AgustaWestland

machines in Russia to be sold on the

domestic and international markets.

Now, experts with both companies are

working hard to implement the pro-

gramme and select a location in the

European part of Russia to build the

production facility. Helicopters made

in Russia will be sold both in the

country and the CIS and – through

AgustaWestland – throughout the

world.

AgustaWestland CEO Giuseppe

Orsi said in this connection: “We

are satisfied with the beginning of

our comprehensive cooperation with

Oboronprom, which we expect will

evolve and facilitate the develop-

ment of the high-tech branches of

the economies of our countries. We

regard Russia and other CIS countries

as a rather important region for our

business to thrive – a region featur-

ing a considerable potential of further

growth. To date, we have received

orders from Russian operators for

14 VIP AgustaWestland helicopters,

including five AW119Ke, five AW109

Power and four Grand machines.

Oboronprom Director General

Andrey Reus echoes him: “Our

multifaceted cooperation with

AgustaWestland means the Russian

helicopter makers joining the inter-

national aviation cooperation system,

feasibility of sharing expertise and

technologies in helicopter manufac-

ture and familiarisation with stringent

maintenance standards. It also facili-

tates the promotion of Russian-made

helicopters on the global market”.

Oboronprom and AgustaWestland agreed to cooperate

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III

The future Mil Mi-54 medium-weight transport helicopter designed to carry 12 passengers or 1,500 kg of cargo may complete its maiden flight before 2011, with its certification tests slated for completion in 2012, Nikolay Pavlenko, chief designer of the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant, said at the HeliRussia 2008 air show. The Russian Helicopters joint stock company has included the Mi-54 in its future model pool and is going to fit it with two Klimov VK-800 turboshaft engines rated at 800 hp each. The helicopter’s maximum takeoff weight is 4,500 kg and the maximum lifting capacity stands at 1,700 kg. The machine will have a range of 600 km, a cruising speed of 260 km/h (maximum speed – 280 km/h), a static ceiling of 2,500 m and a service ceiling of at least 5,500 m.

III

Among the novelties of HeliRussia 2008, a conceptual model of the future rotorcraft unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) being developed by Mil and dubbed MRVK (Multirole Robotic Helicopter Complex) was noted by experts. The MRVK concept provides for implementing novel ideas of Mil’s designers on boosting helicopters’ speed by means of the attached flow around the main rotor blades and an additional propeller – a shrouded pusher-type propeller in the fuselage tail section. The same configuration is planned to be used in the future Mil Mi-X1 high-speed passenger helicopter. The MRVK programme is in the early stages, for which reason Mil keeps mum on the specifications. However, as was learnt during the show, the machine is now being viewed in the 3,000 kg takeoff weight class fitted with the VK-800 engine.

in brief

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“VPERED” MOSCOW MACHINE-BUILDING

PLANT

HELICOPTERSERVICE COMPANY

ROSTVERTOL KUMERTAUAVIATION PLANT

R.E.T. KRONSTADTNOVOSIBIRSKAIRCRAFT REPAIR

AND OVERHAUL PLANT

MIL MOSCOW HELICOPTER PLANT

KAMOV STUPINO MACHINE-BUILDING PRODUCTION ENTERPRISE

“PROGRESS” ARSENIEV AIRCRAFT COMPANY

KAZANHELICOPTER PLANT

ULAN UDEAVIATION PLANT

adve

rtis

ing

OBORONPROM United Industrial Corporation OJSC27, Stromynka str., Moscow, 107076, Russiae-mail: oboronprom@oboronprom.ru www.oboronprom.ru

OBORONPROM group

HELICOPTERSRUSSIAN

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Development of the Ka-92

high-speed helicopter is a priority

programme pursued by the Kamov

company, a division of the Russian

Helicopters holding company, said

Kamov Designer General Sergey

Mikheyev at the HeliRussia air show.

“To open up the Arctic, including new

oil-producing areas, an effective trans-

port system will be required, with

helicopters featuring enhanced range

and speed to become its integral part”,

he said while outlining advanced pro-

grammes of his company during the

show.

Mikheyev explained that the

maximum speed of up-to-date trans-

port helicopters was usually within

300 km/h and the range was

700–800 km. At the same time, effec-

tive operation of remote oil platforms,

e.g. those in the Shtokman field situ-

ated more than 600 km from the

nearest airfield in Murmansk, neces-

sitates a machine with an unrefuelled

range of 1,200–1,400 km at least.

This is due to the need of returning

to base if landing on an oil platform is

impossible for some reason. In addi-

tion, delivery of avgas to the oil field

is problematic enough; therefore, the

chopper will have to haul its own fuel

for the return leg.

However, the Shtokman field is only

one of particular cases. There are many

places in Russia’s Far North, Siberia

and Far East, which can be accessed

only by helicopter, but nearest airfields

and, hence, fuel are about 600–700 km

away. Present-day helicopters cover

such distances in at least 2.5–3 h, as

a rule. To reduce the time, the future

helicopter will need a higher cruising

speed, which is hard to get, because

the classic helicopter has virtually

exhausted its speed growth potential.

Unorthodox technical solutions are

required to resolve the problem.

In this connection, Kamov has

been developing a 30-seat helicopter

dubbed Ka-92. Its designers expect

it to have the 1,400-km unrefuelled

range and a maximum speed of up

to 450 km/h. According to Sergey

Mikheyev, a Ka-92 carrying 30 oilmen

would be able to hop from Murmansk

to oil platforms in the Shtokman oil

field 635 km away in only an hour

and a half, cruising at 420 km/h. In

case weather conditions prevent it

from landing on an oil platform, the

machine would be able to return to

base without refuelling. According to

Mikheyev, the Ka-92 is “a promising

aerial means of transportation with a

range of 1,400 km, capable of landing

anywhere within the 700 km radius

without infrastructure whatsoever,

having taken off from Tixi, Magadan

or Yakutsk”.

The Ka-92 concept was unveiled

at the MAKS 2007 air show last

August, when its model was given to

Vladimir Putin (Take-off, November

2007, p. 15). Since then, the appear-

ance of the aircraft has changed,

with the Ka-92 model displayed at

HeliRussia 2008 featuring even more

streamlines. However, the gist of the

concept persists – Kamov’s typical

coaxial main rotor (this time, howev-

er, a ‘high-speed’ version with rigid,

rather short blades), a pusher-type

coaxial rotor behind the tail unit

to ensure a higher forward speed,

a powerplant made up of two tur-

boshaft engines, retractable landing

gear, etc.

The Ka-92’s designers estimate its

takeoff weight at 15 t. Two of 2,400 hp

Klimov VK-2500 engines rated at

2,700 hp each in emergency power

mode are mulled over as its power-

plant. However, in the course of pro-

ductionising, the machine may switch

to the more powerful and efficient

Klimov VK-3000 turboshaft engine (a

TV7-117V derivative) rated at 2,800 hp

on takeoff (up to 3,750 hp in emer-

gency power mode).

According to Kamov’s estimates,

a Ka-92 prototype could be made by

2015. By the time, individual solutions

of the high-speed helicopter concept

are to have been refined on flying

testbeds to be derived from today’s

production machines.

Farther and faster: Kamov unveils Ka-92 programme

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A most interesting exhibit dis-

played by the Kamov company at the

stand of the Russian Helicopters joint

stock company during the HeliRussia

2008 air show was a conceptual

model of an aircraft of the future

– the Ka-90 superhigh-speed helicop-

ter able to fly at 700 km/h.

The programme provides for the

Ka-90 to take off as helicopters do,

i.e. by means of the main rotor’s lift.

With the machine transitioning to

level flight and its horizontal speed

increasing, a turbojet mounted in

the fuselage tail section kicks in,

with the main rotor folding behind

the mast onto the upper surface of

the fuselage and lift being gener-

ated, probably, by the aeroplane-type

wing. However, the model displayed

at HeliRussia 2008 lacked the wing

for some reason. There were only

small trapezoid surfaces painted in

grey on the sides the fuselage, which

could be taken for the folded wing

panels. However, their surface looked

obviously too small for an aircraft

intended to fly at such a speed.

During the show, we could not

find out what would keep the Ka-90

airborne in the aeroplane configu-

ration. Kamov’s Designer General

Sergey Mikheyev would wink play-

fully: “We are not disclosing all of

our secrets yet”. OK, let it be a secret

for a while. Anyway, if a project

similar to the Ka-90 is ever embod-

ied in metal, it will happen very far

down the road. Nonetheless, Sergey

Mikheyev says: “A speed increase for

helicopters is a global trend, and we

should follow the trend, with main-

taining the momentum of research

and development work being very

important. This calls for efforts,

money and pooling the efforts by

the whole of the Russian helicopter

industry”. It was announced dur-

ing the show that no matter how

futuristic the Ka-90 model looked,

research into high-speed helicopters

had been covered by the advanced

research programme of the Russian

Helicopters company and, hence,

has a chance for implementation.

Some time in the future.

Ka-90: even faster

At the HeliRussia 2008 show, Mil

went into some details on its concept

of the Mi-X1 high-speed helicopter

under development since last year.

As is known, the development of

the helicopter was unveiled during

the celebration of an anniversary

of the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant

in December 2007 (Take-off, May

2008, p. 31). At HeliRussia 2008,

Mil Chief Designer Nikolay Pavlenko

delivered a rather detailed report on

the programme, saying, “In line with

the conceptual design of the Mi-X1

high-speed helicopter, it became

clear that cutting-edge technologies

on the main rotor and other systems

and units were needed”. A main tech-

nical problem to be resolved under

the Mi-X1 programme is the develop-

ment and testing of a stall local elimi-

nation system (SLES). According to

Mil’s designers, introduction of such

a system, coupled with a pusher-type

propeller as a source of extra propul-

sion and enhanced helicopter aerody-

namics, will furnish the Mi-X1 with a

speed of at least 500 km/h, and the

thrust vector-controlled pusher pro-

peller in the slipstream will offset the

torque reaction from the single-rotor

machine’s main rotor in hover and at

low-speed.

At present, the Mi-X1 programme

provides for developing a passenger/

transport helicopter with a normal take-

off weight of 10 t (maximum takeoff

weight – 12 t), powered by a pair of

VK-2500 engines and capable of hauling

20–25 passengers or 3,5–4 t of cargo. Its

cruising speed is estimated at 475 km/h

and its maximum speed – at 520 km/h.

The Mi-X1 will have a static ceiling of

3,500 km and a range of 1,550 km.

Nikolay Pavlenko said the Mi-X1

programme first provides for an

extensive research stage followed by

experimental testing of advanced tech-

nical solutions on flying testbeds to

be followed by launching a prototype

machine. According to Pavlenko, the

Mi-X1’s maiden flight may take place

in 2014–15 at the earliest.

Mi-X1: concept in detail

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38

As a most popular and widespread

transport helicopter in the world, the

Mil Mi-8, may remain in demand

on the global market for at least

10–15 years to come, but only if it is

upgraded to enhance its performance

and transport efficiency, the managers

of the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant

believe. The company has devised

another modernisation programme for

the popular machine that conducted

its maiden flight 47 years ago. Some

details on the new upgrade programme

were unveiled at the HeliRussia 2008

show.

While retaining the basic weight char-

acteristics of the current Mi-8MTV/AMT

(Mi-171, Mi-172), the upgraded Mi-8M

will fly at least 30 km/h faster and

almost 200 km farther than now. For this

purpose, designers are going to equip it

with advanced Klimov VK-2500 engines,

composite main rotor blades, X-shaped

tail rotor, upgraded main reduction gear-

box and powertrain, enhance the qual-

ity of the external fuselage surface and

improve the cargo ramp in the rear.

Owing to these improvements, Mil

expects to increase the Mi-8M’s cruis-

ing speed from the current 230 km/h

to 260 km/h and maximum speed from

250 km/h to 280 km/h. Its range on

internal fuel may total 900 km, increas-

ing to 1,200 km with the use of extra

fuel tanks. In addition, the machine

will have its service life extended and

cabin noise reduced, with its crew

dropping from three to two. The Mi-8M

is supposed to carry an advanced

integral flight navigation system with

digital data displays, the sophisticated

PKV-171 autopilot and more efficient

dust filters, with military versions of

the aircraft to feature cutting-edge

infrared signature suppressors, com-

posite armour-protected cockpit, an

up-to-date defence aids suite, etc. The

improvements are slated for introduc-

tion within several years.

A next stage of upgrading the Mi-8

provides for introducing an even

greater change to the design. At the

stage, the helicopter will be given a

new rotor system sporting compos-

ite rotor blades with sophisticated

profiles, torsion-box integral fuel

tanks beneath the floor of the cabin

and landing gear retracting into the

side sponsons. The enhancements

will increase the Mi-8M’s cruis-

ing speed by 30 km/h more – to

290 km/h. According to the devel-

oper, the heavily upgraded Mi-8M

can emerge in about six years.

Mi-8 awaiting upgrade

On 15 May, the first day of the

HeliRussia 2008 show, the Russian

Helicopters joint stock company, UMPO

Ufa-based JSC and CIAM (Central

Institute of Aviation Motors), on the one

hand, and the Pratt & Whitney Canada

company, on the other, signed a memo-

randum of understanding on cooperat-

ing in the development and production

of the PW127T/S engine to power the

advanced Mi-38 medium-weight trans-

port helicopter with a lifting capacity

of 5 t (7 t if cargo is slung externally).

The engine’s takeoff power is 2,500 hp

(3,750 hp in emergency power mode).

The Russians, who signed the memo-

randum, were Russian Helicopters

Director General Andrey Shibitov,

CIAM Chief Vladimir Skibin and UMPO

Director General Alexander Artyukhov,

with Joseph Torchetti, vice-president,

international business development,

Pratt & Whitney Canada, signing the

MoU for the Canadian company.

Under the agreement, Pratt & Whitney

Canada is to complete the development

of a turboshaft variant of the PW127

turboprop engine intended to power

the Mi-38 helicopter, have it certified

and launch deliveries of component

kits to Russia for final assembly to be

handled by UMPO, in the city of Ufa.

UMPO also is going to run rig tests

of all engines assembled and, further

down the line, manufacture individual

parts and units setting the PW127T/S

turboshaft from the aeroplane-intended

PW127 turboprop powering, among

other things, the Ilyushin Il-114-100.

The PW127T/S licence assembly in Ufa

and technical support will be supervised

by the Pratt & Whitney Rus company – a

St. Petersburg-based affiliate of Pratt &

Whitney Canada.

The cooperation between Russian

helicopter makers and the Canadian

engine manufacturers under the Mi-38

programme dates back to 1997. In the

early stages, Pratt & Whitney Canada

developed and shipped two prototype

PW127/5 engines that were fitted to

the first Mi-38 prototype undergoing

flight tests since December 2003. During

the Mi-38 programme presentation at

HeliRussia 2008, Mil’s Chief Designer

Georgy Sinelshchikov said the helicop-

ter had completed its preliminary tests

involving the first prototype (OP1). By

15 December 2007, the OP1 had logged

over 100 test missions, achieving a

flight speed of 320 km/h and reaching

a service ceiling of over 8,300 m. At

present, Mil is completing the second

Mi-38 prototype (OP2) and building the

third one (OP3) slated for certification

tests. Both aircraft are to be equipped

with PW127T/S engines. The OP2 is

to begin its trials by this year-end. The

PW127T/S engine and Mi-38 helicopter

are planned for certification in 2011,

with the deliveries of the first produc-

tion machines tentatively scheduled for

2012. According to Russian Helicopters

Director General Andrey Shibitov, there

have been advance orders from several

Russian carriers for 75 Mi-38s.

Agreement on Mi-38’s engine signed

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The Kamov company, which is a

member of the Russian Helicopters

joint stock company, will in the com-

ing years focus on developing the

Ka-62 medium-weight cargo/passen-

ger helicopter with a takeoff weight

of 6.5 t Kamov’s Chief Designer

Alexander Vagin voiced the news

during the first HeliRussia show.

Mr. Vagin emphasised that despite the

considerable outwards similarity to

the Ka-60 military transport helicop-

ter, of which two prototypes had been

built, the Ka-62 is a new programme

due to radically different safety, reli-

ability and environmental friendliness

requirements to civil helicopters. The

Ka-62 is part of the advanced helicop-

ter development programme of the

Russian Helicopters joint stock com-

pany. The Ka-62 programme provides

for developing a cargo/passenger

machine able to carry 2 t of cargo in

the cabin or 2.7 t slung externally and

being on a par with or even superior

in some respects to the best foreign

machines in the class – the Sikorsky

S-76C++ and AgustaWestland AW139.

For instance, the Russian helicopter

will one-up them in terms of the

external cargo lifting capacity, cabin

volume, endurance and static ceiling,

with the Ka-62’s baseline model to

be 35–40 per cent cheaper than its

Western rivals.

The basic requirements to the

Ka-62 are certification under both

the latest Russian airworthiness rules

AP-29, on the one hand, and FAR-29

and JAR-29, on the other, ability to

continue to take off with the maxi-

mum takeoff weight and one of the

engines down, structural crashworthi-

ness including that of the crew and

passenger seats, and safe landing

after a failure of the tail-rotor shafting

or tail rotor with the run at a speed of

80 km/h. The helicopter will be oper-

ated on condition, and its assigned

life will total 18,000 flight hours or

25 years.

The Ka-62 will carry 12–14 pas-

sengers at a distance of 500–700 km

in any weather, including under icing

conditions and above water, and up

to 2 t of cargo inside the cabin or on

the external sling. In the latter case,

its lifting capacity can be increased

to 2.7 t. The company also ponders a

search-and-rescue variant fitted with

a rescue hoist with a lifting capacity

of 300 kg as well as extra night vision

gear, radar, a searchlight, etc.

At HeliRussia 2008, an announce-

ment was made that the future of

the Ka-62 would depend consider-

ably on fitting the aircraft with

Turbomeca Ardiden 3G engines rated

at 1,640 hp on takeoff (emergency

power is 1,870 hp for 2.5 min). Kamov

and Turbomeca signed the agree-

ment during the show, at which the

French demonstrated a mock-up of

the engine (see the picture below).

The Ardiden has a takeoff specific fuel

consumption of 0.215 g/(hp•h) and

a time between overhaul of 3,200 h.

The Ka-62’s powerplant will be able to

start up in the -40° Celsius minimum

ambient temperature (up to –50° at

restart) and operate in a stable man-

ner in an ambient temperature of up to

+50° Celsius.

On the customer’s request, the

Ka-62 can be fitted with Russian-made

RD-600V engines rated at 1,300 hp

(1,550 hp in emergency mode) devel-

oped by NPO Saturn in the city of

Rybinsk. Now, such engines power

two Ka-60 prototypes (according to

Alexander Vagin, Saturn has made

32 such engines certificated by the

Aircraft Registry of the International

Aviation Committee as far back as

December 2003).

The Progress company in the town

of Arsenyev has been earmarked as

manufacturer. Kamov plans to build

the first Ka-62 prototype powered by

RD-600V engines in 2009, with the

next example to be fitted with Ardiden

engines. In all, the certification pro-

gramme will involve the construction

of five Ka-62 prototypes, with four

slated for flight tests and one for static

ones. Final assembly of prototype

machines from Progress-made com-

ponents is to be handled by Kamov’s

prototype construction division. The

Ka-62 is planned to complete its cer-

tification trials in 2011, with Progress

to launch its full-rate production in

2012.

During the show, first agree-

ments on Ka-62 deliveries to launch

customers were signed. The launch

customers may be the Aviashelf air

company headquartered on the island

of Sakhalin, which has signed a MoU

for four Ka-62s, and the Naryan-Mar

Joint Air Detachment slated to receive

five machines in 2012. Another Far

Eastern carrier has shown interest in

buying up to five Ka-62s as well.

First Ka-62 to be built in 2009

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Full-scale displays at the HeliRussia

2008 air show included as many as two

examples of the Kamov Ka-226 light-

weight multipurpose helicopter (one

built for Gazprom and the other fit-

ted with an electro-optical surveillance

system for testing) and two detachable

cabin modules to fit them – the medical

evacuation and VIP ones. In production

by two aircraft factories at the same

time (one in Kumertau and the other in

Orenburg), the Ka-226 is fitted with the

Rolls-Royce Allison 250-C20R/2 engine

rated at 460 hp on takeoff. However, to

enhance its flight performance, espe-

cially in hot and high conditions, Kamov

is developing the Ka-226T version fea-

turing more powerful Turbomeca Arrius

2G2 engines that have a takeoff power

of 550 hp and an emergency power of

705 hp. The relevant agreement was

signed by Kamov and its French part-

ners during the show.

According to Kamov Chief

Designer Leonid Shiryayev speaking

at HeliRussia 2008, the Ka-226T’s

certification trials are to be completed

in 2010. The trials are to involve four

prototypes – three for flight tests and

one for ground ones. The first Ka-226T

prototype is slated for construction

by year-end and its maiden flight is

scheduled for early 2009. The aircraft

plant in Kumertau has been earmarked

for launching the machine’s produc-

tion.

Kamov had conducted prelimi-

nary tests of a Ka-226T experimental

machine powered by Arrius engines.

Launched in 2004, the flight tests

of the aircraft yielded a considerable

increase in flight performance, with

the helicopter exceeding an altitude

of 7,000 m (the production Ka-226

climbs at 5,000 m) on both engines

and at least 4,000 m on one engine

in case the other fails. In addition, the

powerplant’s margin of power allows

an increase of the Ka-226T’s maxi-

mum takeoff weight from the current

3,400 kg to 4,000 kg, thus boosting

the payload as well.

“As the international experience

shows, same-class helicopters pow-

ered by several variants of engines

are always offered on the helicop-

ter market”, Leonid Shiryayev said,

“Such an approach is also going

to be pursued as far as a Russian

helicopters are concerned. The cur-

rent production Ka-226 is powered

by two Rolls-Royce engines, and the

Ka-226T powered by Arrius engines

is to hit the market in the near future”.

The chief designer remarked that to

expand the offer on the aircraft mar-

ket, there are also plans to fit the

Ka-226 with the 465 hp AI-450 engine

from the Ivchenko-Progress design

bureau that developed it to the design

specification OK’d by Kamov among

others.

Ka-226 gets new engine

During the HeliRussia 2008 show, a

full-scale production Ansat helicopter

developed and produced by the Kazan

Helicopters plant took the central place

of the Helicopter of Russia joint stock

company’s exposition. According to the

plant’s Chief Designer Alexey Stepanov,

the Ansat displayed was the 16th pro-

duction machine of the type, with six

aircraft delivered to the launch custom-

er, South Korea, during 2004–2006.

At present, Kazan Helicopters is in

the final stages of testing and debug-

ging a trainer version ordered by the

Russian Air Force. The aircraft differs

from early production helicopters in

having the double controls, wheeled

landing gear and some avionics pecu-

liarities and is powered by Canadian

turboshaft engines PW207K with a

takeoff power of 630 hp each (710

hp at emergency rating). Talking to

a Take-off correspondent, Alexey

Stepanov said that the foreign-made

powerplant of Ansat-U was OK with

the customer, because “there are no

other options so far”. At the same

time, Kazan Helicopters is mulling over

fitting the Ansat with Russian-made

Klimov VK-800 engines to meet the

Defence Ministry’s requirement for

helicopters it orders to have only

domestic components. However,

introduction of VK-800s will call for

upgrading the power train to transmit

enhanced torque as well as the rotor

and control systems. On the other

hand, this will allow a takeoff weight

and payload increase. Helicopters ear-

marked for Air Force flight schools

will be fitted with Canadian engines

so far. According to Alexey Stepanov,

a 12-machine batch is to be built next

year and then delivered to the cus-

tomer once the ongoing official joint

trials have been completed.

Presenting the Ansat pro-

gramme at HeliRussia 2008, Kazan

Helicopters’ Deputy Chief Designer

Alexey Garipov spoke about the

testing and refining the helicopter

and the main efforts to hone the

production model. The efforts in

question include a takeoff weight

increase from the current 3,300 kg

to 3,600 kg with a simultaneous

hike in the payload, fitting the

Ansat’s civilian variant with wheeled

landing gear instead ski landing

gear, installing the tail boom pylon

and modernising the avionics suite,

particularly, replacing traditional

needle-type instruments with digital

displays, etc.

Refining the Ansat

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41 take-off july 2008w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u

H E L I R U S S I A 2 0 0 8 | n e w s

III

Production plans of the major Russian helicopter manufacturers, Ulan-Ude plant (UUAZ) and Kazan Helicopters, for the coming two years were disclosed at the HeliRussia 2008 air show. A UUAZ spokesman told a reporter with the AviaPort.Ru news agency that the company made 48 helicopters of the Mi-8AMT (Mi-171) family in 2007. The plan for 2008 provides for building 56 such machines, with the output to grow up to 65 aircraft in 2009 and 75 in 2010. Kazan Helicopters’ Director General Vadim Ligai said his company was to manufacture 60 Mi-8MTV-family helicopters (Mi-17-1V, Mi-17-V5, Mi-172) in 2008 and as many in 2009, with 15 Ansat machines to be made in 2009 as well.

III

At HeliRussia 2008, the Zaporozhye-based engine makers – the Ivchenko-Progress design bureau and Motor Sich joint stock company – unveiled several new turboshaft engine programmes including a version of the world’s most powerful helicopter engine D-136, which was designated as AI-136T1. In addition to the ordinary takeoff mode with the 11,400 hp power, it has an additional emergency mode, in which the engine produces 12,180 hp. Both the upgraded engine and its baseline model are designed to power the Mil Mi-26T heavylift transports. Ivchenko-Progress and Motor Sich planned for the AI-136T1 to make the debut at HeliRussia 2008, to which end they wanted to bring a full-scale engine to Moscow. However, the complicated Russian-Ukrainian customs laws prevented them from doing so. Other novelties displayed by the two companies at the helicopter show included the AI-450M engine rated at 400 hp on takeoff and designed to power the upgraded Mi-2AM helicopter, and the 630 hp takeoff power AI-450V-2 that may serve the alternative to the Canadian engine powering the Ansat.

in brief

The production programme of the

Russian Helicopters joint stock com-

pany makes provision for the resump-

tion of the full-scale production of the

Mi-34 lightweight multirole helicopter

by the Progress aircraft plant in the

Russia’s Far East town of Arsenyev. As

was announced during the HeliRussia

2008 show, the machine is to be manu-

factured in two new variants – the

Mi-34SM powered by the 370 hp

M-9FV upgraded piston engine and

the Mi-34AS powered by a gas-turbine

powerplant (the 460 hp AI-450 engine

from Ivchenko-Progress or Turbomeca

Arrius).

In 1993–2002, the Progress plant

built 22 production Mi-34S helicopters

powered by 325 hp M-14V26V engines,

with the aircraft operated in Russia,

Kazakhstan, Nigeria and Croatia.

However, the production was suspend-

ed in late 2002 and the operational

machines were grounded gradually due

to the expiry of the initial service life

of the components, with that of some

of them being only 300 flight hours.

At the same time, marketing analysis

conducted by Russian Helicopters indi-

cates that the market capacity for such

aircraft may total up to 400 units in the

coming years. 70–75 helicopters could

be sold in Russia in 2010–17 (including

about three dozens to uniformed serv-

ices), 120–125 more throughout the

CIS countries and 165–175 throughout

the rest of the world.

Mil’s Chief Designer Anatoly Belov

spoke about resuming the Mi-34 pro-

duction in new variants during the

presentation of the programme’s

at HeliRussia 2008. Like the previ-

ous Mi-34S, both of the new vari-

ants will have a maximum takeoff

weight of 1,450 kg and seat three

passengers and a pilot. The piston-en-

gined machine’s cruising speed will

increase to 195 km/h over the previous

170 km/h, and that of the gas tur-

bine-powered helicopter will increase

to 235 km/h (the Mi-34AS’s maxi-

mum speed will be 260 km/h). The

AI-450 gas turbine engine also will

serve a considerable improvement in

the altitude performance: the static

ceiling will hike from the Mi-34SM’s

1,375 m to the Mi-34AS’s 4,025 m

and the service ceiling from 4,450 m

to 6,000 m respectively. Anatoly Belov

stressed that the Mi-34’s advanced

variants will outperform in some

respects their western analogues – the

piston-engined Robinson R-44, which

is rather popular in Russia, and the

turbine-powered Eurocopter EC120B.

For instance, the Mi-34SM will outper-

form the R-44 in range (610 km on full

tanks with the 30 min fuel reserve over

the R-44’s 535 km), and the Mi-34AS

will one-up the EC120B in cruising

speed (235 km/h over 210 km/h) and

static ceiling (4,025 m over 3,340 m

respectively).

The first five Mi-34SMs are slated

for assembly by the manufacturer in

Arsenyev in 2010. A year later, the

Progress plant will be able to produc-

tionise the turbine-powered Mi-34AS

variant as well, with 200 machines

in each of the two variants to be built

by Progress by 2017. The updated

Mi-34 production team will include

the Reductor-PM joint stock company

(main and tail reduction gearboxes

and power transmission shafts),

Stupinskoye MPP joint stock com-

pany (main and tail rotor hubs, swash

plate) and Voronezh Mechanical Plant

(development and production of the

M-9FV engine to fit the Mi-34SM). The

Progress plant will make the fuselage,

main and tail rotor blades and handle

general assembling of the helicopters.

A fuselage mock-up of the Mi-34AS

future gas-turbine version was dis-

played at the HeliRussia 2008, as was

a production Mi-34S provided by the

Russian Helicopter Systems company.

Mi-34 production to resume

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

On the last day of this winter, 29 February, Slovak air base Sliač hosted the ceremony of accepting the 12 MiG-29AS/UBS fighters into the Slovak Air Force’s inventory. The fighters had been upgraded by Russian aircraft corporation MiG in Slovakia in cooperation with a local aircraft repair plant and several Western companies. During the ceremony, Slovak Defence Minister Jaroslav Baska gave the chief of the Slovak General Staff, Gen. Ľubomír Bulík, a symbolic key to the renovated fighters. Following that, the upgraded MiG-29s accomplished a group demonstration flight to entertain those present, with as many as 10 fighters taking to the skies over Sliač. Our correspondents attended the ceremony.

UPGRADED MiG-29sIN SERVICE WITH SLOVAK AIR FORCE

Michal J. STOLAR, Miroslav GYŰRÖSI (Slovakia)

Photos by Miroslav Gyűrösi

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

c o n t r a c t s a n d d e l i v e r i e s | r e p o r t

take-off july 200842

c o n t r a c t s a n d d e l i v e r i e s | r e p o r t

43 take-off july 2008

NATO-compliant MiGs

Fielding the upgraded aircraft, crowned

with a unique group takeoff of as many

as 10 renovated MiGs, became the

well-deserved outcome of a long and often

thorny restructuring, reorganisation and

upgrade of the Slovak Air Force and its

aircraft fleet. The upgrade of 10 MiG-29s

to MiG-29AS standard (A indicates the

export version of the MiG-29 – Variant A,

or item ‘9-12A’ – and S stands for Slovakia)

and two MiG-29UBs to MiG-29UBS

standard kicked off as far back as 2004. The

improvements included advanced radios

and IFF gear, latest navigation aids and

measures to make the aircraft compatible

with standard systems used by NATO

forces. At the same time, the service life of

the MiG-29s was extended by 10–15 years.

The upgrade programme for 12 MiG-29s

cost Slovakia 1.6 billion korunas (about

$78 million).

Our magazine covered the contents and

process of upgrading the Slovak MiGs (see

Take-off, May 2006, p. 10–13). The first

upgraded Slovak MiG-29AS (No. 6728)

completed its maiden flight from the factory

airfield in the Slovak city of Trencin, flown

by MiG Corp. test pilot Pavel Vlasov on

1 December 2005. A week later, Vlasov

completed a check flight on the first uprated

two-seater, MIG-29UBS No. 5304. By

then, the Slovak Air Force had operated a

total of 21 MiG-29s – 18 MiG-29 Variant

A singleseaters and three twinseaters. 10 of

them were inherited by the country in 1993

from Czechoslovakia’s dissolution into two

independent states (Czechoslovakia had

gotten them from the Soviet Union in

1989–90), with 14 more delivered by MiG

Corp. during 1994–95 after the dissolution

of the Soviet Union. Despite Slovakia’s

accession to NATO on 15 April 2003, its

government decided to retain the Soviet-

and Russian-built aircraft in the Slovak

Air Force inventory and introduce them

into NATO’s combined forces, to boot. In

this connection, Slovakia and MiG Corp.

made on 24 November 2004 a contract

on upgrading 12 Slovak MiG-29 fighters,

extending their service life and tailoring

the aircraft to meet NATO standards.

Mind you, this is the first time a Russian

company has worked on materiel operated

by a NATO member state.

The upgraded MiG-29AS/UBS aircraft

completed their opeval in last December,

with a small additional series of fight tests

flown in January. However, as far back

as mid-2006, the first several MiG-29AS

fighters joined the NATO Integrated Air

Defence System (NATINADS), to which

Slovakia allocates two fighters under a

current agreement.

‘Digital’ camouflage pattern

Upgraded MiG-29AS No. 0921 was rolled

out of a hangar of the aircraft repair plant

in Trencin on 20 December last year. It was

the first Slovak Air Force aircraft to get a

rather original – ‘digital’ – camouflage

pattern made up of tiny square ‘pixels’ in

two shades of grey on the third shade of grey

covering the airframe and both sides of the

vertical tails. The first upgraded MiG-29’s

new camouflage pattern was the beginning

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

Left: MiG Corp. chief test pilot Pavel Vlasov (left) and Sliac AB commander Jozef Dobrotka

c o n t r a c t s a n d d e l i v e r i e s | r e p o r t

of the final stage of the Slovak MiG-29

upgrade programme. The improvements of

the last of the 12 aircraft under the contract

were introduced in November 2007, and the

planes are to be repainted gradually. Not

long before the acceptance ceremony, in

January this year, the ‘digital’ camouflage

pattern was given to the second MiG-29AS,

No. 0619, whose fins were decorated with

the stylised Slovak national tricolour in the

same ‘pixelised’ manner due to the 15th

anniversary of the Slovak Air Force.

New simulator for new MiG pilots

The upgrade programme for the 12

Slovak MiG-29s is wide-ranging and, in

addition to improving the aircraft proper,

provides for uprating the MiG-29 Full

Mission Simulator operated by the Slovak

Air Force. The upgraded simulator,

intended for training the pilots of the Slovak

MiG-29AS planes, was dubbed LTV-29M.

Until recently, Slovakia has used the

KTS-21/LTV-29 derived by the

Trencin-based Virtual Reality Media

company (VRM) from Russian

simulator KTS-21 in 1996. The Slovak

KTS-21/LTV-29 entered service with the

Slovak Air Force in March 1997.

VRM launched the upgrade of the

simulator in 2004. Its visualisation system

was replaced with the indigenous IMMAX

2005 graphics system from VRM. The

IMMAX 2005 comprises six 3D Perception

SX25i projectors displaying the airspace in a

hemisphere with a radius of 3.6 m and with

a field of view measuring 180x90 deg. A key

part of the simulator upgrade programme

was its database beefed up with very realistic

digital maps of actual terrain of Slovakia.

This gives the pilot in the simulator the

sensation of flying over the familiar Slovak

terrain.

The second phase of the simulator

modernisation began in 2006, consisting

in bringing it up to date with the advanced

systems introduced in the MiG-29AS. This

included transition from the metric system

into the imperial one. The simulator’s data

display system followed in the footsteps of

the one in the fighter’s cockpit, receiving

the advanced MFI-54 multifunction

display, PU-29 control console,

PUS-29 I/O module and console of the

AN/ARC-210(V) radio. VRM modified the

software package of the MFI-54 and PU-29

in cooperation with their developer, the

Russian Avionics company. The simulator’s

software also was modified to reflect the

change to the fighter’s navigation suite

beefed up with the TACAN, VOR/ILS and

GPS/Navstar systems.

In the course of the upgrade, the

simulator’s electronic and electric systems

were improved or replaced as well, which

gave a considerable boost to its reliability.

Its feel-spring mechanisms were replaced

with an induction servomotor electronic

system, which made the pilot’s sensation

on the control column and pedals more

realistic.

The instructor station was altered,

too, with him now able to configure

and adjust the simulator to a particular

trainee depending on the latter’s skills.

The MiG-29AS/UBS pilots who flew the group demonstration on 10 upgraded fighters during

the acceptance ceremony at the Sliac air base on 29 February 2008

LTV-29M simulator

take-off july 200844 w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u

The current simulator variant simulates up

14 types of aircraft and 22 types of ground

equipment, with its integrated database

fit for use on group simulated missions,

e.g. in conjunction with a pilot ‘flying’ the

TL-39 simulator. The latter is designed for

L-39 pilots and is available at the Sliac air

base, too.

The prime contractor, VRM, and Slovak

Defence Ministry made the simulator

manufacture contract in 2006, the work was

done in three phases and was completed

last year. The LTV-29M simulator has been

set up at Sliac, the home station of the

upgraded Slovak MiG-29AS/UBS fighters.

The simulator was formally accepted by

the Slovak Air Force concurrently with the

ceremony of fielding the upgraded fighters

on 29 February 2008.

w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u take-off july 2008 45

c o n t r a c t s a n d d e l i v e r i e s | r e p o r t

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

w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u46 take-off july 2008

Nitka as a pass on board the carrier

2007 proved to be a rather successful year for

the carrierborne fighter pilots in Severomorsk:

they honed their flying skills at the Nitka

ground-based carrier deck simulator in the

Crimea in May and June and then, following

their return to the Far North, did 30 flying

shifts on board the Admiral Kuznetsov in

the Barents Sea in July through August and

October through November 2007.

The officer commanding the 279th

Independent Carrierborne Fighter Air

Regiment is certain that the flying shifts

As was reported by Take-off in its May 2008 issue (p.18), a naval task force

of the Russian Navy’s Northern Fleet, led by the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft

carrier, completed a successful cruise through the Atlantic and Mediterranean

early in February this year. The cruise kicked off on 5 December 2007 and

was completed two months later. The Russian Navy had conducted no such

large-scale exercises for over a decade. The aircraft carrier battle group (CVBG)

cruising under command of the Vice-Admiral Nikolay Maximov, CINC, Northern

Fleet, was given a task of showing the Russian Navy’s flag in key areas of the

ocean. During the cruise, the Admiral Kuznetsov’s carrier air group (CAG),

comprising a dozen or so Su-33 fighters and Su-25UTG trainers and several

Ka-27PS and Ka-29 helicopters, logged 20 flying shifts, i.e. about 400 sorties, of

which more than a hundred were flown by the fighters. Throughout the cruise,

Take-off’s stringer Sergey Vassilyev was on board the Admiral Kuznetsov, with

his report on the exercise following below.

SUKHOIS SUKHOIS OVER THEOVER THE MEDITERRANEAN MEDITERRANEAN

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

47 w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u take-off july 2008

completed by his crews during the cruise

owed their success to the Nitka simulator,

in the first place. Having assumed command

of the regiment, Igor Matkovsky – like his

predecessors – vowed he would do his best

to have his regiment train at the Nitka – a

ground-based carrier deck simulator.

Carrier air group pilots have to go a longer

training way flying than their land-based

mates. They take their preliminary training at

a land-based airfield, as any other pilots do.

Having qualified as combat-ready and passed

tough selection, candidates begin their carrier

operations training, with the Nitka being the

first stage.

“The simulator is very forgiving to trainees”,

says Col. Igor Matkovsky, “because the pilot

can correct the errors he makes. The main thing

is that the simulator gives you self-reliance and

readiness to land on deck. However, before

the first carrier landing, the pilot is jittery and

loses sleep on the night before his first landing.

Imagine how he would feel if he had had to

land on the Kuznetsov without having training

on the Nitka first. In short, the road to the

carrier begins on land”.

“In 2007, for the first time in two years,

we have trained on the simulator two Su-33

pilots (Lt.-Col. Sergey Saushkin and Lt.-Col.

Boris Kalmutsky) and two Su-25UTG ones

(Maj. Oleg Kostyanoi and Lt.-Col. Oleg

Kodzasov)”, continues Col. Matkovsky.

“Last June, they landed on the Nitka on

their own and then did the same on deck of

the Kuznetsov. Lieutenant-colonels Vladimir

Kokurin and Andrey Chursin on their Su-33s

made their first deck landings as well”.

Skimming the North Sea

As usual, the seasoned pilots flew the

first two shifts from the carrier during the

cruise. They were Lt.-Col. Yuri Korneyev,

deputy officer commanding, Lt.-Col. Pavel

Podguzov, regimental chief of staff, Lt-Col.

Sergey Ustyukhin, D/OC, operations,

Lt.-Col. Yevgeny Kuznetsov, D/OC, flight

safety, Lt.-Col. Yuri Denisov, D/OC,

personnel education, and squadron leaders

Lt.-Col. Nikolay Deriglazov and Lt.-Col.

Pavel Pryadko.

First, they did several patterns, then

elementary and advanced flying, flying in

pairs and mock battles. Three to four aircraft

were airborne at the same time. About

20 takeoffs and landings were performed in

the North Sea.

“The weather was foul”, says the regimental

commander, “but the first group of pilots flew

well. Therefore, it was important to move to

the Mediterranean as soon as possible because

weather was good there. The resumption of

regular flights and, which is more, rookies

flying side by side with old hands is the wave

of the future, because you don’t get tough

overnight”.

Two-thirds of the pilots with the 279th

Reg’t have had cruised on the Kuznetsov.

However, time flies, and combat-ready naval

pilots are still fewer than Russian cosmonauts

are. Aircrews average 43 years old. The eldest

pilot is Col. Igor Matkovsky who is 46. The

youngest one is 30-year-old Maj. Sergey

Luchnikov, but he is rather an exception to

the rule. Therefore, Col. Matkvosky did his

best to enable the younger pilots to fly more

during the cruise.

At the time fighter jocks were honing

their skills, the crews of the Ka-27PL

antisubmarine warfare and Ka-27PS

combat search and rescue helicopters, led

by lieutenant-colonels Vladimir Dolgov,

Vladislav Tronding and Yuri Andreyev and

Maj. Andrey Vrublevsky, were practicing

ASW operations and were on alert to provide

SAR support to the fast jets’ aircrew. In

addition, the helicopter crews were refining

their skills of taking off and landing on

the Admiral Levchenko and Admiral

Chabanenko ASW ships.

Sergey VASSILYEV

Photos by Alexander Dundin

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

w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u48 take-off july 2008

In the skies over the Mediterranean

Having passed the Straits of Gibraltar, the

Northern Fleet’s Admiral Kuznetsov-led

CVBG entered the Mediterranean on 21

December 2007, and soon afterwards,

pilots of the 279th Reg’t conducted two

flying shifts. At long last (for the first time

in 11 years!), they took off to the skies

of the long-awaited Med. The sun was

shining in the blue of the December sky,

ambient temperature stood at about +18°C,

and there were no long oceanic waves the

regiment’s pilots were fed up with in the

Atlantic in 2004-2005.

The first flying shift in the Mediterranean,

which was the third one during the cruise,

was launched by the Su-25UTGs followed

by the Su-33s doing a half-shift. On the next

day, only the Su-25UTGs flew, logging seven

sorties.

Col. Igor Matkovsky and

lieutenant-colonels Yuri Korneyev, Pavel

Podguzov, Sergey Ustyukhin, Yevgeny

Kuznetsov, Pavel Pryadko, Yuri Denisov,

Nikolay Deriglazov and Yuri Suslov flew

training missions in the Med for two days.

The missions were mostly low-level flying

in the vicinity of the aircraft carrier, because

there were numerous 50-km exclusion areas

adjacent to coastal states and islands in that

portion of the Mediterranean. Moreover, the

general course of the CVBG ran along many

commercial air routes, which limited flight

altitude to 12,000 m.

Portside of the Russian carrier, an old

acquaintance of the Kuznetsov’s – the

Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS

San Jacinto with the US 6th Fleet resident in

the Mediterranean – was keeping an eye on the

flight operations. According to the participants

279th carrier-borne fighter regiment

commander Col. Igor Matkovsky

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

49 w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u take-off july 2008

in the cruise, the San Jacinto would approach

the Russian Navy’s flagship at a distance of

500 m 11 years ago. This time, she stood off at

about 38 cable’s lengths, i.e. about 7 km.

By the way, it is in the Mediterranean where

Col. Igor Matkovsky made his 100th landing on

the carrier. As the regimental commander, he

‘uncorked’ the Med by being the first to take off

from and land on the Admiral Kuznetsov.

However, those two days were just the

beginning. As late December 2007 and

January 2008 proved, the blue sky of the

Mediterranean favoured the Kuznetsov’s

fighters, and, for this reason, flying shifts

were planned one after another based on the

cruise’s objectives.

Like in battle

The month in the Mediterranean was quick

to pass – a dozen flying shifts, over a hundred of

takeoffs and landings in total. Here is Gib being

passed by the CVBG on its way to the ocean.

During the large-scale tactical exercise

in the Bay of Biscay, 279th Reg’t fighters

flying air patrols in the vicinity of the carrier

escorted a pair of Tu-160 strategic bombers.

“And the mission was accomplished”, says

Col. Matkovsky, OC, 279th Reg’t. “Three

pairs of Su-33s went to the designated areas

and escorted the ‘strategists’ that simulated

a missile attack of a notional target in the

Atlantic in conjunction with the CVBG. This

done, the fighters returned to the carrier”.

The first pair of Su-33s was flown by

Lt.-Col. Sergey Ustyukhin and Lt.-Col.

Nikolay Deriglazov, the second one by

Lt.-Col. Yevgeny Kuznetsov and Lt.-Col.

Yuri Suslov and the third one by Lt.-Col.

Pavel Podguzov and Lt.-Col. Pavel Pryadko.

They were assigned areas where they escorted

the strategic bombers, covering them on the

most dangerous interceptor approaches. The

pilots acted in the most realistic manner

without any allowance for the mission being

part of the exercise.

The main difficulty facing the pilots when

escorting the Tu-160s was almost the dead

calm in the Atlantic, with the wind force

being mere 2-3 m/s. However, going at

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

w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u50 take-off july 2008

18 kt, the carrier provided the pilots with the

conditions required for taking off and landing.

In addition, the cloud base was only 400 m.

Hence, on takeoff, two pairs of fighters would

perform the manoeuvre known as ‘assembly

and split over the clouds’, i.e. rise through

the clouds one by one and join up into a

formation there, with the a pair of the best

trained pilots – lieutenant-colonels Sergey

Ustyukhin and Nikolay Deriglazov – would

pass through the clouds in tight formation.

“We attached importance to the exercise

from the outset”, says Igor Matkovsky, “and

the pilots, therefore, were in a fighting mood.

Although the escort mission was routine

to us and posed no problem, weather did,

especially on landing. Still, the pilots, who

had remained airborne for about eight hours,

took it in stride as well”.

In addition to the fighters, on that day,

helicopters flew from the Admiral Kuznetsov

and the Admiral Chabanenko as well. They

were two Ka-27PS CSAR machines flown

by Lt.-Col. Yuri Lebedev and Lt.-Col. Victor

Shelimov and a Ka-27PL ASW helicopter

with the Vladislav Trondin at the controls.

For almost three hours, they were carrying

out consecutively such missions, as weather

reconnaissance, Su-33 SAR support and

close-in ASW screening along the CVBG’s

deployment axis.

Preliminary results

This cruise was the second one for Col.

Igor Matkovsky, with the first one completed

in the North Atlantic in 2004. Matkovsky’s

deputies, lieutenant-colonels Yuri Korneyev,

Sergei Ustyukhin and Pavel Podguzov, cruised

through the Mediterranean in 1995–96, as

did lieutenant-colonels Nikolay Deriglazov

and Pavel Pryadko. Did the Med lure them

again?

“Certainly”, says Col. Matkovsky.

“Firstly, the very aura of the Mediterranean

Lt.-Col. Pavel Podguzov,

regimental chief of staff

Lt.-Col. Yevgeny Kuznetsov,

279th regiment's deputy commander for flight safety,

in the Su-33's cockpit

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

51 w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u take-off july 2008

was the greatest attraction. In addition, we

craved good weather to fly to our hearts’

content. Alas, we could fly in daytime only,

since we have not been cleared for night

flying yet. The only reason is the lack of

continuous operations from the carrier, an

all-season carrier! Throughout the history

of our regiment, there has been only one

case of night flying when Maj.-Gen. Timur

Apakidze, colonels Igor Kozhin and Pavel

Kretov and Lt.-Col. Victor Dubovoi landed

on the Kuznetsov in 1998. That’s it, alas”.

“Results of the cruise? The main thing

is we learnt to operate far away from our

station and traditional flying areas that

we knew like the back of our hands”,

continues Matkovsky, “This is important

for our professional training, because every

flying shift would give the pilots lots of new

information. We were studying the area of

the ocean we planned to use for training, two

or three unfamiliar foreign backup airfields

and coastal relief. In addition, the relevant

states continued with their military and

commercial air operations, which involved

unfamiliar service altitudes and air corridors

we had to know”.

Also, according to Col. Matkovsky, the

language barrier had a serious psychological

impact on the pilots, because if they had

to abort the mission to a foreign backup

airfield, they would have been vectored in

to the runway by a foreign ATC controller

and a misunderstanding would have been a

possibility.

“We did our utmost”, carries on the 279th

Reg’t OC, “to maximise the number of pilots

gaining the experience of flying while on the

cruise so that our young pilots were inspired

with being with the North Fleet’s CVBG

representing the Russian Navy in the heart of

Europe – the Mediterranean”.

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

w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u52 take-off july 2008

Back to the carrier

Maj.-Gen. Nikolay Kuklev, deputy chief,

air and air defence branch, Russian Navy,

who was in charge of the aviation element on

board the carrier, admitted that the Admiral

Kuznetsov had been part of his life, probably,

the larger part. He has spent 27 calendar

years as helicopter pilot with the Northern

Fleet, which the Admiral Kuznetsov joined

in 1991. “I served with the ship ever since”,

Maj.-Gen. Kuklev says. “I’ve taken part in

all her cruises and Barents Sea operations.

Even now, with me serving in Moscow, she

does not let me go. This is how intertwined

our lives have become. 17 years is no old

age for an aircraft carrier, rather youth. The

carrier gets better year by year. What do you

mean ‘how’? In terms of its technical state,

in the first place. Her technical state is now

higher by an order of magnitude than it used

to be”.

According to Maj.-Gen. Kuklev, it must

have been an unknown decease of the

1990s proliferating virtually on all levels of

government, with the authorities wondering,

why do we need aircraft carriers? Even Navy

leaders used to say, “That’s it, we are leaving

the ocean, and the navy is going to operate

in the littorals”. A corvette-type navy, so to

say. “Why do we need the ocean? Do we have

any national interests there to pursue? What

missions are carriers going to accomplish?”

Fortunately, the situation has changed.

Now, it is clear to everybody that Russia

as a naval power needs its navy. What is an

up-to-date navy at present? Exactly, the one

operating aircraft carrier.

The legendary naval pilot, Maj.-Gen. Timur

Apakidze, a Hero of the Soviet Union [the

title was the top military award bestowed along

the Golden Medal and Order of Lenin –

transl.], once said, “The nation has come

along thorny long path of developing its own

aircraft carriers, without which the navy would

have been useless”. The principal enemy of

surface ships and nuclear submarines is aircraft

and, hence, “we will be unable to ensure

full-fledged combat stability of both strategic

and multirole nuclear-powered submarines

without fighter aircraft coverage”. If we want

to remain a nation, a peoples, rather than

a country with a population, as some folks

overseas would like us to be, then, Apakidze

believed, Russia is bound to have aircraft

carriers. Therefore, today’s principal goal is

to preserve the Kuznetsov as a stepping-stone

ship and maximise the retention of her flying

and technical crews and complement who can

operate her, because they will be indispensable

in a few years. The Kuznetsov will enable

this country to build a formidable aircraft

carrier fleet to “pursue our national interests

anywhere throughout the ocean”.

It is for a reason that commenting on

the Kuznetsov’s CVBG’s cruise to the

Mediterranean, western military experts in an

interview with the US newspaper Navy Times

called it “an event in a series of measures being

taken by Russia’s authorities to expand its

military presence on the international scale,

the one reflecting the growing economic and

military power of the country”.

Severomorsk – the North Atlantic –

the Mediterranean

take-off july 2008 w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u

c o s m o n a u t i c s | n e w s

54

At 19.20 h Moscow time on

23 May, a Rockot launch vehicle

blasted off Launch Pad 3 of Launch

Site 133 operated by Space Force

personnel at the Plesetsk space

launch centre in the Arkhangelsk

Region. Fitted with the Breeze-KM

upper stage, the Rockot inserted

the Yubileiny scientific satellite

and a cluster of three military

satellites – Cosmos-2437, -2438

and -2439. All four satellites had

assumed their slots in the target

circumpolar orbit about 1,400

km above the Earth by 21.05 h

Moscow time.

The Rockot’s mission is the

first launch in 2008 performed at

Russia’s northern space centre in

support of the Russian Defence

Ministry. In addition, this is,

apparently, the first time the LV

has been used to orbit a military

satellite. Earlier, the LV of the

type had lofted into orbit only

commercial scientific and remote

sensing satellites.

The three military birds

constituted the main payload

of the Rockot, with Yubileiny

piggybacking. The military has

released neither characteristics,

nor designation of its satellites.

According to the Interfax-AVN

news agency, they may be

communications satellites of the

Gonets-M type.

Yubileiny was built by a team of

companies led by the Information

Satellite Systems JSC named after

M.F. Reshetnyov (ISS-Reshetnyov)

in the city of Krasnoyarsk. The 45-kg

satellite is the first small-sized

non-pressurised plat form

spacecraft from ISS-Reshetnyov.

The company’s young personnel as

well as researchers and students of

the Siberian Reshetnyov Aerospace

University took part in developing

Yubileiny.

The satellite is designed

to transmit audio, video and

photographic messages telling

about the 50th anniversary of

launching the world’s first satellite,

Sputnik, and the space industry

as a whole. Yubileiny will repeat

the data every 4 min. by radio

in the 435MHz international ham

band, with its broadcasting to be

received in the line of sight to the

satellite anywhere in the world.

Under the Strategic

Partnership Agreement made by

ISS-Reshetnyov, the Krasnoyarsk

Machinebuilding Plant, Krasnoyarsk

Scientific Centre of the Siberian

Branch of the Russian Academy

of Sciences and Siberian State

Aerospace University, a series of

small satellites are to be developed

from 2007 to 2012 by students.

Under the programme, each of

the partners will pursue its own

scientific, technical, technological

and educational goals as well.

In the future, Yubileiny’s

non-pressurised platform will serve

the basis for other small satellites

weighing below 100 kg. During

its launch and in-orbit operation,

a number of instruments and

systems from ISS-Reshetnyov and

other Russian manufacturers will

be flight-tested. In particular, plans

provide for testing the inertioid

propulsion unit without reaction

mass discharge for the first time.

The satellite is intended to be

propelled by an engine, within

which a liquid or solid working

medium travels along a certain

trajectory similar to tornado in

terms of shape. The service life

of such an engine is to be at least

15 years and the maximum number

of its burns is about 300,000. Solar

panels provide power supply.

Initially, Yubileiny was slated

for insertion in autumn 2007 and

timed with the 50th anniversary

of Sputnik, which is the reason for

the satellite’s name (Yubileiny is

Russian for jubilee, anniversary).

However, the launch slipped to May

2008 for a number of reasons.

Khrunichev derived the Rockot

two-stage liquid-propelled

lightweight booster from the

RS-18 two-stage intercontinental

ballistic missile (UR-100N, NATO

reporting name – SS-19 Stiletto)

by fitting it with the Breeze-KM

upper stage. There are pre-launch

preparation and launch facilities

for the booster in both Baikonur

and Plesetsk. The LV’s launch

weight is 107 t, length measures

28.5 m and diameter equals

2.5 m. The maximum payload

inserted in low orbit is about

2 t. The liquid-propellant motors

of all stages burn a non-volatile

self-igniting fuel – nitrogen

tetraoxide (amyl) and asymmetric

dimethylhydrazine (geptile).

The flight tests of the Rockot

started with three test launches

from a silo at Baikonur in the early

‘90s. The Rockot orbited its first

satellite, the Radio-ROSTO hamsat,

in December 1994. Afterwards, its

commercial launches have been

taking place from a converted

launch pad previously used by

Cosmos LVs at Plesetsk.

The Eurockot Launch Services

joint venture established by

Khrunichev (49 per cent of the

stock) and EADS Astrium (51 per

cent) handle the marketing of the

Rockot on the international launch

services market.

The first Rockot launch at

Plesetsk was on 16 May 2000,

with the LV hauling the SimSat-1

and SimSat-2 satellite mock-ups.

The first failure following a series

of nine smooth insertions (five

of them being commercial) took

place on 8 October 2005 when

the Breeze-KM upper stage

failed to separate during the

orbiting of ESA’s CryoSat and the

second stage, upper stage and

payload plunged into the Arctic

Ocean between the North Pole

and Canada’s coast. The cause

was the a software glitch of the

upper-stage’s control system that

had not ordered the second stage

to separate.

The latest Rockot launch

was attended by Space Force

commander Col.-Gen. Vladimir

Popovkin and Arkhangelsk Region

governor Ilya Mikhalchuk. Following

the blast-off, the interdepartmental

coordination team on developing the

Angara space rocket system under

the Russian Space Launch Facility

Development in 2006–2015 federal

programme held a visiting session

at the cosmodrome. Leaders of the

major Russian participants in the

Angara’s development attended the

session.

III

On 21 May, Russia’s Federal

Space Agency (FSA) announced

the cause of the ballistic descent

of the Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft

on 19 April this year. The cause

was the ill-timed separation of

the instrumentation/propulsion

compartment from the lander

due to delayed activation of an

explosive bolt between the two

compartments. This was confirmed

by FSA chief Anatoly Perminov,

who said, “Indeed, one of the five

powder-charge explosive bolts

did not kick in on time and the

Soyuz spacecraft’s split-up into

compartments during the descent

happened later than planned”.

Anatoly Perminov specified that

very high temperature of plasma –

in the neighbourhood of 2,000 deg.

Celsius – “would have set off the

explosive bolt anyway, separation

would have taken place and safe,

albeit less comfortable, return of

the crew to the Earth would have

happened”.

NASA has been pleased with

the tempo and extent of Russia’s

investigation into the second

consecutive ballistic descent

of cosmonauts and astronauts

from the ISS. Bill Gerstenmaier,

NASA associate administrator for

space operations, has visited the

RKK Energia that has the Soyuz

TMA-11’s lander used by NASA

astronaut Peggy Whitson, Russian

cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and

the first South Korean to outer

space, So-yeon Yi, on 19 April to

return to the Earth.

According to Perminov,

Gerstenmaier was pleased with the

preliminary results produced by the

investigation commission and said,

“If I headed such a commission, I

would work in the same manner”.

In particular, NASA’s deputy

administrator made certain that

contrary to media reports, the

bottom of the spacecraft had not

burnt through, but instead retained

enough heat-resistant coating for

safe landing.

in brief Another Rockot blasts off

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take-off july 2008 w w w . t a ke - o f f . r u

c o s m o n a u t i c s | n e w s

56

During the official visit of Russian

President Dmitry Medvedev to the

Republic of Kazakhstan, Russian

Space Agency chief Anatoly

Perminov and National Space

Agency of Kazakhstan chief Talgat

Musabayev signed on 22 May

agreements on bilateral cooperation

in exploration and peaceful use

of outer space and in using and

expanding the GLONASS satellite

navigation system.

During the talks, presidents

Dmitry Medvedev and Nursultan

Nazarbayev agreed on joint

operation of the Baikonur space

launch centre. “We realise that this

is a competitive sphere, and we have

to find such spheres of cooperation,

which will be interesting to both

us and our potential partners”,

Dmitry Medvedev said. “The world

changes, high technology evolves

and cooperation in such fields is of

principle and very relevant to us. We

have got a good potential to develop

space technology, use Baikonur and

pursue the Baiterek programme and

we are going to do all of these in a

priority manner”.

The need to adjust the rules

of using Baukonur is due to two

reasons. Firstly, issues sometimes

occur in case of lofting payloads to

certain orbits when ascent courses

have to be agreed upon, especially

if a LV’s path is over urbanised

areas or industrial facilities. A legal

base should be introduced to handle

such issues.

Secondly, it looks like that the

plan of building new Russian space

launch centre Vostochny has caused

some uneasiness on the part of the

Kazakh authorities as far as the

future of Baikonur is concerned.

However, Moscow believes

Vostochny’s construction will

benefit the cooperation between the

two countries because Vostochny

will take over only military satellite

insertions so far. In any case,

streamlining Baikonur’s status and

operational procedures should

sooth Kazakhstan’s concerns.

At the same time, the agreement

governs the environmental damage

compensation and launch notice

procedures. The planned upgrade of

Baikonur’s infrastructure will meet the

safety and environment-friendliness

requirements.

Other fields of the Russian-Kazakh

cooperation include the Baiterek

and Kazsat programmes, training

of Kazakh cosmonauts and space

industry personnel and conducting

joint research. Nanotechnology is

becoming a promising sphere of

collaboration as well.

The two countries are pondering

cooperation in such a sphere as

joint development of the World

Space Observatory (WSO) to obtain

new data on celestial objects,

with FSA and NSA having signed

a memorandum of understanding

on that. A ground control facility

to control the WSO and monitor

satellite communications has

entered service in the town of

Akkol. Feasibility studies into

remote-sensing satellites and a

special spacecraft design bureau

have been conducted and results

concerning the scientific segment

of the national space programmes

have been produced.

Sometimes, Russian-Kazakh

space programmes encounter

problems, as any large-scale

endeavour does from time to time.

As is known, Kazakhstan decided

against the joint development of

the Ishim air-launched space rocket

system, citing the insufficient

marketing grounds of the

programme. The Baiterek space

launch development programme,

whose financing was started by

Kazakhstan as far back as 2005,

has been lagging behind schedule

considerably. Anatoly Perminov

said in March that the programme

had still been in the initial design

and preplanning stages and the

parties would have agreed on the

construction cost and schedule not

until late 2008.

Kazakhstan’s recent space

programmes have not been limited

to Russia alone. In 2005, the country

launched cooperation with Ukraine

as well as leaders of the Indian,

Israeli, German, Spanish, Italian,

French, US, Canadian, Malaysian,

Taiwanese, Cypriote and Japanese

space industries that will be able

to participate in Kazakhstan’s

national space programmes on the

competitive basis starting from

2008.

However, Russia remains the

main partner of Kazakhstan. The

Kazakh authorities hope that joint

programmes will enable the country

to enter the global launch services

market together with Russia and to

develop domestic spacecraft design

and manufacture capabilities.

Another launch had taken place at

Baikonur a week before the visit of

the Russian president to Kazakhstan:

Progress M-64 cargo spacecraft (in

the picture) blasted off on a Soyuz-U

LV towards the ISS. The cargo craft

brought fuel, a new Sokol KV-2

spacesuit, experimental equipment,

food, water and parcels for the crew

to the orbiter.

Russian-Kazakh space cooperation getting new impetus

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