1. travel
2. transports
3. air travel
4. helicopters

march 2015 • Special edition for LIMA 2015
Yuri Slyusar
about UAC tasks
and prospects
advertisement
[p.8]
SSJ100
100th jet
under construction
[p.12]
MiG-29UPG
upgrade programme
T-50
undergoing
official tests
[p.23]
[p.28]
Yak-152
new flying desk
for Air Force pilots
[p.30]
Angara-A5
first launch
[p.36]
[p.18]
Su-30MKM
in service with RMAF
review: New Russian transport aircraft programmes [p.14]
march 2015 • Special edition for LIMA 2015
Yuri Slyusar
about UAC tasks
and prospects
advertisement
[p.8]
SSJ100
100th jet
under construction
[p.12]
MiG-29UPG
upgrade programme
T-50
undergoing
official tests
[p.23]
[p.28]
Yak-152
new flying desk
for Air Force pilots
[p.30]
Angara-A5
first launch
[p.36]
[p.18]
Su-30MKM
in service with RMAF
review: New Russian transport aircraft programmes [p.14]
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Dear reader,
March 2015
Editor-in-Chief
Andrey Fomin
Deputy Editor-in-Chief
Vladimir Shcherbakov
Editor, avionics and weapons sections
Yevgeny Yerokhin
Columnist
Alexander Velovich
Special correspondents
Alexey Mikheyev, Andrey Bludov,
Victor Drushlyakov, Andrey Zinchuk,
Ruslan Denisov, Alexey Prushinsky,
Sergey Krivchikov, Anton Pavlov,
Alexander Manyakin, Yuri Ponomarev,
Yuri Kabernik, Marina Lystseva,
Sergey Popsuyevich, Piotr Butowski,
Alexander Mladenov, Miroslav Gyurosi
Design and pre-press
Mikhail Fomin
Translation
Yevgeny Ozhogin
Cover picture
Marina Lystseva
Publisher
Director General
Andrey Fomin
Deputy Director General
Nadezhda Kashirina
Marketing Director
George Smirnov
Business Development Director
Mikhail Fomin
News items are prepared by editorial staff based on reports of our
special correspondents as well as press releases of production companies
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.
© Aeromedia, 2015
P.O. Box 7, Moscow, 125475, Russia
Tel. +7 (495) 644-17-33, 798-81-19
Fax +7 (495) 644-17-33
E-mail: [email protected]
www.take-off.ru
This issue of the Take-off magazine,
a supplement to Russian aerospace
monthly VZLET, is timed to the LIMA'15
Langkawi International Maritime and
Aerospace exhibition. The airshow held
on the Malaysian island of Langkawi
has a quarter century experience taking
place for the 13th time now. Over
24 years since LIMA’s inception, the
airshow has grown much in terms of
scale and participation, having turned
into a major regional aerospace and
naval business forum in South-East
Asia.
Russia has been a regular major participant in LIMA owing to
the increasing scale of cooperation between the two nations. In the
mid-1990s, the Royal Malaysian Air Force commissioned into service
18 MiG-29N fighters. Some later Malaysian fire-fighting service BOMBA
received Russian-made Mi-17-1V and Mi-171 helicopters. Today, the most
advanced and perfect multirole combat aircraft in service with RMAF is the
Russian-built Su-30MKM fighters delivered by the Irkut Corporation in an
18-ship batch during 2007–2009.
Although Irkut Corp. successfully fulfilled the whole contract on
18 Su-30MKMs delivery to RMAF in 2009, more fighters of the type could
be in demand in Malaysia as soon as it decided to withdraw its MiG-29N
aircraft fleet delivered in 1990s. In such case Su-30MKM, possibly in
further upgraded version, could become the best choice for Malaysia in
terms of RMAF fighter fleet combat efficiency and operational logistics.
By the way MiG Corp. now has a great experience in upgrading earlier
delivered MiG-29 fighters under the Generation 4+ and 4++ standards.
The first step was MiG-29SMT fighter for Russian Air Force and some
foreign customers. In recent years it has handed over the first six
MiG-29UPG upgraded fighters to Indian Air Force under a contract for
more than 60 aircraft – the whole fleet in service with the IAF – with the
rest of them to be upgraded directly in India. So, MiG could offer such
upgrade solutions for Malaysia as well alongside with the new deliveries
of modern versions of MiG-29 family including MiG-29M/M2 and MiG-35
fighters. In such case prolonging long-term cooperation with MiG Corp.
could be a good chance for the Royal Malaysian Air Force having two
decades experience of flying with MiG-29s to expand its traditions and
extend its capabilities.
Russian Helicopters holding company plans to hold talks at LIMA’15
with Malaysian state company AIROD and the country's fire-fighting
department BOMBA, both of which are considering the acquisition of a
new batch of Mi-8/17 series multirole helicopters. The company is going to
present here its new offers – a heavily upgraded Mi-171A2 medium-class
helicopter as well as recently certificated Ansat light helicopter.
In this issue we have focused on the most important novelties and
recent events in Russian aerospace industry, with preference given to
those of them that could be of special interest to the current and potential
customers of Russian aircraft in Malaysia and South-East Asia in a whole.
Sincerely,
Andrey Fomin,
Editor-in-Chief,
Take-off magazine
contents
INDUSTRY
March 2015
Ansat passenger version certificated. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Mi-171A2 in trials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Fourth Mi-38 under tests. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Ka-226T to be certificated soon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Perm Engine Company starting manufacture of PD-14 engines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
12
4
4
6
6
7
Yuri Slyusar: “We are facing a lot of work to do”
UAC’s new president on near-term objectives and prospects
of Russian aircraft industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Sukhoi Superjet 100: output on the rise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
14
From Il-112 to Yermak
Russia rebuilding its advanced transport aircraft
development competence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
CONTRACTS AND DELIVERIES
Su-30MKM in service with RMAF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
18
Russian helicopters for Malaysia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
MiG-29UPG upgrade programme goes on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
150th Su-30MKI assembled by HAL was handed over to IAF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
MILITARY AVIATION
Indian pilots learning to fly MiG-29K/KUB fighters off Vikramaditya . . . . . . 26
22
T-50 undergoes official tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Yak-152
New flying school desk for Air Force cadets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
COMMERCIAL AVIATION
28
Red Wings gets SSJ100 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Angara having as many as five An-148s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
MC-21: prototype to be ready by year end . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Vladivostok Tu-204-300s get new owners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
32
32
33
33
SSJ100 VIP version certificated. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
COSMONAUTICS
30
2
take-off march 2015
Angara-A5: first launch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
www.take-off.ru
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In late December 2014, the
Russian Helicopters holding company announced the completion of
the certification of a passenger version of the Ansat light multipurpose helicopter equipped with the
hydro-mechanical control system.
The machine got a supplementary
type certificate issued by the IAC
Aircraft Register allowing its commercial passenger operations.
The Ansat has been in production
by Kazan Helicopters since 2004. The
first six production-standard helicopters were delivered to South Korea,
with five more to Russian buyers.
All of them had the advanced KSU-A
fly-by-wire control system. The same
system fits the Ansat-U twin-controls
wheeled landing gear trainer helicopters that have been in production
since 2009 for the Russian Defence
Ministry.
Unfortunately, despite the obvious
advantages of the KSU-A-equipped
Ansat, the machine has been unable
to win recognition on the commercial
market, for it is ahead of its time:
commercial helicopters with a FBW
control system have never been cer-
tificated before, and even the basic
requirements to this cutting-edge
system have not been worked out in
the world.
To facilitate the helicopter’s hitting the market, therefore, a decision
was taken to adjust the Ansat programme with account for the available requirements to the traditional
hydro-mechanical control system.
The installation of the latter did not
result in a weight increase in the
helicopter or in a change to its characteristics.
Two prototypes (PT-07 and PT-08)
were made. They kicked off their
ground and flight tests in 2011. The
limited category certification of the
hydro-mechanical control systemequipped Ansat version was crowned
with the issuance of the supplementary type certificate on 22 August 2013,
which paved the machine the way to
customers, but was not enough for
revenue passenger services. Now, the
limitation is no more.
The supplementary type certificate
issued in December 2014 confirms
the compliance of the Ansat’s standard design with the air rules and
Russian Helicopters
Ansat passenger version certificated
certificates the modifications to the
standard design. In particular, the
passenger version of the Ansat has
an upgraded stability improvement
system, a takeoff weight increase
up to 3,600 kg and newly-installed
passenger carriage equipment. The
modifications improved the flight performance of the helicopter and made
it attractive and competitive on the
international market.
“We decided to offer our customers a comfortable and reliable
light helicopter with the traditional
hydro-mechanical control system”,
says Vadim Ligai, Director General,
Kazan Helicopters / deputy Director
General, Russian Helicopters. “The
certification of the Ansat’s passenger
version equipped with the hydromechanical control system opens
bright vistas for the machine’s promotion and commercial operation on
the global market”.
The delivery of the helicopter is to
commence in 2015.
Centre in Tomilino, Moscow Region,
took place on 25 August 2014.
The first level flight, controlled by
a crew led by test pilot Salavat
Sadriyev, occurred on 14 November
2014.
The primary objective of the
OP-1’s flight tests is to assess the
operation of the KBO-17 avionics
suite. The key feature of the KBO-17
is the implementation of the ‘glass
cockpit’ concept with five multifunction liquid-crystal displays. The
GPS/GLONASS satellite navigation
system is capable of alerting the
crew to an incoming obstacle ahead
of the helicopter. The Mi-171A2
can be furnished with the KOS-17
round-the-clock surveillance system with all-weather digital TV and
thermal-imaging cameras allowing
safe flight at night.
The earlier tests of the
VK-2500PS-03
engine
and
advanced rotor system with the
all-composite blades, modified
main rotor hub and reinforced powertrain on the Mi-171LL (side number 987) flying testbed, which had
been under way in Tomilino since
autumn 2012, proved the declared
maximal flight speed increase from
250 km/h to 280 km/h, the 20%
cruising speed increase, a hike in
the main rotor’s thrust and a drop
in vibration.
The whole range of design
modifications stipulated for the
Mi-171A2 is being implemented in
the second prototype, the OP-2.
Particularly, it will be used for testing the advanced composite-blade
main rotor, X-tail rotor, enlarged
vertical and horizontal tails and an
extra set of optional gear. Two more
Mi-171A2 airframes are being subject to static and endurance tests.
The Mi-171A2 certification and
production entry are slated for late
2015 or early 2016.
Mi-171A2 in trials
Russian Helicopters
2014 became a milestone for
the programme of the upgraded
Mi-171A2 multirole medium transport/passenger helicopter intended
to replace such bestsellers as the
Mi-8/17 on the commercial market
in due time. The first Mi-171A2
prototype (OP-1), made by the Mil
Helicopter Plant, a subsidiary of the
4
take-off march 2015
Russian Helicopter holding company, on the basis of the airframe supplied by the Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant,
passed numerous ground tests pertaining to the assessment of the
advanced KBO-17 avionics suite
from the Concern Radio-electronic
technologies. The OP-1’s first hover
at the National Helicopter Industry
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The first flight of the fourth flying
prototype of the advanced Mil Mi-38
medium transport helicopter took
place in Kazan, at the airfield of Kazan
Helicopters, a subsidiary of the Russian
Helicopters holding company, on
16 October 2014. The fourth prototype (OP-4) with side number 38014
was made in the Mi-38-2 variant powered by advanced Russian-developed
Klimov TV7-117V turboshafts. Unlike
the previous Mi-38 prototypes, OP-4
features enlarged windows and an
advanced shock-protected fuel system.
The machine is being considered as the
standard for future production Mi-38s.
OP-4’s first hover was performed in
Kazan by the crew of Honoured Test
Pilot Vladimir Kutanin. The aircraft will
undergo further tests at the flight test
facility of the Mil Helicopter Plant in
Tomilino, Moscow Region.
Earlier last year, the trials of the
first Mi-38 prototype (OP-1) con-
verted to the Mi-38-2 version commenced in Tomilino. As is known,
during the first phase of the flight test
programme, which had been under
way since 2003 in Kazan and then in
the Moscow Region, the OP-1 prototype was powered by Pratt & Whitney
Canada XPW127/5 experimental
engines. The prototype’s conversion
to the domestic powerplant consisting two TV7-117V turboshafts and
upgraded powertrain and their debugging on board the helicopter kicked
off in 2011. At the same time, Kazan
Helicopters manufactured the third
Mi-38 prototype, the Mi-38-2 (OP-3),
powered by a pair of TV7-117Vs
too. Its flight tests in Tomilino commenced in November 2013, and the
upgraded Mi-38-2 (OP-1) flew there
in April 2014. Mention should be
made that the second Mi-38 prototype, the XPW127/5-powered OP-2,
is airworthy now too.
Russian Helicopters
Fourth Mi-38 under tests
The TV7-117V-powered Mi-38-2
and PW127TS-powered Mi-38-1
have a maximum takeoff weight of
15,600 kg (16,200 kg with underslung cargo) and haul 6 t of cargo
in the cabin or 7 t slung under belly
at a cruising speed of 285 km/h.
The cabin can seat 30 passengers.
The helicopter also is offered in the
search-and-rescue, medevac, off-
shore and VIP versions, while surpassing other machines in the class
in terms of the carrying and seating
capacities.
Mi-38-2 in a cargo version is to
be certificated by the IAC’s Aviation
Register in December 2015. Kazan
Helicopters is assembling the airframe of the first production-standard
Mi-38 now.
Ka-226T to be certificated soon
Alexey Mikheyev
holding company subsidiary, and
Strela Production Association in
Orenburg since 2000. New powerplant provides Ka-226 with a better power-to-weight capability and
ensures its operations at a much
higher altitudes.
Two Ka-226T prototypes have
been in flight trials since 2009.
Gazpromavia carrier is considered
to become a launch customer of
Ka-226T helicopters in Russia.
Gazpromavia’s order include 18
helicopters in Ka-226TG version.
6
take-off march 2015
last tender’s shortlist. According to
a number of experts, the Russian
offer had good chances to come up
on top. The Ka-226T’s flight tests
conducted in India have highlighted
the unique capabilities of the helicopter, especially in ‘high and hot’
operations.
Kamov Ka-226T powered by
Turbomeca Arrius 2G1 turboshaft
engines is a derivative of the
Allison 250-C20B-powered baseline Ka-226 version being produced
at Kumertau Aircraft Production
Enterprise, Russian Helicopters
Alexey Mikheyev
The Russian Helicopters holding
company is completing the certification of the upgraded Kamov
Ka-226T light multipurpose coaxial
helicopter and is going to offer it to
India for local production under a
new tender Indian side announced
after Indian Defence Ministry had
decided last summer to scrap the
previous international competition
held since 2008.
As is known, the Russian
Helicopters with its Kamov Ka-226T
and Airbus Helicopters (Eurocopter)
with AS550C3 Fennec were on the
Deliveries are to start this year, as
several production Ka-226TGs have
been built already and being waiting
the end of the certification process.
By the way, Russian Air Force
takes deliveries of KumAPE-built
Ka-226 helicopters since 2012 and
fielding them with Syzran Air Force
flying school (affiliate of the Air
Force Military Training and Scientific
Centre). 25 helicopters of the type
were delivered by 2014, and longerterm plans provide for delivery of
40 Ka-226s prior to 2020.
www.take-off.ru
industry | news
Aviadvigatel JSC
On 15 January 2015, the Perm
Engine Company reported the
completion of assembling its first
core of the PD-14 engine. It was
handed over to Aviadvigatel JSC
for the final assembly of prototype engine No.100-06 and subsequent tests, while the next engine,
100-07, will be fully assembled by
the Perm Engine Company itself in
the near future.
The development of the 12,500–
15,600-kgf PD-14 new-generation
turbofan engine – the first one in
the advanced 9–18 tonne engine
family being developed by a large
team of United Engine Corporation’s
subsidiaries led by Aviadvigatel
JSC – is the mainstay of the UEC
commercial aircraft engine programme. The PD-14 is a two-shaft
separate-flow engine with the gearless fan drive. All engines of the
family have a common core with the
eight-stage high-pressure compressor, low-emission annular combustor and two-stage high-pressure
compressor. The baseline PD-14
will be equipped with a 1,900-mm
single-stage fan retaining the diameter of the fan used in the PS-90A
engine, a three-stage low-pressure
compressor and a six-stage lowpressure turbine.
The baseline 14,000-kgf PD-14
is designed to power the Irkut
www.take-off.ru
Aviadvigatel JSC
The Perm Engine Company starting manufacture of PD-14 engines
MC-21-300 short/medium-haul
airliner. The shortened version of
the airliner, the MC-21-200, is supposed to be fitted with 12,500-kgf
PD-14A engines, while the possible stretch version (MC-21-400)
as well as the prospective Russian/
Indian medium Multirole Transport
Aircraft (MTA) are to be powered
with the enhanced-thrust PD-14M
version capable of 15,600 kgf.
According to the design data, the
PD-14 is on a par with its foreign rivals (PW1400G, LEAP-X) in
terms of specific fuel consumption,
while having a somewhat lower
bypass ratio.
The first four PD-14 prototype
engines were made by Aviadvigatel
JSC. As is known, the first burn of
engine demonstrator (No.100-01)
took place in June 2012. The
second PD-14 (No.100-03) commenced its bench tests in January
2014 and the third one (No.100-04)
in October 2014. The tests of PD-14
No.100-05 began in December
2014. Now is the time for the core
engine-equipped PD-14 assembled
by the Perm Engine Company.
The PD-14 is being developed
and produced in cooperation of a
large group of the United Engine
Corporation subsidiaries, such
as the Perm Engine Company,
Aviadvigatel, STAR, UMPO, NPO
Saturn, Metallist-Samara, Salut
just to name a few. For instance,
the titanium-alloy intermediate
case and high-pressure compressor rotor for the core of the engine
No.100-06 were delivered to
Perm by UMPO, while the centre
drive by Salut. The Perm Engine
Company manufactured the stator segment of the high-pressure
compressor, combustor and highpressure turbine.
The first PD-14 assembled by
Perm Engine Company is designed
for testing under the wing of
the Il-76LL flying testbed at the
Gromov Flight Research Institute
in Zhukovsky. Last December,
Aviadvigatel Designer General
Alexander Inozemtsev said that the
flight trials of PD-14 No.100-07
on the Il-76LL flying testbed were
slated for June 2015.
The next Perm-made engine
(No.100-08) is planned for handover to the TsIAM research institute
in April 2015 for thermal vacuum chamber tests. According to
Alexander Inozemtsev, a total of
five PD-14 prototype engines are to
be made this year, while the whole
of engine prototype batch will comprise 22 units.
Aviadvigatel expects to obtain the
type certificate from the Interstate
Aviation Committee Aviation
Register for the PD-14 as soon as
2017. An MC-21 prototype powered
by a pair of PD-14s is to start flying
late in the same year.
take-off march 2015
7
industry | interview
YURI SLYUSAR:
“We are facing a lot of work to do”
UAC’s new president on near-term objectives and prospects
of Russian aircraft industry
UAC’s strategy and product portfolio
Recently, UAC has adopted its development
strategy, worked out a long-term Russian aircraft industry development programme and
decided on aircraft families to be produced.
At the same time, the recent changes in
the politico-economic situation may call for
adjustment of the documents adopted.
“We are going to hold a conference on
aircraft industry, hopefully chaired by the
Russian President. At the conference, we
are going to unveil an updated strategy of
the development of UAC and the whole of
Russian aircraft industry. The conference is
to be held in August this year during MAKS
2015 airshow in Zhukovsky, where we are
going to move our headquarters in mid2015”, said Yuri Slyusar.
8
take-off march 2015
Overall, the strategy has been widely discussed and is to be adhered to. However, the
realities of today call for thorough analysis
and, possibly, certain quick decisions on
adjusting the development plans. Thus, an
updated optimised version of the strategy
is to be devised by the middle of the year.
According to the head of UAC, the objectives remain unchanged. On the one hand,
it is unconditional compliance with the
growing governmental defence acquisition
programme and development of advanced
combat aircraft as well as new transport
planes, and, on the other, closer attention
to new commercial aircraft development
programmes, increased commercial effectiveness of the SSJ100 programme, development and marketing of the MC-21, co-
Yuri Slyusar, who had been deputy
Minister of Industry and Trade in
charge of aircraft and radio electronic
industries, has become president of
the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC)
early this year. He will remain UAC
president for the next five years. The
decision was taken by the UAC board
of directors based on the outcome of
the voting on 16 January 2015. Yuri
Slyusar thanked the board of directors for the trust vested in him and
said: “The status of the domestic
aircraft industry has improved over
recent years – both in the development of advanced aircraft and in
other segments; technical upgrade
of plants and design bureaux is
under way. We are thankful to Mikhail
Pogosyan for the job he has done.
Under his supervision, considerable progress has been made in the
industry development, and we shall
preserve the best of what has been
created by UAC’s unique team and
all of the subsidiaries of the corporation. We are facing important tasks,
including increasing our effectiveness and creating in-house sources
of steady development of the corporation. There is plenty of work for us
to do”.
In late January, Yuri Slyusar for the
first time met journalists in his new
capacity, offering them his view of
UAC’s near-term objectives and shedding light on some of the advanced
aircraft development programmes
being pursued by the corporation.
development of a future wide-body aircraft
together with Chinese partners, and others.
Plans for the year
In 2014, the United Aircraft Corporation
delivered 161 aircraft and increased its revenues by 30%. According to its official
information, UAC delivered 124 warplanes
under the governmental defence acquisition
programme and for export (an increase of
about 40% over 2013) and 37 commercial
aircraft (an increase of about 30%). The
holding company’s earnings grew by 30%,
while its operating income doubled. The
labour efficiency of the corporation’s plants
showed an improvement of 25%.
“2015 shall be very tough to us as far as
our production programme is concerned”,
www.take-off.ru
industry | interview
said Yuri Slyusar. “We are planning to produce and deliver 193 aircraft, and the corporation’s aim is to grow by 40%. This
is a serious challenge change in terms of
business growth. The implementation of a
plan like that will necessitate hiring more
workers. According to our estimates, to
implement our innovative development programmes, we will have to hire about 8,000
workers in 2015. In all, we are planning to
hire 16,000–17,000 workers in 2015–2017.
This is no small bear to us”.
Governmental support measures
To increase the commercial aircraft sales
with Sukhoi Superjet 100 being the first
one among them, the Russian government
has approved a number of support measures that are to reduce customers’ financial
risks. In particular, the government has
plans to introduce the residual value guarantee for new aircraft, which will allow a
competitive leasing rate and, hence, an
increase in the global market share held by
Russian aircraft. According to Yuri Slyusar,
the residual value guarantee mechanism is
a key measure of the government’s support
of Russian commercial aircraft industry.
It may start being used as applied to the
SSJ100 programme as soon as this year and
to the MC-21 by 2018.
The residual value guarantee fund will be
named UAC Capital, a subsidiary of UAC,
which is being registered now. The new
entity will be capitalised by governmental
subsidies. A new governmental support
mechanism is expected to be used until
2025.
The residual value guarantee implies paying compensation, if the market price of
the aircraft turns out to be lower that the
anticipated price (60% of the initial price)
by the time the lease agreement ends. It
is this residual value difference that UAC
Capital will compensate upon the completion of the lease.
Company signed a new agreement for 20
more SSJ100s. “This year, we are going to
deliver 44 aircraft, including those being
part of remarketing”, reported Yuri Slyusar.
The UAC president said the talks with
the Italian partners under the SSJ100 programme continued to seek for measures to
enhance its commercial effectiveness. “We
have agreed that we will hold a series of
meetings in March to discuss the current
status of the programme and swap ideas
about the optimisation of the technical
segment of the programme. I would like
to stress, however, that everything remains
unchanged at this stage – all of the corporate documents remain in effect, the
cooperation goes on, the Italians work here
and we work in Venice. However, there are
things, due to which time will show the need
for organisational and process optimisation
to lose less and earn more. I hope we will be
able to find a more successful programme
implementation model in terms of business
and costs optimisation, which would ensure
the programme’s transition to a more profitable phase”.
MC-21
Yuri Slyusar said that literally several days
after getting the job, he visited the Irkutsk
Aviation Plant of the Irkut corporation and
familiarised himself with the status of the
preparations for the construction of the
future MC-21 short/medium-haul airliner.
The mating of the fuselage of the first airliner prototype is to be completed by late
summer this year, and “we shall display
the mated MC-21 fuselage at the MAKS
2015 air show (by videoconference)”, he
Yuri Slyusar was born in Rostov-on-Don on
20 July 1974. In 1996 he graduated the law
department of Moscow State University, in
2003 – the Academy of People’s Economy of
the government of the Russian Federation,
Ph.D. (economy). In 2003–2007 he worked as
a commercial director, Rostvertol JSC. Since
2005 he became a member of the Helicopter
Programmes Committee, Oboronprom JSC.
In 2009 Yuri Slyusar was appointed an
assistant to the Minister of Industry and
Trade, in 2010 – director, Aircraft Industry
Department, Russian Ministry of Industry and
Trade. Since 2012 Yuri Slyusar was deputy
Minister of Industry and Trade.
promised. In accordance with the schedule,
the MC-21 prototype assembly is to be
complete late in 2015, and the aircraft is to
be rolled out for its trials. It is to conduct
its maiden flight in the first half of 2016.
“This is a drastically advanced plane featuring numerous cutting-edge solutions. It is
facing many tests on the ground prior to its
maiden flight”, Yuri Slyusar explained.
The UAC President emphasised that
concurrently with the plane’s development
and construction, the marketing divisions
of Irkut and leasing companies were in
talks with potential customers, including
major foreign airlines. At the same time, the
company is looking into aftersales support
solutions that, too, can be implemented
in cooperation with major international
providers of such services.
The certification and deliveries of the
MC-21 are slated for 2018. “The aircraft
Another SSJ100 under
assembly at SCAC’s
Komsomolsk-on-Amur facility
Sukhoi Superjet 100
www.take-off.ru
Andrey Fomin
The UAC head said 37 Sukhoi Superjet
100s were manufactured in 2014, of which
27 were sold. Yuri Slyusar attributed the
cause behind the discrepancy between the
output and sales to problems with funding the deals with Aeroflot and UTair. The
financing issues pertinent to the Aeroflot
contract had been settled only by year-end
2014, for which reason part of the deliveries
slipped over to this year. In addition, due to
the economic difficulties encountered by
UTair, part of the completed aircraft was
not sold, but a new customer for them has
been found, according to the UAC head. In
January, Aeroflot and Sukhoi Civil Aircraft
take-off march 2015
9
UAC press service
industry | interview
Artist impression of a prospective widebody airliner
co-developed by Russia’s UAC and Chinese COMAC
seems to be competitive”, says Yuri Slyusar.
“From the technological point of view, it
will be good enough even compared to the
re-engined Airbus A320neo and Boeing
737MAX. We hope carriers will be interested in buying it”, the UAC head concluded.
Russian-Chinese wide-body airliner programme
Yuri Slyusar spoke of the status of the
programme on a wide-body airliner development planned in cooperation with
Chinese partners. The programme’s business concept was approved in autumn 2014,
and now the programme is in the preliminary design phase that is to be completed in
July 2015, when the programme passes the
so-called ‘second gate’. Task forces have
been set up for the programme’s technical
segment, marketing, promotion, aftersales
support, maintenance and subcontractor
supply. “Our colleagues in COMAC are very
keen on the programme and do their utmost
to pursue it”, reported the UAC president.
A rough budget of the programme has been
figured out. As of October 2014, it was
estimated at $13 billion, with the partners
working on a parity basis.
Dwelling on the division of labour of the
parties under the programme, Mr. Slyusar
said that the cooperation would be adjusted
as the preliminary design is being devised,
but key decisions have been taken. If all goes
to plan, Russia is to develop the composite wing and empennage, high-lift devices,
etc. and China is to develop the fuselage.
As for the powerplant, talks will be held
10
take-off march 2015
with General Electric and Pratt&Whitney
initially, but it is planned to develop an inhouse powerful turbofan engine as an option
at the next stage of the programme.
Yuri Slyusar emphasised that China was a
strong, reliable and resources-rich partner
with its own competences, growing market
and clear-cut objectives. With a partner like
that, the large-scale endeavour can succeed.
The family of future wide-body planes is
supposed to have three versions. The baseline version is designed to carry 250–280
passengers at a distance of about 12,000 km.
In addition, the development of a shrunk
and a stretched versions of the airliner are
planned. According to Mr. Slyusar, the
beginning of the tests is tentatively slated for
mid-2021, certification for 2023–2024 and
full-rate production and delivery for 2025.
Regional turboprop aircraft
At present, UAC lacks a regional turboprop to succeed the obsolete An-24 and
put up stiff competition to the ATR and
Bombardier turboprops popular all over the
world. In recent years, discussions focused
on the feasibility of Russia re-launching the
production of the Ilyushin Il-114 that was
previously made in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
However, according to Yuri Slyusar, market
players agree that the Il-114 in its current
configuration is inexpedient, because it
will hardly be able to become competitive on the market, given its development
time. For this reason, aircraft industry
players are considering the development
of an advanced aircraft that would bring
the concept of the Il-114 – quite good a
plane in its day – a step forward, providing
large-scale commonality of its systems and
units with those of the Ilyushin Il-112V
advanced light airlifter that is being under
development now. The regional turboprop
like that, which could be dubbed Il-212,
is supposed to have the wing panels, avionics and powerplant similar to those of
the Il-112V. At the same time, using the
fuselage of the ramp-equipped Il-112V in
a commercial plane seems to be non-optimal; hence, the new airliner is most likely
to inherit the fuselage from the Il-114,
though an increase in its diameter for the
sake of higher passenger comfort is being
given a thought.
“The commonality with the Il-112V,
which we shall make, will enable our
subcontractors to increase production
numbers, which will slash the costs and
development time and will speed up the
launch of production, since the planes
will have 60–70% commonality”, believes
Yuri Slyusar. However, a final decision on
the launch of the advanced Russian passenger turboprop has not been made yet.
Necessary investments and the programme
timeframe are being estimated and potential customers are being consulted. “If we
feel a signal from customers, from the market, indicating the need for the plane (and
we do have got a preliminary signal like
that), we will go over to the next phase”,
the UAC President said.
www.take-off.ru
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PD-14
Prospective engine
for short/medium-haul airliners
United Engine Corporation
16, Budyonnogo avenue, Moscow, 105118, Russia
www.uecrus.com
industry | programme
Andrey Fomin
SSJ100 regional jets in the SCAC assembly hall,
Komsomolsk-on-Amur, February 2014
SUKHOI SUPERJET 100
OUTPUT ON THE RISE
Andrey FOMIN
Last year, the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company’s Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional
airliner full-rate production programme displayed the best results and
highest growth rate in Russia’s commercial airplane industry. In 2014, 34
new production-standard aircraft, including 13 in the LR (long-range) version,
were assembled and flight-tested showing a 40% increase over 2013. That
was achieved through manufacturing process optimisation, owing to which
the production cycle was reduced to seven working days, which translates
into the production of an average of three planes per month. In addition, the
SSJ100-95LR (MSN 95075) designed for endurance tests was made, airlifted
by an An-124 to Zhukovsky and submitted to TsAGI for trials.
12
take-off march 2015
Nine SSJ100-95Bs were made in 2014
by order of the SuperJet International joint
venture for subsequent delivery to Mexican
airline Interjet. Eight aircraft had gone to
Mexico during the year, including seven
assembled by SCAC’s Komsomolsk-onAmur affiliate in 2013.
Aeroflot got 12 new SSJ100-95B airliners in 2014
Alexey Mikheyev
Twelve SSJ100-95B aircraft were built for
Aeroflot (six, including two made in 2013,
entered operation under a contract with
VEB-Leasing following the return of six final
light-version aircraft to the manufacturer; six
entered operation under a new contract for 10
aircraft with Sberbank Leasing; commissioning
of two more was postponed until 2015).
Six SSJ100-95LRs were made for
Gazpromavia airline. Four of them had entered
operation during the year as well as the two
flight-tested in 2013; two more out of the built
in 2014 will be delivered this year.
Six SSJ100-95LR in the new 103-seat layout were produced for UTair, but due to
financing problems encountered by the lessor,
VEB-Leasing, in mid-2014 due to the Western
sanctions and compounded by the difficult
circumstances of the carrier itself, the planes
are likely to be handed over to another customer in 2015. Aeroflot (or its subsidiaries) is
among the most likely contenders.
Another new SSJ100 (MSN 95061), flown
in May 2014, will have been delivered to the
Russian Emergencies Ministry in the 19-seat
airborne command post variant by year-end
following customisation. In all, under the
contract placed last September, the ministry
is to receive two Superjets before the end of
2015. The other aircraft for EMERCOM
(MSN 95069) was assembled in 2014 too, but
has not flown yet. It is due for delivery in the
convertible version of airborne command post
with medevac capability.
Late in 2014, the SSJ100-95B VIP
plane (MSN 95009) built in 2013 for
Rosoboronexport JSC performed its first
flights with passengers. The aircraft was
equipped with its VIP cabin interior and
certificated in 2014. Its delivery is slated for
February 2015.
www.take-off.ru
Alexey Mikheyev
industry | programme
Interjet airline from Mexico became
the first Superjet operator in Western
hemisphere. In 2014 it received eight
more SSJ100-95Bs growing their
number in its fleet to 12
Late last year, the future of two aircraft
(MSN 95030 and 95037) sitting at SCAC
base in Zhukovsky since 2013 clarified. The
planes initially were intended for Laotian carrier Lao Central Airlines. As is known, the
carrier received its first SSJ100 (MSN 95026) in
February 2013 and had used it heavily enough
before year-end 2014, when it had to suspend its
operations due to financial problems. Thus, two
more aircraft built for Lao Central Airlines in
2013 remained unwanted. In December 2014,
a governmental contract was placed with SCAC
for their delivery to the Rossiya special air
detachment following relevant modifications.
The delivery is to take place prior to late 2015.
In all, this year may see the production of
around 40 new SSJ100s with Aeroflot and
Interjet as their key customers. In addition, the
last of the Superjets ordered by Gazpromavia
will be delivered too. Delivery of four SSJ100s
in special versions to governmental customers –
the Russian Emergencies Ministry and Rossiya
special air detachment – is expected at the end
of the year.
The Superjet production model is as follows.
The Sukhoi’s Novosibirsk Aircraft Plant manufactures the F1, F5 and F6 fuselage sections and
empennage and deliver them to Komsomolskwww.take-off.ru
on-Amur. Here, at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur
Aircraft Plant (another Sukhoi affiliate), the
F2, F3 ad F4 fuselage sections and wing sets are
made and the fuselage sections are joined, with
part of the harness and tubing installed. Joining
the fuselage with the wing and empennage as
well as all final assembly operations, including
installation of the engines and all domesticallymade and imported systems are handled in the
final assembly shop of the Komsomolsk-onAmur affiliate of Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company.
Composite parts and assemblies are supplied by
VASO plant and the KAPO-Composit.
Since May 2012, the passenger cabin interior
in all production-standard aircraft, excluding
those supplied by SuperJet International to
Mexico and business versions, is assembled at
the final assembly facility of the Aviastar-SP
plant in Ulyanovsk. Most of productionstandard SSJ100s, except the ones exported
by SuperJet International and several aircraft
painted in the Czech Republic, are painted by
Spektr-Avia JSC in Ulyanovsk too. SuperJet
International at its Venice base handles passenger cabin interior installation and the painting of
aircraft earmarked for delivery to Interjet. The
customisation of special versions of the SSJ100
for governmental users takes place at SCAC base
in Zhukovsky.
All in all, by early 2015, Sukhoi Civil Aircraft
Company manufactured four SSJ100 flying
prototypes (in 2008–2010) and 76 productionstandard aircraft (since 2010). Of them, 54 were
delivered by January 2015, with 41 being in
active use by air carriers.
According to official information released by
SCAC in December 2014, its SSJ100 orderbook
totalled 192 firm orders, including the delivered ones. In January 2015, Aeroflot ordered
20 more aircraft, while Interjet decided to firm
up its 10 options.
Nikolai Krasnov
Gabriel Mora
Six more SSJ100-95LR extended-range regional jets
were built for Gazpromavia carrier last year
Six SSJ100-95LR airliners in 103-seat layout produced in 2014 for UTair due
to airline’s financial problems are likely to be handed over to another customer
take-off march 2015
13
Aviastar-SP JSC
industry | review
Il-76MD-90A first production heavy transport
aircraft was assembled in Ulyanovsk last summer
Andrey FOMIN
FROM IL-112 TO YERMAK
Russia rebuilding its advanced transport
aircraft development competence
A priority of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) is to restore Russia’s position
as a major manufacturer of ramp-equipped transport aircraft to meet the needs
of Russian and foreign customers. As is known, the Aviastar plant in the city of
Ulyanovsk built the last Antonov An-124 Ruslan heavy-lift transport aircraft over
10 years ago, in 2004, and ramp-fitted freighters have been made only in Tashkent
(Il-76), Kiev (An-32) and Kharkov (An-74) since then. The situation has started
changing only recently, with the upgraded Ilyushin Il-76MD-90A productionising
programme having entered the practical phase in Ulyanovsk as well as Ilyushin
having resumed the work on the Il-112V advanced light airlifter and having launched
the multipurpose Medium Transport Aircraft (MTA) preliminary design work.
Two most important events happened late in 2014 include the delivery of the first
production-standard Il-76MD-90A made in Ulyanovsk and the signature of a longawaited Il-112V development contract with the Russian Defence Ministry.
Il-76MD-90A: kickoff of deliveries
The
first
production-standard
Il-76MD-90A heavylifter with a carrying
capacity of 60 t was handed over to the
customer in a ceremony in Ulyanovsk on
21 November 2014. It is the first aircraft
built under the governmental contract for
39 Il-76MD-90As, awarded by the Russian
Defence Ministry in October 2012. At the
instance of the customer, the transport has
been handed over to the Beriev company
in the town of Taganrog for deriving an
advanced airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft from it for service
with the Russian Air Force.
14
take-off march 2015
The delivered airlifter (c/n 01-03) was rolled
out by Aviastar in June last year. It performed
its maiden flight on 3 October 2014. By then,
the aircraft had been painted, issued registration
number 78651 and named Ulyanovsk. Following
a short test programme, it was ready for delivery
and was ferried to Taganrog on 24 November.
“We are fully satisfied with the performance of the aircraft and the pace of the
programme”, stressed RusAF commander Col.-Gen. Victor Bondarev. “The new
qualities produced by the heavy upgrade
of the Ilyushin airlifter have expanded its field of application by far. The
plane is a platform for making multirole
transport aircraft capable of airdropping
paratroops and carrying combat gear,
fuel and containers and for developing
special versions. The capabilities of the
Il-76MD-90A meet the latest RusAF
standards, and the aircraft is very promising”.
www.take-off.ru
industry | review
ber 78650) kicking off its tests a year later.
It conducted its first flight in Ulyanovsk on
22 September 2012 and had been tested in
Zhukovsky since late January 2013, where
it passed the first phase of its official tests in
July through November 2013.
The Il-76MD-90A (c/n 01-02) logged
about 60 sorties, and its Kupol-III-76M(A)
upgraded flight navigation suite and all
basic airborne systems were tried out in
the course of the flight tests and first stage
of the official tests. Strength limits were
tested at maximum speed and limit loads,
flights were performed with the 210-tonne
maximum takeoff weight and 170-tonne
maximum landing weight, and the goaround procedure with simulated shutdowns of one and two engines was tested.
The first phase of the official trials resulted
in the preliminary report clearing the fullrate production of the Il-76MD-90A by
Aviastar.
In the near future, the Il-76MD-90A
(c/n 01-02) shall undergo the second
phase of its official tests, during which its
advanced communication and EW suites
and materiel/cargo airdrops will be tested.
The Russian Defence Ministry became
launch customer for the production-standard
Il-76MD-90A, having placed an order on 4
October 2012 for 39 aircraft to be delivered
between 2014 and 2020. According to the
2013–2025 Aircraft Industry Development
Federal Programme published at the website of the Russian government, Aviastar is
planned to make a total of 190 Il-76MD90As and versions, including Il-78M-90A
tanker planes and platforms for subsequent
conversion to dedicated applications by
Beriev, as well as Il-76TD-90A commercial
freighters for Russian and foreign carriers.
The Russian Emergencies Ministry, which
signed a preliminary order for six aircraft
with UAC last September, may become the
launch customer for the Il-76TD-90A. If all
goes to plan, Aviastar’s Il-76 annual output
rate is to account for 18 units per annum by
the end of the decade.
Aviastar-SP JSC
Meanwhile, on 31 October 2014, the
second production-standard Il-76MD-90A
(c/n 01-04) was brought to the flight test
facility of the Aviastar-SP close corporation. Having completed its scheduled
ground tests, it took to the skies for the
first time on 30 December, after which it
was brought to the painting shop. It will be
delivered after its factory and acceptance
tests have been complete.
At present, final assembly and systems
fitting of the third production-standard aircraft (c/n 01-05) is in full swing at Aviastar
to be followed by Il-76MD-90A c/n 01-08
soon. Parts and units for next 10 aircraft are
being manufactured.
As is known, the Russian government
issued the resolution on the production
of the Il-76MD-90A upgraded transport
aircraft in Ulyanovsk (Project 476) on
20 December 2006. The key features of
the Il-76MD-90A, setting it apart from
the Il-76MD built previously in Tashkent
are a more powerful and efficient powerplant of four PS-90A-76 engines instead of
D-30KP-2, a modified wing, an increase in
maximum takeoff weight and lifting capacity, a modern flight navigation system, glass
cockpit, etc.
In 2009, Ulyanovsk-based Aviastar
launched the construction of the first two
Il-76MD-90A prototypes – c/n 01-01 for
static and endurance tests and c/n 01-02
for flight trials. The set of units of the
endurance test example was brought to
Zhukovsky, Moscow Region, in autumn
2011 for static tests at TsAGI, with the
Il-76MD-90A’s flying prototype (side num-
The second production Il-76MD-90A (c/n 01-04)
was rolled-out from Aviastar’s assembly hall on 31 October 2014
Beriev company
The first production Il-76MD-90A (c/n 01-03) was officially handed over
to its customer on 21 November 2014 and three days later flew
to Taganrog-based Beriev company where it will be converted
to a new AEW&C aircraft for Russian Air Force
www.take-off.ru
take-off march 2015
15
Aviastar-SP JSC
industry | review
Aviastar-SP JSC
Maiden flight of the second production Il-76MD-90A
took place in Ulyanovsk on 30 December 2014
‘Glass’ cockpit is a distinctive
feature of the Il-76MD-90A
repair plants will start full-scale upgrade of the
Il-76MD aircraft fleet. In all, about 40 aircraft
have been earmarked for improvement. The
earlier-made Il-78M tanker planes are supposed to be subjected to the same upgrade and
then re-designated as Il-78M-2.
Il-112V: prototype as soon as next year
The in-development Il-76MD-90A derivative, the Il-78M-90A tanker, which first
prototype is being made by Aviastar now,
has a takeoff weight increase from 210 t to
220 t. Compared with the Il-78 and Il-78M
tankers previously made in Tashkent, this
enables to carry more fuel for mid-air refuelling of other planes. Unlike the Il-78M, the
advanced Il-78M-90A is being developed
as a convertible aircraft. This allows it to be
used as an ordinary freighter once its fuselage
fuel tanks removed, because it retains its
cargo ramp. The tests of the first Il-78M-90A
(c/n 02-01) are slated for late 2015.
Concurrently with the launch of
Il-76MD-90A deliveries late last year, the
programme on upgrading in-service RusAF
Il-76MDs to Il-76MD-M standard kicked
off. According to an Ilyushin press release
16
take-off march 2015
dated 24 December 2014, the company has
devised the engineering data and launched
the upgrade of the first Il-76MD under
the requirements specification the Defence
Ministry issued in 2011. The aircraft is to be
furnished with an up-to-date avionics suite.
Unlike the Il-76MD-90A, there will be no
re-engining of the in-service airlifters. They
will be given overhauled D-30KP-2s, with
the move slashing the cost of the upgrade by
far. The upgrade will cover the flight navigation, communication, airdrop, transport,
lighting and utility equipment and defence
aids as well. The obsolescent and out-ofproduction equipment shall be replaced
with the latest gear. The service life shall be
extended from 30 to 40 years.
The first upgraded Il-76MD-M will commence its official tests, after which aircraft
Another milestone of late last year was the
deal clinched by Ilyushin and the Russian
Defence Ministry for the development of
the advanced Ilyushin Il-112V light airlifter
with the 6-tonne carrying capacity and its
productionising by the VASO company in
the city of Voronezh. As is known, Ilyushin
has developed the aircraft under the 2003
requirements specification. The plane passed
the preliminary design and mock-up stages
as far as 10 years ago, in 2004, followed by
the devising of the airframe and systems
engineering data sufficient for building prototypes. VASO started the preparation of its
production facilities, but delays, the lack
of the powerplant (in-development Klimov
TV7-117ST turboprop) and the requirements altered in May 2010 made the Defence
Ministry suspend the funding of the programme. By then, about 95% of the design
documentation had been ready, 24% of the
production tooling had been designed, 21%
of it had been made and the manufacture of
the parts for prototypes had begun.
The decision to resume the Il-112V
development under a modified requirements specification was taken in summer
2013, but the haggling with the customer
over the financial matters has dragged its
feet for almost a year and a half. Now,
the contract has been closed at long last,
www.take-off.ru
industry | review
with the programme being re-activated. An
Ilyushin news release dated 24 December
2014 reported that VASO was to complete
two Il-112V prototypes as soon as 2016 –
one for static and endurance tests and the
other for flight ones. The maiden flight
of the Il-112V prototype may take place
as soon as late 2016. Ilyushin also expects
to snag a Defence Ministry order for production-standard Il-112Vs in 2015, which
deliveries may begin in 2018.
Ilyushin Director General Sergei Sergeyev
says: “The Il-112 is going to replace the
An-26 still widely used by Russian operators. We are facing a tough deadline, while
the coordination among the subcontractors
has not been streamlined yet. I am optimistic, however. The delivery of VASO-built
Il-112s to the Russian Defence Ministry
must begin before the end of the decade”.
As is known, the Russian Defence
Ministry plans stipulate the acquisition of
over 60 Il-112Vs. In Mr. Sergeyev’s opinion,
the airlifter will be “needed by governmental agencies in the first place – not only the
military, but the Federal Security Service,
Emergencies Ministry, etc. Plans are being
mulled over, under which governmental
customers are to receive two hundred aircraft of the type until 2030”.
is planned to be launched at the facilities of
the Aviastar plant in conjunction with other
UAC subsidiaries. According to the estimate
of the Russian Ministry of Industry and
Trade published as part of the 2013–2025
Aircraft Industry Development Federal
Programme, 140 aircraft of the type can be
made before 2025, including 80 for Russian
customers and 60 in the form of knockdown
kits for subsequent assembly by HAL and
delivery to the Indian Air Force.
According to information at UAC’s and
Ilyushin’s official websites, the MTA will
have a maximal takeoff weight of 68 t and a
lifting capacity of 20 t. It will be capable of
carrying 70 paratroopers, 70 casualties or up
to 150 infantrymen (the latter in the twodeck variant). The MTA will have the same
cargo hold cross-section as the Il-76 has
(3.45x3.4 m), with a shorter length (13.85 m).
According to UAC, a pair of the advanced
PD-14M 15.6-tf thrust turbofans is pondered
as the future powerplant for the MTA. The
PD-14M is to be derived from the PD-14
turbofan engine designed for the Irkut MC-21
airliner and being subject to bench tests at the
present time. According to Ilyushin, production-standard PS-90A-76 turbofans powering
the Il-76MD-90A will be used initially.
Ilyushin has got a more ambitious objective as well. Last October, Director General
Sergei Sergeyev said: “We expect to start
the development of a family of superheavyweight aircraft featuring a lifting capacity of
80 t or more in 2016. These are widebody
aircraft. There has been the project designation offered already – Yermak. We are
supposed to launch the Yermak’s full-rate
production by 2024”.
To implement the large-scale programmes like that, a vertically-integrated
company capable of the complete cycle of
transport aircraft development, production and delivery is to be established by
year-end 2015 or by early 2016. According
to Mr. Sergeyev, the corporation shall be
set up gradually. “The first phase is to be
completed by a merger of Ilyushin JSC,
UAC – Transport Aircraft JSC and the
Myasischev design bureau. Plans provide
for the second phase slated for 2016–2017
to see Aviastar plant in Ulyanovsk and
Voronezh-based VASO join the newlyestablished holding company. We also are
looking into the practicability of incorporating repair and overhaul companies”,
the Ilyushin Director General said, sharing his plans.
Prospective programmes
Andrey Fomin
A model of Ilyushin Il-112V light transport
aircraft which development programme
was re-launched under the contract with Russian
Defence Ministry signed in November 2014.
The first flying prototype is to be built by late 2016
Andrey Fomin
Another one UAC’s transport aircraft
programme is the participation in the codevelopment of the Medium Transport
Aircraft (MTA) with a lifting capacity of
20 t within the framework of the RussianIndian governmental agreement made in
2007. A Russian-Indian joint venture was
set up in Bangalore in December 2010 to
develop the MTA, and the contract for the
first phase of the design work was finalised
in October 2012. The participants in the
joint venture are Russia’s UAC – Transport
Aircraft and India’s Hindustan Aeronautics
Ltd. (HAL). The MTA production in Russia
Prospective medium Multirole Transport Aircraft (MTA) co-developed by Russian UAC – Transport Aircraft
and Indian HAL. The contract for the first phase of development programme was signed in October 2012
www.take-off.ru
take-off march 2015
17
contracts and deliveries | programme
Andrey FOMIN
Su-30MKM
IN SERVICE WITH RMAF
Last summer marked the fifth anniversary of the fulfillment of a contract for 18 Sukhoi
Su-30MKM two-seat supermanoeuvrable multirole fighters delivery to the Royal
Malaysian Air Force. The aircraft have been successfully operated by RMAF, being
its most advanced and sophisticated aircraft type. The Irkut corporation delivered
them to Malaysia between 2007 and 2009. Now all of 18 superagile Su-30MKMs
are in service with the 11th squadron of the Royal Malaysian Air Force stationed at
Gong Kedak air base in the Kelantan province, on the coast of the South China Sea,
300 km north of the national capital, Kuala Lumpur. The international debut of the
advanced Malaysian fighters took place eight years ago at LIMA 2007 airshow at the
island of Langkawi. This time, Su-30MKMs are also the participants of the Langkawi
International Maritime and Aerospace exhibition and, no doubt, will become the main
stars of the demonstration flight programme at LIMA '15.
Worth about $900 million, the contract
for 18 Russian-made Su-30MKM aircraft to
be delivered to RMAF was signed on the top
governmental level in August 2003, with the
Rosoboronexport state corporation to fulfil it.
The aircraft were to be developed by the Sukhoi
company and built by the Irkut Corp. Under
the deal, in addition to delivering the fighters,
Russia was to train RMAF flying and ground
crews and provide weapons and other equipment
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relevant to the effective operation of the fighters.
A decision was taken to have Malaysia’s personnel trained in their country. RMAF had taken
delivery of the first two aircraft in June 2007 and
four more by the year-end, with the next six in
March 2008. The remaining six Su-30MKMs
were delivered in summer 2009.
The Su-30MKM fighter is a derivative of the
proven Su-30MKI that has been in service with
the Indian Air Force (IAF) since 2002. Under
the contracts fulfilled or still under way, IAF is
to take delivery of as many as 272 Su-30MKI
fighters by the end of this decade, of which
50 were built by Russia’s Irkut Corporation and
222 are to be licence-produced by Indian aircraft
manufacturer HAL under a licence programme.
To date, Irkut has shipped 50 fighters of the type
to India as well as more than 150 licence production kits. The first Indian-assembled Su-30MKI
has been flown and handed over to IAF in
November 2004. Since then, the number of
Indian-produced Su-30MKIs in IAF’s inventory has been on the rise. As for today, more than
200 Su-30MKIs – both delivered from Russia
and assembled by HAL – are in service with IAF.
One more derivative of the fighter, the
Su-30MKI(A), was developed by Sukhoi and
delivered by Irkut Corp. The customer is Algerian
Air Force wich ordered 28 fighters of the type in
2006 and 16 more in 2010. Deliveries began in
late 2007 and by now a total of 44 Su-30MKI(A)
fighters have been built by Irkut and delivered to
the customer.
The Su-30MKM is another step in developing the Su-30 platform further. The Malaysian
version is wrapped around the Su-30MKI
design, differing mostly in avionics but retaining
its airframe, AL-31FP thrust vector-controlled
(TVC) engines and fly-by-wire control system.
Still, there have been a number of radical modifications to the Malaysian aircraft.
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They included, first and foremost, modifications to the IFF transponder, self-defence suite,
display system and podded optronic systems. For
instance, the Su-30MKM mounts an advanced
French-made IFF system, with its ‘plates’ situated on top the nose section fore of the cockpit.
However, the main difference featured by the
Malaysian variant is its laser warning systems and
missile approach sensors. They were developed
and in production by South African company
Avitronics, a member of the SAAB group, and
are placed in various parts of the airframe. Two
front-hemisphere laser-illumination sensor sets
are under the nose section and the other two,
which keep an eye on the rear hemisphere, sit on
the sides of the air intakes. Between the former,
there is a UV three-sensor set to spot incoming
missiles in the lookdown mode. The second such
set of UV sensors is on top the spine fairing aft
of the air brake. It operates in the lookup mode.
In addition to the South African systems,
the Su-30MKM’s self-defence suite comprises
an upgraded Russian radar-warning receiver,
Russian electronic countermeasures (ECM)
system in two pods mounted on wingtips, and
Russian passive IR dispensers in the tail section
(98 cartridges with flares and chaff).
Actually, the share of Russian-made components is larger than that on the Indian variant
due to Russian components replacing some of
the Indian and Israeli ones. Particularly, the
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Su-30MKI has two different digital computers (the main one is Russian and the backup is
Indian), while both of the Su-30MKM’s computers are Russian-made.
In addition, the Su-30MKM has more
French-made systems. The Thales wide-angle
HUD has ousted the Israeli ElOp HUD mounted by the Su-30MKI. The Su-30MKM’s colour
multifunction LCDs are French-made as well.
Like the Indian fighter, its Malaysian counterpart
houses three 5x5” MFD55 displays at each combat station in the cockpit, with the rear station
also fitted with the fourth, larger display – the
6x6” MFD66.
Another novelty implemented in the Malaysian
version is the Thales podded optronic systems
(the Su-30MKI can carry the Israeli-made
Litening electro-optical pod). There are two
such systems: the LDP Damocles pod ensures
round-the-clock air-to-surface attack while day
and night flight and navigation is ensured by the
NAVFLIR system housed by the pylon being the
hardpoint for the Damocles.
According to the official data at the Thales
web site, the Damocles podded optronic system (the pod weighs 265 kg and is 2.5 m long)
handles the surface search, target acquisition, identification and tracking, laser spot
detection and target ranging and designation
for laser-guided weapons, including smart
bombs. To this end, it has the thermal imaging
capability with the 3–5 micron wavelength
as well as two laser channels: a 1.5 micron
eye-safe ranging laser and a target illumination laser. The thermal imager’s extra-wide
field of vision in the navigation mode measures 24x18°, wide one – 4x3° and narrow
one – 1x0.75°. The twofold electronic magnification (zoom) is possible.
The 3–5 micron infrared NAVFLIR navigation system has the front-hemisphere lookdown/
lookup capability with the 24x18° optical field
of view (the electronic zoom with 12x9° angle
of view) and shows the resultant imagery on
the HUD and/or MFDs. The acquisition and
identification range for objects measuring 20x20
m is 10–12 km and those for 100x100 m objects
is 22.5–50 km. The system, except the pod and
cooling system, weighs mere 20 kg.
The rest of the Su-30MKM’s search and
targeting systems are Russian-made and mostly similar to those on the Su-30MKI. They
include, first and foremost, the TikhomirovNIIP Bars phased-array radar capable of simultaneously tracking at least 15 aerial threats at a
high spatial angle and engaging four of them at
a time, effectively attacking ground targets and
operating in the air-to-air and air-to-surface
modes concurrently. The passive phased array
of the Bars radar is fitted with the additional hydraulic horizontal turn mechanism and
offers ±70° total scan in azimuth and ±40°
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contracts and deliveries | programme
in elevation. The assured acquisition range
for aerial threats with a radar cross-section of
3 sq.m equals at least 140 km.
In addition, the Su-30MKM’s surveillance
and targeting gear includes the OLS-30I IRST
from the Ural Optical & Mechanical Plant
named after E.S. Yalamov (UOMZ) and the
Sura helmet-mounted target designator from
the Arsenal plant in Kiev. The infrared segment of the IRST tracks aerial targets out at
90 km in the rear hemisphere and 50 km in
the front hemisphere. The airspace scan zone
measures ±60° in azimuth and -15/+60° in
elevation. The OLS-30I’s wide field of view
account for 60x10° and the narrow one is
20x5°, with the field of view being 3x3° in the
lock-on mode. The laser rangefinder ranges
ground targets out at 5 km at the least and
aerial ones out at 3 km at the least.
The Su-30MKI’s navigation aids include the
TACAN short-range radio navigation system,
LINS-GPS inertial/satnav system and VOR/
ILS/MRK landing equipment. To ensure safe
formation manoeuvring, the aircraft also is fitted with formation flight lights on the sides
of the fuselage nose section and air intakes,
fins and wingtips. The avionics was integrated
with the use of multiplex databus meeting the
MIL-STD-1553B standard.
As far as its weapons suite is concerned,
the Su-30MKM is close enough to IAF’s
Su-30MKI. The types of weapons used remain
virtually unchanged and include up to ten
RVV-AE medium-range active radar homing
air-to-air missiles, up to eight R-27ER1 semiactive radar homing and R-27ET1 heat-seeking AAMs (including up to two R-27ET1
AAMs), up to six R-73E dogfight missiles,
Kh-59ME air-to-surface missiles (two mis-
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siles with TV command guidance), Kh-31A
or Kh-31P (six ASMs with active or passive radar homing heads), six TV-guided
Kh-29TE missiles and five Kh-29L semiactive laser beam-riding ASMs. Guided bombs
include KAB-500Kr (OD) and KAB-1500Kr
TV-guided bombs and advanced KAB-1500LG
laser-guided bombs. The use of Kh-59ME
missiles is supported by means of the APK-9E
pod carried on the hardpoint under the port
air intake and that of Kh-29L missiles and
KAB-1500LG bombs by the Damocles pod
mounted on the hardpoint under the starboard
air intake.
The non-guided weapons carried by the
Su-30MKM are virtually the same as those
hauled by other aircraft of the Flanker family.
The Su-30MKM carries up to eight HE gravity bombs or 500 kg disposable cluster bomb
units, up to thirty-two 250 kg or 100 kg
blast/fragmentation bombs and 80, 122 and
266/340 mm (420 mm) folding-fin aerial
rockets (80 S-8, 20 S-13 or four S-25 FFARs
in various versions) in four rocket pods or
launchers. The maximum payload mounted
on 12 hardpoints totals 8,000 kg. To cap it all,
the fighter packs a 30 mm GSh-301 automatic
cannon with the 150-round ammo load.
In conclusion, a few words about one other
feature of the Su-30MKM. The aircraft is fitted with the integral oxygen generator from
the Zvezda company in the town of Tomilino,
Moscow Region. Zvezda is known as the developer of the unique K-36D-3,5E ejection seat the
Su-30MKM is fitted with.
The Su-30MKM has a long flying life –
6,000 flight hours or 25 years of operation
as far as the airframe is concerned. Heavy
maintenance is required after the aircraft logs
1,500 flight hours or 10 years of operation. The
AL-31FP engines from UMPO in Ufa have an
assigned life of 2,000 flight hours and a time
before first overhaul of 1,000 flight hours, with
their TVC nozzles have an assigned life of 500
flight hours.
In 2006 the Sukhoi design bureau furnished
two prototype aircraft to test the Su-30MKM’s
advanced electronic systems and integrate it
with the avionics suite. Two preproduction
Su-30MKIs serialled 05 and 04 were converted
to this end, becoming the prototypes of the
Su-30MKM. One of them was first flown by
Sukhoi’s test pilots Sergey Kostin and Vyacheslav
Averyanov in Zhukovsky on 23 May 2006. The
other prototype completed its maiden flight in
Irkutsk on 9 June 2006 with Vyacheslav and
Yevgeny Averyanovs at the controls. The bulk of
the tests conducted at LII’s airfield in Zhukovsky
and at the Defence Ministry’s State Flight Test
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c o n t cr oa nc t rs a ac tn sd ad ne dl i vd e rl i ve es r |i e ps r o| g r ae m
p omr et
of the event was highlighted by the presence of
Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence
Minister (now – Prime Minister of Malaysia)
Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Tun Haji Abdul Razak
and Malaysian Chief of Defence Forces General
(Army) Tan Sri Dato Paduka Seri Abdul Aziz
Hj Zainal. Rosoboronexport Deputy Director
General Victor Komardin, who represented
Russia during the ceremony, handed the documentation on the delivered aircraft over to
RMAF Commander.
By then, the fighters delivered had been used
by the first group of RMAF pilots for conversion to the aircraft of a type new to them,
with Russian test pilots Yevgeny Frolov, Sergey
Bogdan and Sergey Kostin of the Sukhoi design
bureau acting as instructor pilots. Already on
31 August 2007, three Su-30MKMs flown by
Malaysian pilots participated in the air parade
dedicated to the 50th anniversary of Malaysia’s
independence.
The international debut of the advanced
Malaysian fighters took place at LIMA 2007
airshow at the island of Langkawi in
December 2007. Lt. Col. Norazlan Aris
and Maj. Azman Jantan from RMAF’s
11th squadron became the heroes of the show
due to their fantastic Su-30MKM flight display over Langkawi. By then two more RMAF
pilots were flying the new type of Malaysian
fighter, Maj. Fadzli Sabirin and Maj. Choy
Swee On. All of them previously flew RMAF’s
MiG-29N or F/A-18D fighters or Hawk
trainers and were high-skill military pilots
with a flight backlog of 2,000–3,000 hours.
Later on more and more Malaysian pilots
passed conversion for flying Su-30MKM and
attended the 11th squadron.
With introducing the Su-30MKM into service, RMAF became the second air force in the
world to operate supersonic multirole supermanoeuvrable fighters capable of thrust vector
control and the world’s second air force flying
Russian fighters fitted with phased-array radars.
With air crews given relevant training, they will
be able to use dogfight missiles in the supermanoeuvrability mode as well. As a result, the combat capabilities of the Malaysian Su-30MKMs
could far exceed those of the fighters operated by
other air forces in the region.
At present, RMAF is searching the ways
for further development of its fighter fleet.
Rosoboronexport and Irkut are intent on offering the Malaysians a new batch of Su-30MKM
fighters that have earned the country’s recognition and can embody a number of improvements, if the customer wishes so. For instance,
they can be fitted with an upgraded fire control
radar system that can be equipped with the active
electronically scanned array (AESA) and the
latest weapons, including the Russian-Indian
BrahMos-A heavy multipurpose supersonic airto-surface missile. In such a case, RMAF will get
the unique capabilities for accomplishing all of
their missions.
Andrey Fomin
Andrey Fomin
Centre (GLITs) in Akhtubinsk were complete
in late spring 2007, with the assembly of the first
production Su-30MKMs being in full swing at
the Irkutsk Aviation Plant. Both Su-30MKM
prototypes remained in Russia for use under
various test programmes to keep on refining the
Su-30MKM and other aircraft of the family.
The ceremony of acceptance of two first production-standard Su-30MKMs took place at
the airfield of the Irkutsk Aviation Plant, a subsidiary of the Irkut Corp., on 24 May 2007. The
Malaysian delegation attending the acceptance
ceremony was led by the then RMAF commander, Gen. Dato’ Sri Azizan bin Ariffin. Less than
a month later, on 18 June, an Antonov An-124
Ruslan airlifter flew both aircraft to RMAF’s
Gong Kedak air base in the Kelantan province,
on the coast of the South China Sea, 300 km
north of the national capital, Kuala Lumpur.
Two more Su-30MKMs joined them in August.
The Subang air base vic. Kuala Lumpur hosted
the ceremony of the Su-30MKM’s RMAF service entry on 10 August 2007. The importance
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contracts and deliveries | news
Andrey Fomin
Andrey Fomin
The Russian Helicopters holding
company, a part of the Rostec State
Corporation, will showcase its new
commercial models at LIMA 2015
Langkawi International Maritime and
Aerospace Exhibition.
The company presents here its two
new models: a heavily upgraded multirole Mi-171A2 helicopter and a light
multirole Ansat helicopter. Mi-171A2 is
a medium-class passenger/transport
helicopter derived from the famous
Mi-8/17 family using the latest technologies and engineering solutions.
It is a reliable and safe rotorcraft that
sets new standards for medium-class
helicopters worldwide. Mi-171A2 is
currently undergoing the final stages
of certification tests. Its certification test programme completion and
Interstate Aviation Committee Aircraft
Registry type certificate release are
slated for 2015. Even now, major helicopter operators – both domestic and
foreign – have displayed interest in the
Mi-171A2.
The light Ansat is one of the most
in-demand models in its class of
helicopters with payload capacity
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Andrey Fomin
Russian helicopters for Malaysia
of up to 1.5 tonnes, and has been
the subject of great interest from
public- and private-sector bodies in
Malaysia. It has the most spacious
cabin in its class, and its configuration can be changed depending on
its designated purpose. The Ansat
can be used for passenger flights
(including VIP class) as well as haul-
ing cargo, and can also be deployed
on police operations or to fly searchand-rescue and medevac missions.
In late December 2014, Russian
Helicopters announced the completion of the certification of a passenger version of the Ansat light
multipurpose helicopter equipped
with the hydro-mechanical control
system. It got a supplementary type
certificate issued by the Interstate
Aviation Committee Aircraft Registry
allowing it commercial passenger
operations.
At LIMA 2015 Russian Helicopters
plans to hold talks with Malaysian
state company AIROD and the country's firefighting department BOMBA,
both of which are considering the
acquisition of a new consignment of
multirole Mi-8/17 series helicopters.
Today these helicopters are among
the most widely used in the world.
Malaysian BOMBA Fire and
Rescue Air Operation Unit now operates four Mi-8/17 series helicopters.
The first two Mi-17-1V helicopters
produced by Kazan Helicopters (now
being a part of Russian Helicopters
holding) were delivered to Malaysia
in 1998–1999 and then modified
by Malaysian engineers into firefighting versions and got M994-01
and M994-02 registration numbers.
Being satisfied with an experience of
their service with BOMBA, Malaysian
government made a decision in
2003 to order two more helicopters
of the type. In September 2004 Ulan
Ude Aviation Plant (now also being a
part of Russian Helicopters holding)
delivered two Mi-171 helicopters
to Malaysia. After fitting them with
search-and-rescue and firefighting
systems these two helicopters were
handed over to BOMBA Fire and
Rescue Air Operation Unit and got
M994-03 and M994-04 registrations.
Malaysian BOMBA’s Mi-17-1V
and Mi-171 helicopters were repeatedly used for firefighting and rescue
operations, as well as for disaster
relief and earned the highest rating.
During LIMA 2015 Russian
Helicopters holding company jointly
with Rosoboronexport company
will discuss opportunities for supplying new Mi-35M, Mi-171Sh and
Mi-17V-5 helicopters to the security
forces of Malaysia and other countries in South-East Asia.
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The MiG Corp. and Phazotron
Corp. continue deliveries of knockdown kits to India for upgrading the entire fleet of Indian Air
Force MiG-29 fighters
under
the contract signed on 7 March
2008 (MiG-29UPG programme).
In all, 63 aircraft, including nine
MiG-29UB twin-seat combat trainers, are subject to upgrade. They
are to be given more up-to-date
avionics, with their weapons suite
to be beefed up with advanced missiles. In addition, airframe and powerplant improvements will extend
the fighters’ service life by far, and
the aircraft will switch to on-condition maintenance. The fuel load will
increase owing to a conformal spine
fuel tank aft of the cockpit. At the
same time, the fighters will get the
mid-air refuelling capability.
Overall, the concept of upgrading the IAF MiG-29s corresponds
to that of the MiG-29SMT that has
been in service with the Russian Air
Force since 2009 and mastered by
Russian pilots. At the same time,
there will be a high degree of avionics and weapons commonality
with the MiG-29K/KUB carrierborne
fighters that entered service with
the Indian Navy on 19 February
2010. At the customer’s request,
systems from various foreign
manufacturers are integrated with
the avionics suite of the upgraded
MiG-29UPG (the so-called international avionics suite). Similar
experience has been gained from
the fulfilling of the Russian-Indian
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contracts for upgrade of the IAF’s
MiG-21bis to MiG-21UPG Bison
standard and for development and
manufacture of the Su-30MKI and
MiG-29K/KUB fighters. The experience has showed itself to good
advantage.
The upgraded MiG-29UPG’s fire
control system is wrapped around the
advanced Phazotron-NIIR Zhuk-M2E
slotted-array radar and OLS-UEM
IRST with the laser, thermal-imager
and TV capabilities from the Precise
Instrument Systems Scientific and
Production Corporation (NPK SPP).
The same radar and IRST fit the
MiG-29K/KUB. The cockpit management system is based on colour
multifunction liquid-crystal displays. The international segment
of the avionics suite includes a
helmet-mounted target designator
from Thales, an inertial/satellite
navigation system from Sagem, an
Indian electronic intelligence system and an Israeli electronic countermeasures system (the same
gear equips the MiG-29K/KUB).
In addition to the conformal
fuel cell behind the cockpit and
the mid-air refuelling boom on
the portside, visual differences
between the MiG-29UPG and the
baseline MiG-29 include the underwing chaff/flare dispensers from
Bharat Electronics and advanced
antennae of the defence aids suite
under wing and in the root of the
right fin.
The basic weapons carried by
the MIG-29UPG are the same as
those carried by the MiG-29SMT
and MiG-29K/KUB. Unlike the
weapons suite of production
MiG-29s, they also include the
RVV-AE medium-range active
radar homing air-to-air missiles
and such precision-guided air-tosurface weapons, as the Kh-29T
general-purpose TV-homing missile, Kh-31A active radar homing
antiship missile, Kh-31P passive
radar homing antiradation missile,
KAB-500Kr TV-homing bombs, etc.
The MiG-29 has been in IAF’s
inventory since 1987. Overall,
80 aircraft of the type had been
delivered from the later 1980s to
the mid-‘90s, including about 70
MiG-29 singleseaters (version B,
or MiG-29B) and 10 MiG-29UB
twinseaters.
Under the contract, the first
six IAF MIG-29s (four singleseaters and two twinseaters) were
upgraded and tested in Russia,
where they arrived from India in
2008. The first MiG-29UPG made
its maiden flight after upgrade in
Zhukovsky on 4 February 2010.
Upon completion of the tests, the
first two upgraded MiG-29UPGs
and a MiG-29UB UPG were
returned to the customer early
in December 2012. Three more
aircraft were delivered in 2013.
The remaining 56 aircraft will be
upgraded in India at the production facilities of the IAF’s 11th
Repair Base, using knockdown
kits supplied from Russia.
Sergei Lysenko
Sergei Lysenko
MiG-29UPG upgrade programme goes on
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contracts and deliveries | news
On 24 December 2012, during
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s
visit to India, one more contract,
for delivery of 42 Su-30MKI multirole supermanoeuvrable fighter
knockdown kits to India, was
signed. According to the Indian
press, the deal’s worth is estimated at about $1.6 billion.
HAL Chairman R.K. Tyagi said in
December 2012 that after 42 more
knockdown kits had been ordered,
HAL’s licence-produced Su-30MKI
output would total 222 aircraft.
Thus, considering the ready-made
Su-30MKIs delivered by Irkut, IAF
will have a fleet of 272 aircraft of
the type in the end.
According to an official HAL
news release, the Russian-Indian
Su-30MKI licence production programme involves 157 Indian subcontractors. HAL’s MiG Complex
in Nasik handles the manufacture
of Su-30MKI airframes and the
final assembly of the planes. The
manufacture of AL-31FP engines
with the use of UMPO-supplied
components is performed by HAL’s
plant in Koraput. The communication gear and navigation systems
are made in Hyderabad, while the
hydraulic, pneumatic and fuel units
in Lucknow and cockpit MFDs and
satnav systems in Korwa.
Meanwhile, the Su-30MKI programme has not been sitting on
its hands, and the fighter being
delivered to India these days differ
from those supplied earlier in the
decade in greater capabilities of
the fire control system owing to latest operating modes and enhanced
characteristics of the avionics
suite. Since the Su-30MKI production and deliveries will have continued for at least four to five years
more while their service life will last
at least 25 years, further improvement of the aircraft by means of
even more sophisticated avionics
and weapons comes to the fore.
Such priorities now include the
arming of the Indian Su-30MKI fleet
with the cutting-edge BrahMos-A
long-range precision-guided mul-
tirole air-to-surface missiles that
is under development by BrahMos
Russian-Indian joint venture,
which has already delivered missile’s ship-based and land-based
versions to the Indian Navy and
Army. The first BrahMos-A test
launch from Indian Su-30MKI is to
take place in 2015.
In addition, the upgrade will
apply to the fighter’s avionics suite.
The current preliminary agreements
stipulate phased upgrade of the
Tikhomirov-NIIP’s Bars phasedarray radar. The first phase of the
upgrade is supposed to boost the
radar’s performance through introduction of additional operating
modes as well as more-capable
computers and software. This is
to maximise the reliance on the
solutions of the existing phasedarray radar already productionised
by India under the Russian licence.
Phase two of the upgrade is to see
the Bars’s passive phased array
replaced with an active electronically-scanned array (AESA).
Simon Watson
On 9 January 2015 Hindustan
Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) officially
handed over its 150th Su-30MKI
fighter produced under the licence
programme. It became the 200th
aircraft of the type to be fielded
with Indian Air Force.
Today, the Su-30MKI twin-seat
supermanoeuvrable multirole fighter is the trademark of the Indian
Air Force and its most advanced
combat plane in service. To date,
the Russia’s Irkut corporation has
supplied IAF with 50 fly-away aircraft of the type and India’s HAL
has been licence-producing the
Su-30MKI since 2004.
Irkut delivered the first
32 Su-30MKIs under the 1996
contract to IAF during 2002–2004.
Later on, 18 more fighters of the
type arrived in 2008–2009 under
a 'trade-in' deal clinched in 2007
as a replacement of 18 Su-30Ks
delivered in late 1990s.
The contract with India on licence
production of 140 Sukhoi Su-30MKIs,
AL-31FP thrust vector control
engines and avionics, including the
Tikhomirov-NIIP Bars phased-array
radars, was signed on 28 December
2000. It became the major deal in the
Russian-Indian cooperation, valued at
$3 billion-plus. The first HAL-assembled
Su-30MKI was accepted by IAF on
28 November 2004.
In 2007, Rosoboronexport and
Irkut, on the one hand, and the
Indian Ministry of Defence and
HAL, on the other, struck a deal
for 40 Su-30MKI knockdown kits
more, with Irkut having completed
the deliveries under the contract
during 2008–2010.
Simon Watson
150th Su-30MKI assembled by HAL was handed over to IAF
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take-off march 2015
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V.Tikhomirov Scientific-Research Institute of Instrument Design, JSC
3, Gagarina str., Zhukovsky, Moscow region, 140180, Russia
Tel.: +7 (495) 556-23-48 Fax: +7 (495) 721-37-85
E-mail: [email protected] www.niip.ru
Andrey Fomin
TO SEE FIRST
MEANS TO WIN
military aviation | programme
INDIAN PILOTS LEARNING TO FLY
MIG-29K/KUB
FIGHTERS OFF VIKRAMADITYA
Indian naval aviators are learning to fly MiG-29K/KUB multirole carrierborne fighters off the Vikramaditya aircraft carrier that has sailed to India’s shores from
Russia a year ago. The first landing on the deck of the new Indian carrier took
place here on 7 February 2014. The MiG-29KUB was controlled by the Indian Navy
303 Sqn commanding officer, Capt. Ajay Theophilus, with Andrei Shishov, a test
pilot with the MiG corporation, occupying the back seat in the instructor-pilot
capacity. On the same day, there was another MiG-29KUB landing on the ship,
with the aircraft controlled by the Indian pilot. Whose instructor pilot was MiG’s
chief test pilot Mikhail Belyayev.
The early landings on the Vikramaditya
were preceded by a series of flights of IN
pilots at the land-based training facility in
Goa state, with the facility fitted with a skijump ramp/arrestor gear simulator. Training
flights of Indian naval MiG-29 pilots,
including snagging the arrestor cables, began
in January 2014.
The first landings of the Indian
MiG-29KUBs on the Vikramaditya took
place just a month after the arrival of the ship
to the customer’s shores. As is known, the
protracted overhaul, conversion and handover of the Vikramaditya carrier (previously
Soviet Navy’s Admiral Gorshkov carrier) by
Russian shipbuilders to the Indian Navy were
completed in late 2013. The ship was handed
over to the customer in a ceremony hosted by
Sevmash in Severodvinsk on 16 November
2013. Then, the preparations were launched
for her cruise to her new station – the Indian
Navy’s advanced naval base Kadamba vic.
Karwar in Karnataka state.
The aircraft carrier left the roadstead
of Severodvinsk and headed for India on
26 November 2013. At first, she cruised
around Europe, then passed the Strait of
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take-off march 2015
Gibraltar and the Mediterranean, having
made a brief stopover in Lisbon, and then
entered the Red Sea via the Suez. On the
first day of 2014, the latest Indian aircraft
carrier and her escort entered the Arabian
Sea. There, the joy and pride of the Indian
Navy was met by a large task force of nine
warships of the Indian Navy’s Western Fleet,
led by Rear Adm. Anil Kumar Chawla on
board the Viraat aircraft carrier. Finally,
the Vikramaditya arrived at its station on
7 January 2014.
In all, the first cruise of the Vikramaditya
under command of Commodore Suraj Berry
took 42 days, including 26 sea days, on which
the ship covered 10,212 nm. During the
cruise, there were 177 Russian specialists on
board in addition to the Indian crew. They
continued to assist IN personnel in learning
the aircraft carrier for a year.
It is worth mentioning that the work on
the Vikramaditya is not the only experience in the cooperation between Russian
industry and India in aircraft carrier construction. In particular, Anatoly Shlemov,
chief of the Governmental Defence
Acquisition Programme Department,
United Shipbuilding Corporation, said at
the Defexpo 2014 arms show in New Delhi
in February 2014: “Russia has delivered the
equipment designed for the Indian carrierborne aircraft simulator system and for the
latest Indian Project 71 aircraft carrier”. The
ship, which has inherited her famous name
Vikrant from her predecessor, was launched
on 12 August 2013 at the Cochin Shipyard.
She is slated to start her factory sea trials in
2016 and to be commissioned by the Indian
Navy some time in late 2018.
Russian-made MiG-29K/KUB fighters
will make up the mainstay of the new
Vikrant’s CAG, too. During 2009–2011 the
MiG corporation has supplied the Indian
Navy with the 16 MiG-29K/KUB aircraft
under the first contract made in 2004 and
in late 2012 began deliveries of 29 fighters
more under the second contract signed in
2010. The first four MiGs under this deal
were handed over to the customer in late
2012 with seven more followed them in
2013. The next six MiG-29K/KUB fighters
were delivered to India last year. Overall,
the air arm of the Indian Navy is to receive
45 MiG-29K/KUB fighters under the two
deals of which more than 30 have been
already delivered. The activation of 303
Sqn (Black Panthers) on MiG-29K/KUB
aircraft by the Indian Navy took place in
a ceremony at INS Hansa, Goa state, on 1
May 2013.
The single-seat MiG-29K and twin-seat
MiG-29KUB aircraft are the "4++" generation multirole fighters intended for air
www.take-off.ru
military aviation | programme
Training flights of Indian MiG-29K/KUB
pilots on INS Vikramaditya
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
acquaints himself with MiG-29K cockpit
on the deck of INS Vikramaditya,
14 June 2014
Vladimir SHCHERBAKOV
Photos: Indian Ministry of Defence
defence missions of naval forces, air superiority gaining, sea and ground targets destruction with the high precision guided weapons
day and night and in any weather conditions.
The MiG-29K/KUB carrier-based fighters
are the basic aircraft of a new unified family including also the MiG-29M/M2 and
MiG-35 aircraft. The MiG-29K/KUB aircraft could be based on the aircraft carriers
with tonnage from 28,000 tons, equipped
with take-off ramp and landing arrestor, as
well as at the airfields.
The main MiG-29K/KUB technical
and technological innovations include an
improved airframe with about 15% composite materials application, folding wing
with upgraded high-lift devices improving
take-off/landing performance, fly-by-wire
flight control system with quadruple redundancy, increased weapons load, stored at
eight external hardpoints, increased internal
fuel capacity and in-flight refueling possibility, etc.
The MiG-29K/KUB fighters have
improved operational characteristics and
higher reliability of assemblies, systems
and units. In comparison with the previous
fighters, the MiG-29K/KUB service life is
Rajat Pandit
MiG-29K fighter on the deck
of INS Vikramaditya, June 2014
www.take-off.ru
increased more than twice with a flight hour
cost is reduced about 2.5 times.
The power plant includes two RD-33MK
afterburner turbofan engines with increased
thrust power, equipped with smokeless combustion chambers and a new FADEC control
system. These engines are of the module
structure and have increased reliability and
service life.
The avionics suite is of the open architecture based on MIL-STD-1553B standard.
MiG-29K/KUB have multirole multimode
pulse-Doppler slotted-array Zhuk-ME radar
manufactured by Phazotron-NIIR corporation. As compared with radars of the previous
generation, Zhuk-ME has wider scanning
angle in azimuth, twice longer target detection range, less weight and increased reliability. It provides tracking up to 10 air targets.
Weapon control system also includes a stateof-the-art multi-channel optronic system.
MiG-29K/KUB weapons include a wide
range of air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles, guided bombs as well as rockets, aerial
bombs and built-in cannon of 30 mm caliber. Both the single and twin-seat versions
of the aircraft have the same avionics and
weapons.
take-off march 2015
27
Alexey Mikheyev
military aviation | programme
T-50
Mikhail SUNTSOV
UNDERGOES
OFFICIAL TESTS
Sukhoi T-50 also known as PAK FA (Future Tactical Aircraft) – the Russian fifthgeneration fighter being developed by the Sukhoi company, United Aircraft Corp.
subsidiary, – started its official trials last year. For this purpose, several T-50
flying prototypes were ferried from Zhukovsky, Moscow Region, to the Defence
Ministry State Flight Test Centre’s base in Akhtubinsk. Due to Col.-Gen. Victor
Bondarev, Russian Air Force Commander-in-Chief, the delivery of the first T-50s
for operational evaluation is poised to begin as soon as 2016.
The PAK FA has all basic characteristics inherent in fifth-generation fighters,
namely, low observability in the radiofrequency band and other wavebands of
the electromagnetic spectrum in the first
place; secondly, supersonic cruising capability; thirdly, supermanoeuvrability; and,
fourthly, a cutting-edge highly automated
avionics suite comprising innovative active
and passive radar and electro-optical systems designed to spot aerial and surface
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take-off march 2015
targets, cue a wide range of air-launched
weapons, ensure flight, navigation, radio
communications, and protect from incoming enemy weapons.
The PAK FA’s stealth is owing to a
special shape of its airframe, the extensive
use of composite materials and radarabsorbent coatings, and internal weapon
bays. The aircraft owes its supersonic cruising capability to its engines capable of
high thrust in non-afterburning mode. The
fighter’s supermanoeuvrability is owing to
a combination of special algorithms of its
integrated flight control system, on the one
hand, and its thrust vector control engines.
The PAK FA’s avionics suite is based on
a cutting-edge information management
system with multiple-redundant computers
and data buses monitoring and controlling
the onboard systems and weapons. Sukhoi
has implemented this information management system philosophy in the Gen.
4++ Su-35S fighter, which delivery to
the Russian Air Force has been under way
since earlier this year.
The multifunction integrated active
electronically scanned array (AESA) radar
system being developed by V. Tikhomirov
Scientific-Research Institute of Instrument
Design and the integrated optronic system being developed by Urals Optical
& Mechanical Plant are the PAK FA’s
basic target designation, weapon employment, navigation and self-defence assets.
The fighter’s weapons suite will comprise
both upgraded production-standard weapons and a considerable number of advanced
types of air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles and smart bombs being developed by
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military aviation | programme
the Tactical Missiles corporation, including those developed for internal carriage.
As many as five PAK FA prototypes
have been delivered for flight tests by this
year. The first of them took to the air in
Komsomolsk-on-Amur 5 years ago, on
29 January 2010, and has been tested in
Zhukovsky, Moscow Region. In addition,
three more examples are being used in
ground experiments – one for integrated
full-scale bench tests and two more for
static and endurance tests (the last one was
delivered in December 2014).
The second T-50 flying prototype has
been in trials since 2011. It has been ferried
to the Defence Ministry State Flight Test
Centre’s airfield in Akhtubinsk in February
2014 becoming the first PAK FA to enter
the official tests. The third and fourth flying prototypes intended for testing the avionics and weapons suites in the first place
joined the official tests later last year.
Military test pilots joined their Sukhoi
design bureau colleagues flying PAK FA
test missions. The first military pilot flew
the T-50 in Zhukovsky on 25 April 2013.
He was Col. Rafael Suleimanov, a test pilot
with the State Flight Test Centre.
The first phase of the official tests is
slated for completion by December 2015.
The delivery of the first aircraft of the type
for operational evaluation is supposed to
wwcommence in 2016.
Late in May 2014, the third and fourth
T-50 flying prototypes were demonstrated
in flight as part of the nationwide final stage
of the Aviadarts 2014 combat skills competition staged by the Russian Air Force.
Sukhoi test pilots Sergei Bogdan and Roman
Kondratyev performed a breathtaking terrain-hugging aerobatics set with attached
underwing weapons at the Pogonovo testing ground in the Voronezh Region. Their
aerobatics included simulated ground target
attacks. One of the fighters carried a couple of medium-range and dogfight missiles
under wing, and the other packed two highspeed precision-guided air-to-surface missiles in addition to two air-to-air ones.
Equally important is that a decision
has been taken to use the PAK FA as the
mainstay of a promising Russian-Indian
joint aircraft development programme on
development and production of the fifthgeneration Prospective Multirole Fighter
(PMF) earlier known in India under the
abbreviated designation FGFA (Fifth
Generation Fighter Aircraft). Russian and
Indian engineers are deriving the aircraft
on a parity basis from the Russian-built
PAK FA with due account of additional
Indian requirements.
Alexey Mikheyev
Five T-50 flying prototypes have been built
by 2015 with at least three of them handed over
for official flight tests last year
www.take-off.ru
From Russian PAK FA
to Russian-Indian PMF
It looks like the programme on the joint development and production of the Prospective
Multirole Fighter (PMF), which is also known
in India as FGFA (Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft), may become the major programme as
part of the Russian-Indian cooperation in the
sphere of aviation in the near future and in a
longer term. The aircraft is being co-developed
by Russian and Indian specialists on the basis
of Russia’s PAK FA, with due account of the
Indian requirements.
The programme was officially launched by
the signature of the Russian-Indian intergovernmental agreement on the co-development
and co-production of the future fifth-generation fighters in Moscow on 18 October 2007.
Sukhoi and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL)
were appointed prime contractors. Indian delegations had paid numerous visits to Russia
during several months since then – both to
the Sukhoi design bureau in Moscow and the
plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur where the construction of the early T-50 prototypes had been
under way since December 2007. Sukhoi’s personnel had gone to India several times to visit
HAL. The key matters pertinent to the co-development and co-production of the advanced
aircraft were agreed during the negotiations
held. The Russian-Indian next-generation warplane programme implies both its joint financing and the aircraft’s co-production at Sukhoi’s
and HAL’s facilities.
During then-President Dmitry Medvedev
visit to New Delhi, Rosoboronexport and HAL
made a contract for the devising of a preliminary design of the fifth-generation Prospective
Multirole Fighter on 21 December 2010. “The
contract is the beginning of the practical development of the Russian-Indian fighter”, read
Rosoboronexport’s official statement released
on the occasion.
In October 2011, IAF command published an
information about the number of Prospective
Multirole Fighters to be ordered – a total of 214
aircraft, including 166 single-seaters and 48
twin-seaters – and confirmed that they intended to start taking delivery in 2017. However,
a year later, in October 2012, IAF’s then-Chief
of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Norman Anil
Kumar Browne told Indian magazine India Strategic that the number of the fighters planned
for procurement had been reduced to 144
aircraft, with all of them to be single-seaters.
The reduction and the rejection of the two-seat
version, which had been planned before, were
due to the attempts to slash the cost of the programme. Now, the first planes are planned for
entering service with IAF in 2020.
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29
military aviation | project
Andrey FOMIN
Yak
ak-152
-152
NEW FLYING SCHOOL DESK FOR AIR FORCE CADETS
Last autumn, the Russian Defence Ministry held a session of the mock-up review
commission, dedicated to the basic flight training system based on the Yak-152 trainer
aircraft. It is being developed by the Yakovelv design bureau, a subsidiary of the Irkut
corporation, under the contract made with the Defence Ministry on 30 May 2014. To
date, the design documentation has been issued for the manufacture of Yak-152
prototypes by the Irkutsk Aviation Plant. Under the contract, the preliminary flight tests
of the aircraft are to be completed by year-end 2015, and the Yak-152 should pass its
official tests and be ready for production entry and delivery by December 2016.
The new Air Force basic trainer from the
Yakovlev design bureau dates as far back as the
1990s. At the time, the aircraft was proposed
together with the UTK-Yak advanced jet
trainer that was in development then and was
later designated as Yak-130. The basic trainer
was planned to be derived from the Yak-54
trainer/aerobatics aircraft made by the Saratov
aircraft plant during 1994–2002 (14 aircraft
were built, with at least five more Yak-54s
made by the Progress plant in Arsenyev since
2008). It was dubbed Yak-54M, but renamed
Yak-152 in 2000, which emphasised that it
was to be succeed to the popular ‘flying school
desk’, the Yak-52.
In 2001, the Yak-152 programme took
part in the Defence Ministry-held tender
for an advanced basic trainer. Its rival was
the Su-49 from the Sukhoi design bureau.
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take-off march 2015
Although the competition took place, the
customer did not allocated money for the
development and construction of the aircraft.
Yakovlev proposed the upgrade of the inservice Yak-52s as a stopgap solution. The
upgraded Yak-52M with an improved visibility
cockpit canopy, updated instruments, MTV-8
propeller-fitted M-14X engine, increased fuel
load and SKS-94MYa ejection system first
flew on 16 April 2004 and passed its official trials in spring 2005. The 308th Aircraft
Repair Plant in Ivanovo was earmarked for the
Yak-52’s series upgrade to Yak-52M standard.
However, even that could not be done at the
time.
Roughly about the same time, China displayed interest in the Yak-152, for it faced a
basic trainer development problem as keen
as the one facing Russia. In 2006, China
placed a contract with the Yakovlev design
bureau, which staff provided consulting services to their colleagues with the Hongdu
company developing an advanced trainer aircraft dubbed L-7 (its Russian prototype was
dubbed Yak-152K). Hongdu assembled its
first L-7 prototype in autumn 2010, with the
plane making its debut at the Zhuhai air show
in November of the same year.
At last, first signs of the Russian Defence
Ministry intending to get back to the issue
of the basic trainer appeared in 2013. The
official governmental procurement website
(zakupki.gov.ru) announced a tender on
17 March 2014 for the development of a
basic training aircraft system on the basis of
the Yak-152 trainer for the Russian Defence
Ministry. Based on the outcome of the tender,
the Defence Ministry placed a governmental
contract with the Yakovlev design bureau,
with the contract valued at 300 million rubles
(around $8.7 million at the time) and be fulfilled before year-end 2016.
Under the terms of the tender, the
design documentation for manufacture of
Yak-152 prototypes was to be issued prior to
30 September 2014. During the subsequent
year, prior to 30 October 2015, the developer should make two flying prototypes, a
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Yakovlev Design Bureau
Yakovlev Design Bureau
military aviation | project
Yak-152 prospective
basic trainer mock-up,
September 2014
static test prototype, a prototype for endurance tests, a procedure-oriented simulator,
a computerised training classroom and flight
recorders, conduct preliminary tests of the
aircraft and submit it for its official trials. The
latter shall have lasted until late September
2016. Then, the developer will debug the aircraft based on the outcome of its official test
programme and will have productionised the
Yak-152 by 25 November 2016.
The Yak-152-based training system is
planned for use by the Air Force and DOSAAF
to teach flying, including formation flying,
aerobatics, spin, spin recovery techniques,
instrument flying and basic navigation.
While initially the Yak-152 was planned to
be powered by the M-14X petrol-burning aircooled radial piston engine (the one powering
the Chinese L-7), Irkut has offered to fit it
with an up-to-date diesel engine burning avgas.
The thing is the Voronezh Mechanical Plant
has discontinued the production of the M-14
series (M-9) piston engines, and other Russian
engines with the similar power are nonexistent.
To cap it all, a diesel engine allows an improvement in the flight performance of the plane and
a hefty reduction in fuel consumption.
In 2010, a 12-cylinder 500-hp
RED A03V12 diesel engine was mounted
on a Yak-52 in Germany for the sake of
experiment. The flight tests of the plane
produced a considerable improvement in all
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Yak-152 instructor pilot’s
work station
of its characteristics. It has become known
recently, however, that a different powerplant for the Yak-152 is being mulled over –
the French-made 330–400-hp six-cylinder
SR460 being promoted by SMA, a Safran
Group subsidiary. The engine was unveiled at
the Le Bourget air show in June 2013.
The Yak-152’s cockpit is supposed to
be fitted with four TDS-84 multifunction
displays (two in each cockpit) and other
advanced instruments. Provision has been
made for equipping the aircraft with the
KSAP-152 ejection system comprising Zvezda
SKS-94M2 ejection seats.
A significant event under the Yak-152 programme was the session of the mock-up review
commission, hosted by Irkut in Moscow
late in September last year. According to
Yakovlev’s official website, “having listened
to and discussed the reports of experts, the
commission has praised the status of the
programme, having stressed in its conclusions
such positive features of the aircraft, as the
optimal aerodynamic configuration, a sizable
increase in crew safety owing to a highly effective ejection system, the tricycle undercarriage
with the nose gear, a set of advanced avionics and LCDs in the cockpit, based on four
multifunction displays of the same type as the
ones used in the Yak-130 aircraft”.
Among the competitive advantages of the
Yak-152 and the training system based on it,
the mock-up review commission highlighted
the plane’s ability to be based without a hangar and at austere airfields with low ground
density (5 kg/cm2), its ability to fly in fine and
foul weather round the clock, its advanced
avgas-consuming diesel engine, etc.
At the same time, the commission made
a few observations pertaining to the programme and mock-up. In particular, pilots
believe the ergonomics should be optimised to accommodate persons of different heights and builds. The commission
also suggested that the developer look into
the feasibility of fitting the Yak-152 with
an alternative engine to reduce the programme’s overall risks.
Now, the Irkutsk Aviation Plant is gearing up for the manufacture of Yak-152
prototypes.
Yak-152 main data
Length, m
Wing span, m
Wing area, sq. m
Empty weight, kg
Max takeoff weight, kg
Max limit speed, km/h
Service ceiling, m
Rate of climb above ground, m/s
Maximum operating g-load
Range, km
Takeoff run, m
Landing roll, m
Landing speed, km/h
Takeoff power, hp
take-off march 2015
7.27
8.8
12.9
1,045
1,400
490
4,000
9.2
9
1,300
180
330
120
350
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commercial aviation | news
On 19 January 2015, the Red
Wings airline received the first of
three Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional
airliners under the three-year operational leasing agreement it made with
the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company in
October 2014. The term of the agreement may be extended. On the day,
the airliner (RA-89021) was ferried
from Zhukovsky to the carrier’s base
airport, Domodedovo.
The aircraft with MSN 95021 was
built in 2012 and has been operated
by the Moskovia airline since August
2013 under a leasing agreement with
the Sberbank Leasing along with two
more airliners of the type – the former Aeroflot-flown RA-89001 and
RA-89002 manufactured in 2011.
The Federal Aviation Agency pulled
Moskovia’s operator certificate in
August 2014, and all of the latter’s
three Superjets went to SCAC base in
Zhukovsky. After the agreement had
been made with Red Wings, two of
the three planes had been painted in
Nikolai Krasnov
Red Wings gets SSJ100
their new user’s livery in Ulyanovsk
by late last year. They retained their
two-class 93-seat cabin layout (eight
seats in business class and 75 in
economy class).
As is known, the aircraft fleet of
Red Wings has comprised eight
210-seat Tu-204 medium-haul airliners until recently. Beefing it up with
93-seat Superjets will simplify the
exploration of the company’s new
lines, on which the Tu-204s, having
seating capacity twice as big as that
of the Superjets, may prove not too
profitable to operate. According to
Red Wings Director General Yevgeny
Klyucharyov, the company has plans
to drive the number of its SSJ100s up
to 15, “and we stick to our strategy of
operating Russian-built aircraft”.
The carrier launched scheduled services on the Moscow –
Makhachkala and Moscow – Grozny
lines on 6 February 2015 after the
addition of the new aircraft type
to the operator certificate. At the
same day Red Wings ferried its
second SSJ100 (RA-89002) from
SCAC base to Domodedovo. The
airline’s plans provide for having its
SSJ100s flying on the lines to Ufa,
Sochi, Mineralnye Vody and other
Russian cities.
Angara having as many as five An-148s
Andrey Tchursin
The Irkutsk-based Angara airline,
a key carrier in Eastern Siberia,
received its fifth An-148-100E
(RA-61710, c/n 41-06) regional jet
airliner on 29 December 2014. The
aircraft became the second An-148
that the company got under the
12-year financial leasing agreement
it and the Sberbank Leasing Nord
signed in summer 2014 and the
fifth aircraft of the type operated by
Angara. As is known, the first three
new An-148-100Es (RA-61711,
RA-61731, RA-61714) were deliv-
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take-off march 2015
ered to the Irkutsk-based air carrier
by the Ilyushin Finance Co. leasing
company in late 2012. The current
two An-148-100Es built by the VASO
plant in Voronezh in 2011 had been
operated by the Polyot airline before
April of last year, after which were
returned to their owner due to the
carrier’s difficult circumstances and
piling debt for its leasing payments.
They were ferried to the Voronezhbased manufacturer for storage
and subsequent modification to the
requirements of a future customer.
The first of them, RA-61709 (see
the picture), joined Angara’s aircraft
fleet last October.
All of the planes have the 75-seat
single-class layout, which, according
to Angara Deputy Director Konstantin
Nesterenko, is optimal to the carrier.
Take-off has been told by an Angara
source that the monthly flying time
logged by An-148s in 2014 averaged
140 h, with the seat occupancy ratio
standing at about 70%.
“Our company is mulling over the
feasibility of increasing its aircraft fleet
further down the line and development of services for passengers on
regional lines, since the regional market
remains peculiar but asked for, and the
provinces need a dependable air carrier
as a partner”, Konstantin Nesterenko
told Take-off. “Plans provide for penetrating the markets in the central and
southern parts of Russia. In addition, in
2014, the Angara airline was cleared for
international services and has launched
charter operations abroad”.
Angara is a participant in governmental programmes on backing the
regional passenger traffic. The company’s route network linked by means
of Siberian hubs enables passengers
to get to their destination bypassing
Moscow, which they often could not
do before. To increase its efficiency,
the carrier is taking measures to woo
transfer passengers and work out
a convenient schedule. At present,
Angara is gearing up for certification for compliance with international
safety standards. As of now, its aircraft fleet comprises five An-148s,
seven An-24s, two An-26s and ten
Mi-8 helicopters as well.
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commercial aviation | news
Irkut
MC-21: prototype to be ready by year end
The key advanced mid-term airliner programme being pursued by
Russia’s aircraft industry is the development of the MC-21 new-generation
narrow-body short/medium-range
airliner family designed to compete the best Western airliners in
the class, the Airbus A320neo and
Boeing 737MAX. Under the Russian
President’s directive dated 6 June
2010, Irkut Corp. became the prime
contractor for the development and
production of the MC-21. Prototypes
and production-standard aircraft of
the MC-21 family will be built by the
Irkutsk Aviation Plant, a subsidiary of
the Irkut Corp.
The plant has been tasked with the
manufacture of the fuselage and final
assembly of the aircraft. The fuselage
metal panels, tail section and composite empennage will be supplied
by the Ulyanovsk-based Aviastar-SP
plant, composite fuselage midsection
panels, spars and integral wing panels
by the AeroComposit-Ulyanovsk, com-
posite leading and trailing edges, wing
high-lift devices and elevators by the
Kazan-based KAPO-Composit JSC.
VASO plant (Voronezh) will deliver
engine pylons, landing gear doors,
wing and flaps fairings, etc.
Last year, the first stage of the aircraft automated assembly line using
up-to-date digital technologies was
installed at Irkutsk Aviation Plant.
The latest equipment will allow the
production of up to 70 MC-21s a year
in the future.
The airliner’s baseline model is the
180-seat MC-21-300 that can seat
160 to 212 passengers depending on
a layout of the cabin. Concurrently,
the shorter 130–165-seat MC-21-200
version is in development, with the
MC-21-400 stretch being a possibility.
The first prototype of the
MC-21-300 is to be assembled and
rolled-out by the end of 2015 and to
have a maiden flight in the first half
of 2016. Four flying prototypes as
well as static and endurance tests
examples will take part in certification
programme to be finished by 2018.
The MC-21’s firm order book now
includes 175 aircraft. 50 of them
had been ordered by the AviacapitalService leasing company for Aeroflot
and 35, powered by PD-14 engines, for
governmental agencies. 50 aircraft had
been ordered by the Ilyushin Finance
leasing company and 30 more – by
VEB-Leasing. In addition, Irkut has had
a direct contract with the IrAero airline
for 10 aircraft.
Vladivostok Tu-204-300s get new owners
Yuri Kabernik
The Vladivostok Avia airline, which
became the launch customer for the
Tu-204-300 narrow-body long-range
aircraft in the mid-2000s, discontinued its operations last August following the suspension of its operator
certificate. The commercial services
of the six Tu-204-300s, owned by
the Ilyushin Finance Co. leasing company, had been terminated a year
before.
In late October 2014, the Gagarin
Cosmonauts Training Centre, which
reports to the Federal Space Agency,
issued tenders for the development
and delivery of two narrow-body
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long-haul aircraft for non-stop flights
to and from the in-construction
Vostochny space launch centre. The
customer required the planes to be
manufactured using airframes made
not later than in 2008 and having a
flying time logged under the previous user of not more than 18,000
flying hours and 4,000 landings.
Proceeding from the requirements,
the only candidates for the buy are
two Tu-204-300s (RA-64044 and
RA-64045), delivered to Vladivostok
Avia in summer 2008.
Following the conversion to the
space agency-ordered configuration,
each of the aircraft will have 52 passenger seats in three cabins. One
aircraft is slated for delivery not later
than 30 September 2015 and the
other before late March 2016.
This year, two more Tu-204-300s
from Vladivostok Avia’s aircraft fleet
may end up with the Rossiya special
flight detachment. According to the
documents of a tender, the aircraft
to be supplied were manufactured in
2005. Thus, the possible candidates
may include any of the four remaining former Vladivostok Avia planes
(RA-64038, RA-64039, RA-64049,
RA-64026).
In addition, last October, Aviastar
plant Director General Sergei
Dementyev reported the kick-off of
the manufacture of two more new
Tu-204-300s. In early November
2014, the government appointed the
United Aircraft Corporation prime
contractor for the planes, and a governmental contract for two Tu-204s
to be delivered before year-end
2015 was placed on 28 November
2014. The presidential air detach-
ment will take delivery of the aircraft
with c/n 64053 and 64059. Initially,
the former entered construction at
Aviastar-SP in the Tu-204-100B version ordered by the Ilyushin Finance
Co. leasing company that earmarked
it for the Red Wings airline. The
design and avionics of the aircraft
will be commonised with those of the
Tu-204-300, though the aircraft will
retain the length of the Tu-204-100
fuselage. For this reason, plane
will be given an unusual designation – the Tu-204-300-100. As for
Tu-204-300 c/n 64059, it is based on
the yet-unused backlog of hardware
initially designed for the Tu-204SM
c/n 64154, which fuselage has been
duly truncated to the standard length
of the Tu-204-300. The Tu-204-300s
to be delivered to Rossiya are planned
in the standard 142-seat layout (eight
seats in business class and 134 in
economy class).
Thus, the future of only two
Ilyushin Finance Co.-owned exVladivostok Avia’s Tu-204-300s
remains unknown.
take-off march 2015
33
commercial aviation | derivative
Artyom Ilyin
SSJ100-95B VIP version
at Jet Expo 2014 airshow,
September 2014
SSJ100 VIP VERSION
CERTIFICATED
Andrey FOMIN
Late November 2014 saw the completion of the certification of a Sukhoi
Superjet 100 (RRJ-95B) VIP version by the Aircraft Registry of the Interstate
Aviation Committee (IAC). The developer received a supplementary type
certificate confirming the safe flying of the SSJ100 equipped with an
enhanced-comfort passenger cabin.
34
take-off march 2015
service area comprises the seats for two
flight attendants, a galley module, a crew/
entourage lavatory and a cabinet for the
passengers’ baggage.
The cabin layout was tailored to the
requirements of a particular customer, but
the SSJ100 platform with a large cabin
In early December 2014, the first Superjet in VIP version registered as
RA-89053 had its first passenger service under the flag of Center-South
airline carrying Russian governmental delegation to New Delhi
Marina Lystseva
The certificated VIP layout was implemented in SSJ100-95B MSN 95009 ordered
by Rosoboronexport JSC from the Sukhoi
Civil Aircraft Company on 27 August 2013
during the MAKS 2013 air show, when the
aircraft equipped with a VIP cabin mockup was unveiled. It conducted its maiden
flight on 29 June 2013. The first show of
the aircraft with the complete VIP cabin
took place at the Jet Expo 2014 exhibition
in early September last year.
The cabin is designed to seat 19 passengers. The first and second subcabins,
equipped with comfortable furniture, an
advanced multimedia system, desks and
swivelling seats, are designed for business meetings. The principal’s cabin is
furnished with the full-fledged working
and recreation places and a wardrobe as
well. There is a separate lavatory in the tail
section, aft of the principal’s cabin. The
allows responsive implementation of ideas
and needs of any customer.
With the tests complete and the supplementary type certificate issued, the
first SSJ100-95B VIP plane registered
as RA-89053 entered service with the
Center-South air carrier. Since the previous spring, it has had two SSJ100-95Bs
(RA-89004 and RA-89007) in the standard 87-seat layout (12 business-class
seats and 75 seats in economy class) and
has been using them actively on charter
operations.
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commercial aviation | derivative
range out to 6,000-plus km, while a variant with a redesigned wing, winglets and
increased fuel cells will be developed in
2016. Its range is expected to be almost
8,000 km. This will be a true evolution of
the SSJ100, owing to which new customers
will be attracted”, says Russian Industry
and Trade Minister Denis Manturov.
Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Chairman of the
Board Mikhail Pogosyan said last year:
“Business planes are a lucrative, albeit
niche, product. We estimate the global business plane fleet to be as follows: 57% are
operated by business air carrier, 23% by
corporate and private customers and 20% by
governmental customers. These are planes
for rich people appreciating time and comfort. They have to be able to travel to any
corner of the world. No matter where they
go, they should have for this purpose a reliable aircraft and comfort they deserve. The
Sukhoi Business Jet is designed for this purpose. It is this category of customers that we
will supply out product to”.
Speaking of the future of the Superjet
VIP version, he said plans provide for
gradual introduction of individual technical solutions in line with the requirements
spelt out by specific customers (integral
aircraft step unit, shower cabinets, etc.).
“Work is underway on refining the fuel
system now. The improvements are slated
for certification by late 2016. The installation of extra fuel cells will extend the
range out to almost 8,000 km”, he said,
stressing: “Working out an approximate list
price of the product and realising that the
cost of the interior is important to business
aircraft, we expect offer a 10% advantage
over our closest competitor, the Embraer
Lineage 1000. Thus, the cost of ownership
of our plane will be rather attractive”.
Artyom Ilyin
RA-89053 flew from Zhukovsky to
Sheremetyevo on 9 December 2014 and
departed on its first passenger service on
the next day, carrying a governmental delegation led by Industry and Trade Minister
Denis Manturov to New Delhi as part
of the Russian-Indian summit meeting.
The nonstop flight out to 4,735 km took
6 h 5 min. The SSJ100 VIP was unveiled
to Indian governmental officials and representatives of civil aviation and aircraft
industry at the airport of the Indian capital
city on 12 December. SCAC estimates the
volume of SSJ100 sales to India in the
period until 2030 at about 50 aircraft.
The Superjet’s VIP version for
Rosoboronexport is the first step under
the programme on deriving the Sukhoi
Business Jet (SBJ) specialised airliner from
the SSJ100 regional passenger aircraft.
At Stage 2, advanced technical solutions
are planned for gradual introduction in
line with the requirements of specific customers. The solutions include an integral
aircraft step unit, a satellite communication system and other optional gear. In
addition, extra fuel tanks and winglets are
expected to be installed at this stage. The
phasing-in of technical advances will optimise the Sukhoi Business Jet design further
down the line and get feedback from the
customers. The VIP, corporate and governmental variants of the plane will be offered.
All of them may be outfitted with a separate
study for the principal, a conference room
and a cabin for the entourage.
“The current version will be improved
in the course of operation. The plane will
be fitted with extra fuel cells, extending its
Artyom Ilyin
SSJ100-95B VIP version’s interiors
www.take-off.ru
take-off march 2015
35
cosmonautics | event
Igor AFANASYEV,
Dmitry VORONTSOV
ANGARA-A5:
FIRST LAUNCH
2014 proved to be rich in epoch-making events in space exploration all over the
globe. India launched a prototype of its manned spacecraft onboard the latest
GSLV MkIII rocket. The European Space Agency landed the Filae probe onto
the Churimov-Gerasimenko comet. The United States started the flight tests of
the MPCV Orion multirole spacecraft. Russia kicked off flight development tests
of the new-generation Angara launch vehicle. It would not be an overstatement
to say that the event of the year to Russian spacecraft and launch vehicle
developers was the maiden flight of the Angara-A5 heavy-lift LV from the Plesetsk
space launch centre on 23 December 2014.
Actually, it is the heavy-lift Angara that the
programme was launched for over 20 years
ago. Russia needed independent access to outer
space, which, simply put, means the ability to
launch any spacecraft, including geostationary
ones, from the Russian territory.
The flight development tests were aimed
mostly at testing the systems and dynamics of the LV and systems of the versatile
launch complex in the course of launching
a heavyweight rocket. To attain the targets, a
demonstration flight was conducted, which
inserted a 2,042-kg satellite soft mock-up into
geostationary orbit.
Two trains carrying units and compartments
of an Angara-A5 heavy-lift rocket came to
Plesetsk on 25 July 2014. It was reported as far
back as 2013 that the Angara-A5’s first launch
would take place in late 2014. For a while, the
launch was planned for 25 December, but it was
shifted for an earlier date, 23 December.
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take-off march 2015
On 10 November, the heavy rocket was
brought to the versatile launch complex for
the first time for electrical tests and launch
equipment checkout. These were completed
on 26 November, having proven the complex’s
preparedness for launching a heavy-lift rocket.
A week before the launch date, the fuel tanks
of the Breeze-M upper stage, inherited together
with the nose fairing from the Proton-M LV,
were fuelled.
The rocket was taken to the launch complex
on 20 December. At noon, it was placed into
the launcher, set upright and connected to the
electrical, pneumatic and hydraulic systems.
On the next day, there were various tests as
well as a dry run of the launch readiness of
the control system. Telemetry was processed
and analysed.
On 22 December, a session of the State
Commission gave a nod to the fuelling of the
rocket. The countdown commenced 11.5 h
and the fuelling 4 h prior to the launch.
Everything went with a swing.
At the estimated time, the ignition command
was issued for the five engines of the lower stages,
and the Angara-5A lifted off the launching pad
at 8 h 57 min Moscow time. The launch weight
of the carrier rocket accounted for 763.6 t and
the weight of the upper stage, nose faring and
soft mock-up stood at almost 25.8 t.
Having performed the collision and contamination avoidance manoeuvre, the rocket
had climbed vertically and then began to execute the programmed pitch angle. 12 minutes
after the blastoff, the upper stage assumed an
open suborbital trajectory. The datum orbit
was achieved by means of the Breeze-M.
Afterwards, it would make three more burns,
reaching geostationary orbit with an altitude
of 35,793 m nine hours after the launch. The
flight programme did not provide for separation of the soft mock-up. Having spent about
an hour and a half in geostationary orbit, the
Breeze-M moved to a disposal orbit. The mission was accomplished.
The success of the trials of the first Angara-A5
was all the more obvious because the launch
went smoothly at the first push without failures.
The rocket is facing a long commissioning phase. The flight development programme
designed for the period until 2020 provides for
10 launches of rockets in the lightweight and
heavyweight classes. The subsequent launches
will involve real spacecraft. Before year-end 2015,
Khrunichev is to deliver another Angara-A5 earmarked for launch in 2016. The company has
plans to make two rockets a year in 2018–2020
and as many as four per annum in 2021–22. The
customer is to take delivery of six heavy launch
vehicles in 2023, and the output rate is expected
to be seven LVs a year by the mid-2020s.
The Angara-A5 is to phase out the venerable
Proton-M booster rocket gradually. Now, the
company’s plans provide for the construction
of a launch site for the advanced rocket at the
Vostochny space launch facility. The site is to
comprise two launching pads. The construction
of the second launch site in Plesetsk is being
looked into, too.
The work on boosting the carrier rocket’s power is in full swing. In the future, the
Breeze-M will be replaced with the DM-03
upper stage featuring an improved engine that
will handle the insertion of satellites weighing
up to 3.8 t from Plesetsk or 3.9 t from Vostochny
into geostationary orbit.
However, the greatest increase in lifting
capacity is to be given by the KVTK heavy-lift
oxygen-hydrogen upper stage. Equipped with
the KVTK, an Angara-A5 will be capable of
lofting an eight-tonne satellite into transfer orbit
from Vostochny. This will enable the rocket to
remain among the world’s best launch vehicles
for many years to come.
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