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Russia & CIS Observer

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22 • AEROSPACE INDUST RY

Russian military tested new

Russia/CIS Observer Quarterly is produced by:

The Russian aircraft industry completes Publisher Evgeny Semenov Editior-in-Chief Maxim Pyadushkin Art Director Andrey Khorkov Director, Marketing & Advertising Konstantin Rogov Commercial Director Sergey Belyaev Translated By: Pavel Pushkin All rights reserved.

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© № 4 (27), November 2009 Tel./Fax: +7 (495) 933 0297 Correspondence: P.O. Box 127, Moscow, 119048, Russia To subscribe e-mail to subscribe@ato.ru or contact «MK-Periodica» agency: e-mail: info@periodicals.ru http://www.periodicals.ru or one of its partners in your country.

unmanned systems ............................15

state-controlled consolidation ..............2 Irkut is choosing suppliers for

• AIR TRANSPORT

MS-21 airliner ....................................4 The Kamov Ka-32 gets EASA type approval ..............................................6

Russian airlines face strong foreign competition ......................................16

Superjet 100 needs more money to complete the certification ....................8 Antonov-148 jet enters

• BUSINESS AVIATION Waiting for takeoff ............................19

in service in Russia ............................10 New training tool • DEFENSE

for Russian pilots ..............................20

The Russian government supports the re-armament of the national

• SPACE BUSINESS

Armed Forces ....................................12 Russia and India move to joint

The Russian ISS segment is to be

weapon development ..........................14

completed by 2016 ............................22

Visit our website at www.cis.ato.ru RUSSIA/CIS OBSERVER № 4 (27) NOVEMBER 2009

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Runway in sight

The Russian aircraft industry completes state-controlled consolidation Maxim Pyadushkin ussia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) is completing a large-scale effort to consolidate the national aviation industry. At the end of October the corporation received the remaining government-owned stakes in several aerospace assets it already controls. The stakes have been exchanged for the UAC shares from the additional issue worth 16 billion rubles ($538 million). As an added bonus for the onlookers, the move has given industry observers an opportunity to have a decent guess at the real market value of Russia’s aerospace industry.

In late October UAC reported that it received the share packages of the national lessors Finance Leasing Company (FLC) and Ilyushin Finance Co., the Sukhoi holding company and the Voronezh-based VASO aviation plant.

All these companies are already controlled by UAC after the first phase of

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consolidation that took place in 2007.

More important is that during the additional share issue the corporation gained total control over two more critical aerospace assets — MiG military jet maker and Kazan’s KAPO aviation plant. These two companies appear to be totally incomparable in terms of their market price.

Fair price

Independent auditor Ernts & Young was contracted before the share issue to audit both MiG Corp. and KAPO. The bottom line on MiG was that the enterprise’s market value equaled just 1.05 rubles ($0.035) due to its colossal debts amounting to 44 billion rubles. In the eyes of the auditor, the hefty indebtedness far outweighed MiG’s current order book worth $4 billion, along with 15 billion rubles in funding extended by the Russian government in April. UAC press secretary Konstantin Lantratov explained for the Russia & CIS Observer that, based on the auditor’s find-

Marina Lystseva

Sukhoi with estimated market value of $1.7 billion remains the most expensive asset within the UAC

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ings, 100% of the MiG shares have been exchanged for a single UAC share.

KAPO’s market value turned out to be much higher in the eyes of Ernst & Young, which believes the company costs 6.7 billion rubles. Lantratov comments that, despite KAPO’s insufficient workloads in the past few years, which have primarily consisted in building several Tupolev Tu-214 jetliners a year and upgrading the Russian air force’s strategic bombers, the enterprise has virtually no outstanding debts at the moment. This, in his words, explains the favorable audit report.

The audit conducted by Ernst & Young indirectly sheds some light of the market price of other assets whose state-controlled shares are to be handed over to the UAC. Now that we know how much a single share is worth, it is easy to work out that the market value of Sukhoi, for instance, stands at 51 billion rubles and that for Ilyushin Finance is 18 billion. The figure appears to be 1.7 billion for FLC and 1.2 billion rubles for VASO. Thus, the overall cost of the state-owned assets that were transferred to the UAC approaches 11 billion rubles.

Lantratov explained that the additional shares were also used for buying out — or, to be more exact, exchanging for UAC stock – the remaining privately owned interests in those enterprises which have already come under the corporation’s control. These enterprises include the Ilyushin company, the Sukhoi and Yakovlev design bureaus, Irkut Corporation, Beriev, Tagavia, Tupolev, the Aviastar-SP and Sokol aviation plants, and also the business division of the UAC - Transport Aircraft corporation. Ernst & Young valued Irkut at 23.6 billion rubles; Ilyushin, at 13 billion; Tupolev, at 3.5 billion; the Nizhniy Novgorod-based Sokol plant,

at 2.5 billion; and Yakovlev, at 1.4 billion rubles.

Interestingly, the results of the independent audit do not differ much from the figures quoted by the Russia’s Federal Property Management Agency in late 2006, when the UAC was just beginning to consolidate the industry.

The market price of the corporation’s two largest assets — the Sukhoi holding company and Irkut Corporation — has remained virtually unchanged from two years ago, when they were valued at 52 and 25 billion rubles, respectively. The market value of Ilyushin Finance, on the other hand, has grown significantly from the original 11 billion rubles. As for FLC, its value has shrunken more than fourfold from the original 8 billion rubles, apparently owing to the lessor’s current financial problems.

Defining the future

The UAC’s transaction signals the last major stage in the consolidation of Russia’s aviation industry. The corporation president Alexey Fedorov has recently named two more assets proposed for inclusion in the corporation’s structure — the Myasishchev design bureau and Gromov Flight Research Institute.

For this plan to become a reality, though, both enterprises must first be turned into joint-stock companies — and that will take some time.

Now the UAC plans to complete the industrial reorganization stage and move on to the development of major projects. The corporation is not planning to revise its strategic development plans even despite the economic recession. According to Fedorov, “the effect of the crisis on our long-term plans is insignificant”.

According to the earlier approved plans the industrial assets of the corporation will be reorganized into several business units. The first unit, UAC – Transport Aircraft, was set up in 2008 on the basis of Ilyushin design bureau.

The new division’s programs includes localization of Il-76 assembly in Russia, development of light Il-112 transport and joint Russo-Indian MTA air-

Fyodor Borisov

A E RO S PAC E I N D U S T RY

UAC-Special Aircraft division will focus at modernization of Russia’s Air Force strategic bombers and manufacture of special mission aircraft

craft. The other task is restoration of An-124 heavy lifter production.

Now three more units are to be founded, explained UAC press secretary. KAPO will be included UAC-Special Aircraft division together with Tupolev, Beriev and Tagavia. In future the new unit is expected to be expanded with Myasishchev design bureau.

UAC—Special Aircraft will focus at modernization of Russia’s Air Force strategic bombers designed by Tupolev as well as on manufacture of special mission aircraft, like Beriev amphibian planes.

Following this strategy KAPO will cease the assembly of Tu-214 narrowbody airliner in favor of the aircraft’s special modifications. Now such versions are ordered by the Kremlin’s Special Air Detachment that, for example, received two Tu-214SR radio relay aircraft in June. Four more aircraft are scheduled for delivery in 2010-2011.

KAPO’s hand-over to Special Aircraft unit also means the cancellation of Tu-334 regional jet that was to be assembled in Kazan. According to Lantratov, UAC has no orders for this aircraft from the airlines. The Russian market faces the strong competition in the regional segment with two projects – locally assembled An-148 and Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft entering the production phase. The only chance

for Tu-334 is a potential order from the President’s Air Detachment that renews its regional fleet at the moment.

UAC press secretary mentioned that the negotiations are under way, but to adapt the aircraft to carry the government top officials and to launch the production the corporation asks for $270 million. “Anyway, if such order is placed, Tu-334 will be considered a special mission aircraft”, concludes Konstantin Lantratov.

The production of passenger airliners will be localized at UAC – Commercial Aircraft division. It will be headed by Irkut Corporation and will also include two assembly facilities – Ulyanovskbased Aviastar-SP and Voronezh VASO. Aviastar-SP will continue to produce Tu-204 family narrowbody airliners and later Tu-204SM modernized variant while VASO will assemble An-148 regional jets and Il-96 widebody planes. At the first stage Irkut will keep its military programs, but later it plans to move to the assembly of Russia’s future MS-21 medium range airliner.

Another civil asset – Sukhoi Civil Aircraft, the manufacturer of Superjet 100 aircraft, will remain under Sukhoi that will head the UAC—Combat Aircraft Unit. The defense division will also include MiG and Nizhny Novgorod Sokol assembly plant.

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Drawing the contours Irkut is choosing suppliers for MS-21 airliner

Alexei Sinitsky he final choice of suppliers of components and finished parts for Russia’s future 150-210 seats medium-range MS-21 airliner is expected to be made by the end of 2009. Creating this aircraft, Russia is going to intervene into the most demanded segment of the global market. In the next 20-25 years demand for commercial airliners of such size is forecasted on a level of 10,000 aircraft. So far, duopoly of Boeing and Airbus reigns in this segment of the market but China has already announced its ambitions having started working on Comac C919 program. In Russia MS21 is being developed by a team of designers headed by Irkut corporation.

Russian designers plan to conquer 1215% of the international market that is to sell 1,200-1,500 aircraft.

The project can succeed only if it is developed quickly. It is expected that Airbus and Boeing will start selling their new narrowbody airliners approximately in 2020. They will replace current Airbus A320 and Boeing 737NG families. It is clear that MS-21 will be unable to compete against the new generations of Airbus and Boeing airplanes. The task for designers is to

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achieve 15% lower operational costs compared to the current narrow-body aircraft and to outrun the competitors in the time of new product’s release on the market. The maiden flight of MS21-200 with capacity of 150 passengers is planned for 2014 while the deliveries are to start in 2016. Certification of the 180-seat MS-21-300 is expected in 2018 and certification of the 210-seat MS-21-400 is expected in 2020.

China has set practically the same timeframe for Comac C919 coming to the market. But, according to well-informed representatives of the Russian aircraft industry, direct competition between MS-21 and C919 is hardly possible because China aims to satisfy the demand on the huge domestic market while Russia’s task in MS-21 project is to revive the national designer school and production facilities in the sector of civil aviation. Hence, MS-21 project, together with Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional jet, is one of the priority programs for Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC).

According to Irkut’s president Oleg Demchenko, MS-21 project is developing according to the schedule and active detailed designing of the aircraft will begin in January of 2010. Tenders for 11 out of the 14 key systems have al-

RUSSIA/CIS OBSERVER № 4 (27) NOVEMBER 2009

ready been conducted and two best bids have been chosen for three systems of the first level. Negotiations with suppliers of these systems continue now.

Conceptual choice

Choice of the power plant will be the most interesting. Designers of MS-21 decided to propose two options of engines to the future customers of the airplane, namely a Russian engine and an engine produced abroad (although with a Russian partner). With regard to the Russian designer and manufacturer everything is more or less clear. These are Perm-based Aviadvigatel and Perm Engines (both are controlled by United Engine Corporation). At MAKS-2009 air show the Perm engine-building cluster demonstrated samples of fan blades, combustion chamber, elements of the cooling system and nozzle blades of the future PD-14 engine for MS-21.

Among the foreign contestants Pratt & Whitney (US) and Rolls-Royce (UK) made it to the second round.

CFM International and a team of Moscow-based Salyut and Zaporozhye-based Progress and Motor Sich were not put on the short list. In any case, it is impossible to rule out that Salyut will participate in the program as a partner of Rolls-Royce because in

A E RO S PAC E I N D U S T RY

Competition or cooperation

Bids of Rockwell Collins (US) and Corporation Avionika (Russia) made it

to the second round with regard to the avionics system and bids of AviapriborHolding (Russia) in cooperation with Goodrich AS (France) and Moog (US), as well as Liebherr Aerospace (Germany) were chosen for the integrated flight control system.

The final results of these tenders are not summed up yet but it is necessary to say that in this case the competing contestants also can form an alliance in principle and offer a joint solution that combines the strong points of the options that are alternative now. It is impossible to rule out that during further negotiations with the tender commission the parties may come to this very decision because it may be not only mutually beneficial for participants of

Aerospace corporation. Members of Zodiac Aerospace corporation were also chosen as suppliers of the interior (American C&D) and fuel and oxygen systems (French Intertechnique). The neutral gas system will be made in cooperation by Intertechnique and Hamilton Sundstrand. The fire protection system will be supplied in cooperation by Hamilton Sundstrand and French L’Hotellier (a part of American corporation Kidde Technologies).

Nizhny Novgorod-based Gidromash was chosen as designer and manufacturer of the landing gear system for MS-21.

With regard to the hydraulic system the commission chose the bid of American Eaton Corporation. Yury Lebedev,

While waiting for the choice of suppliers and beginning of detail designing MS-21 passes tests in the wind tunnels

TsAGI

such case the company will receive a big civil project and will diversify production facilities. If Pratt & Whitney wins the tender the Perm engine-building cluster will be its partner.

For the tender Pratt & Whitney proposed PW1000G engine with the fan drive through the reduction gear (GTF technology). Certification of PW1000G is planned for the end of 2011 and from 2013 the engines will be mounted on Mitsubishi Regional Jet (modification with thrust of about 8 tons) and Bombardier CSeries aircraft (thrust of approximately 11 tons). An engine with thrust of about 14 tons will be created for MS-21. In principle, representatives of Pratt & Whitney do not deny this, mounting of their engine with the fan drive through reduction gear on MS-21 will increase the company’s chances for victory in much more important tenders for choice of power plants for the new generations of Airbus and Boeing narrow-body aircraft.

For the MS-21 tender Rolls-Royce presented a more traditional concept of an engine made according to a threeshaft configuration. The company proposed a project of brand new engine RB285, which used the technologies implemented in the newest Trent 1000 engine designed for Boeing 787 airliner.

Representatives of Rolls-Royce state that for the engines of an MS-21-size aircraft the three-shaft configuration is close to the reduction gear one in efficiency but from the technical standpoint this option is simpler. In general, the Irkut’s tender commission will face a tough choice and results are not obvious. Moreover, because Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney have a good experience of interaction in the framework of International Aero Engines (IAE) consortium that produces V2500 engines for narrow-body airliners it is impossible to fully rule out a possibility of alliance between them for creation of a new engine with a prospect to mount it on future Airbus and Boeing aircraft.

the tender but may also supply MS-21 with more advanced systems.

The indisputable favorites in the tender for the right to supply 11 systems for which the final decision has been made are American Hamilton Sundstrand and French Zodiac Aerospace. American Hamilton Sundstrand will supply the auxiliary power plant, a wing defroster system and, in cooperation with research and production association Nauka and Hamilton Standard – Nauka JV, an integrated air conditioning system. For supply of the electric system the commission chose the joint bid of Hamilton Sundstrand and French company ECE, a part of Zodiac

marketing manager of Eaton for MS21 program, has told Russia & CIS Observer that an absolutely new hydraulic system will be designed for the Russian airplane. It will be lighter and more efficient than the existing models.

The representative of Eaton does not rule out that this system may be offered for new airplanes of Boeing and Airbus in the future. Along with this, Eaton is ready to buy up to 50% of parts and components for production of the new system in Russia. Now the American company organizes a tender among Russian suppliers and plans to choose the Russian partner for participation in MS-21 program by the mid-2010.

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Joining the club

The Kamov Ka-32 has become the first ever Russian helicopter to get EASA type approval Maxim Pyadushkin

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Kamov

he European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in late September issued type certificate EASA.IM.R.133 for the Kamov Ka-32A11BC helicopter.

Previously, European operations of this type were governed by a Specific Airworthiness Specification and restricted to the territory of several countries. The EASA certification makes it possible for any EU-based operator to use the Ka-32 commercially. This design became the first Russian-built helicopter to receive European certification. In fact, the EASA validation was just another milestone on the Ka-32’s way to worldwide recognition.

Kamov chief designer Shamil Suleymanov told the Russia & CIS Observer that the international promotion of the Ka-32 started in the early 1990s, when these helicopters first came to Canada and Europe. Already at that point the manufacturer began thinking of international certification. For this to become possible, new Russian certification requirements had to be developed on the basis of the US FAR 29 airworthiness standards. These requirements, which would later provide the foundation for Russia’s AP-29 national aviation regulations, were used in 1993 to certify the Ka-32 at home.

After that, Suleymanov continues, the Russian certificate was validated by a number of foreign countries which recognized the FAR 29 standards. Also in 1993, Kamov launched validation campaigns in Canada and Europe. A number of modifications were introduced to the original helicopter design at the request of Transport Canada, eventuating in the Ka-32A11BC version (the BC designator standing for

Due to its trademark coaxial rotor design Ka-32 helicopters became especially popular in the firefighting and external cargo transportation roles

“British Columbia”). The improvements included a new flight control system and updated avionics. In addition, specifically for Canadian certification, the helicopter’s service life was increased to 16,000 hours from the earlier Ka-32T version’s 4,000 hours. Ka32A11BC rotorcraft are currently used

by Canadian company VIH Helicopters in logging operations.

The Ka-32 was certified in Switzerland to FAR 29 in 1996. The first Swiss operator for the type was the Heliswiss transport and installation specialist. It was for Heliswiss that Kamov developed the single-pilot Ka-32A12 version.

Kamov realized, however, that the Ka-32 had even more to offer. “We understood that the helicopter was much more versatile,” says Suleymanov. In the late 1990s, the Ka-32 debuted as a

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firefighting aircraft with the Spanish firm Helicopteros del Sureste, which later became part of the INAER aviation holding company. According to Suleymanov, Spanish firefighters found the Ka-32 to be more efficient in this role than the traditional Canadair CL215 fixed-wing amphibian. The rotorcraft demonstrated the ability to fly more frequent water-dropping runs because, unlike an airplane, it could refill its water tanks from virtually any reservoirs, including private swimming pools.

The Ka-32A11BC received a Spanish type certificate in 2004, but it had yet to be certified to EASA standards.

That process was launched in 2006 and will be formally completed in November 2009, when EASA representatives come to Moscow to present Kamov with an official certificate.

A E RO S PAC E I N D U S T RY

tralia,” says Suleymanov. One Ka-32 is already operated in PNG, so Kamov will eventually direct its certification efforts on that country. The manufacturer also plans to have the Ka-32A11BC certified in the Middle East.

Work is ongoing to obtain certificates for other Ka-32 modifications. According to Suleymanov, talks are under way with Heliswiss on EASA certification of the Ka-32A12 version. Kamov proceeds from the premise that, being a derivative of the Ka-32A11BC, this variant should be easier to validate.

However, it still has to agree with the Swiss operator on delineating areas of responsibility and define who will spend how much on the certification process.

In the meantime, Kamov continues work to further improve the Ka-32, with a view of introducing a fully digital cockpit and advanced mission equipment, including a new firefighting system. Suleymanov says the use of advanced systems will reduce the all-up weight and increase the helicopter's thrust-to-weight ratio. Kamov does admit, though, that digital avionics may prove superfluous for some of the Ka32's current roles, such as logging operations. Consequently, the digital cockpit will most likely be offered as an option. The manufacturer is also planning to replace the Ka32's two Ivchenko-Progress TV3117VMA engines with more powerful, FADEC-equipped Klimov VK-2500s.

A more distant goal is to develop a long-range Ka-32-10 civilian transport capable of carrying up to 20 passengers. Suleymanov explains that the projected model would retain the original powerplant and transmission, but would get a substantially redesigned fuselage. Demand for the Ka-32-10 is expected to come from oil- and gas-producing companies, which might need it for offshore operations. Kamov insists that its trademark coaxial rotor design ensures safe operations in gusty winds and adverse weather.

Kamov

At present, the only other Russian- multirole helicopters. The local comdesigned aircraft type that holds a pany EMA, which specializes in emerEuropean airworthiness certificate is gency relief, operates six such helithe Tupolev Tu-204-120CE freighter. copters in the search-and-rescue, med“We view the EASA certification as the ical evacuation and aerial patrol roles. signal of our having been accepted into Thanks to a range of interchangeable, the world club [of aircraft manufactur- mission-specific payload modules the ers],” Suleymanov says. “No other helicopters can be reequipped for a dif[Russian helicopter specialist] has ferent mission within one hour. The managed to achieve this over the past Portuguese Ka-32s also have analog in50 years.” According to Andrey strumentation replaced with digital Shibitov, general director of the Rus- equivalents.

Suleymanov says the company will sian Helicopters holding company, “EASA’s certification of the Ka- proceed with international certification 32A11BC opens up new opportunities of the Ka-32. Currently, apart from for the operation of this multirole heli- Canada and Europe, the helicopter copter, which has already demonstrated holds national type certificates in several countries that recognize the FAR 29 its efficiency in many EU countries.”

The EASA certificate is sure to ex- standards: in Chile, China, Indonesia, pand the list of Ka-32 operators in Japan, Mexico, South Korea and TaiEurope, where it has been used until wan. In all these countries Ka-32s have now exclusively by INAER of Spain been operated successfully for some and the Portuguese state-owned com- time. The largest Ka-32 fleet is in South pany EMA. INAER Technical Direc- Korea, where over 60 of the type are tor Aurelio Martinez Pillet says the cer- used by the national air force and coast tificate will make it possible for his guard for aerial patrols and search-andcompany to operate the Ka-32 in any rescue operations, by the forestry serof EASA’s 22 member nations, whereas vice in the firefighting role, and also by previously operations of the type were private companies.

“So far our certification plans exrestricted to Spain. INAER currently has 10 Ka-32A11BS helicopters, but cluded Papua New Guinea and AusMartinez Pillet believes that further expansion of the type’s operational capabilities may move his company to boost its fleet.

In its current wording, however, the EASA certificate only permits Ka-32A11BS operations in two categories: firefighting and external cargo transportation. It prohibits commercial passenger services, although transportation of personnel and mission specialists, such as smokejumpers and rescuers, is allowed. Martinez Pillet says the helicopter’s external cargo lifting capability is its key advantage, whereas in other roles — passenger transportation or medical evacuation, for example — the Ka-32 does not measure up to comparable Western types.

EMA of Portugal became the first to use the The manufacturer disagrees.

Ka-32A11VS as a multirole search-and-rescue, According to Suleymanov, the Kamedevac and patrol helicopter 32s for Portugal are configured as

RUSSIA/CIS OBSERVER № 4 (27) NOVEMBER 2009

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Right up there

Superjet 100 program needs more money to complete the certification Maxim Pyadushkin he Russian government plans to support the development of Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional jet with another portion of subsidies from the state budget. So far the new aircraft that is in the stage of the certification trials was backed by government guarantees and loans from the state-owned banks.

Now the Ministry of Industry and Trade suggests to allocate additional 3.6 billion rubles ($124 million) for Superjet 100 certification in 2009-2010 through amendment of the federal program for development of Russia’s commercial aircraft through 2015.

The Ministry’s report states that the additional funding will not require in-

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duction of the government investments into the R&D and the reduction of the budget expenditures for marketing and certification of other Russia’s future aircraft – MS-21 narrowbody airliner, being developed by Irkut Corporation.

As a result the Superjet 100 is to get another 1,342 million rubles.

The Ministry explains that additional funding is needed to help the designers from Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company (SCAC) to overcome the financial difficulties caused by the economic crisis.

Another goal is to increase the Superjet 100 competitive advantages over the foreign counterparts, especially the Chinese ARJ-21 regional jet. The Ministry’s effort means that Superjet 100 program remains a top priority for the Russian government that is ready to

Marina Lystseva

Superjet 100 prototypes have already logged 454 test flights with a total time of more than 1200 hours

creasing the overall budget and will be allocated through redistribution of the expenditures within the federal program. As the Ministry’s representatives explained to the Russia & CIS Observer, this year the program’s expenditures were cut down by 15% while the saved 2,258 million rubles have been re-directed for the Superjet 100 program. In 2010 the increase of funding for the development of the new regional jet is to be achieved through the re8

support the new regional jet even at the expense of other projects.

Nevertheless the development of the Superjet 100 is being delayed – under earlier plans the first aircraft should be handed over to the customers at the end of this year. Now the three prototypes are passing intensive certification trials.

According to SCAC, as of October 31 they all logged 454 flights with a total time of more than 1200 hours. In October the aircraft completed the high alti-

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tude flight tests in the mountains of Armenia. The trials included continued take-offs as well as OEI missed approach flights. The majority of the take-offs were performed with one engine failure imitation at maximum take-off weight.

Italy’s Alenia Aeronautica that officially purchased 25% plus 1 share stake in SCAC earlier this year will be responsible for the EASA certification. It will conduct some of the trials in Italy, including community noise, ILS, RNAV and high-intensity radiated field tests.

One of the first customers – Armenian Armavia airlines confessed in October that the delivery is slipped from December 2009 to spring 2010. In November Sukhoi CEO Mikhail Pogosyan also admitted that there would be no deliveries in 2009. Under earlier plans the aircraft’s launch customer – Russia’s largest carrier Aeroflot should have received the first out of 30 ordered jets by the end of the year. According to Pogosyan, in 2010 SCAC plans to start deliveries to the Italian air carrier ItAli that placed an order for 10 Superjet 100s in 2007. As for now Sukhoi’s order backlog for the new regional jet amounts to 122 aircraft.

Pogosyan told about the plan to supplement the Superjet 100 family now consisting of 75 and 95 seat modifications with a stretched 115-seat version.

SCAC representatives explained that the 130-seat variant is also being discussed at the moment. The decision to move forward with the development of the stretched variants might be taken by the end of 2009, suggested the source in the Russian aircraft industry. Another discussed development is VIP version based on 95-seat variant that will have an interior designed by Italian Pininfarina.

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Antonov-148 jet enters in service in Russia Alexey Sinitsky

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Fyodor Borisov

n November 6 the first An148 regional jet, ordered by Rossiya airlines, flew from the factory airfield of Voronezh VASO facility to the airline’s home airport in St. Petersburg. The aircraft is expected to start commercial operations on domestic routes from St. Petersburg in the beginning of December.

This very aircraft in Rossiya livery was for the first time presented at Moscow MAKS 2009 air show in August. It was officially handed over to the airline in October, but stayed in Voronezh. The delay was reportedly caused by the necessity to complete the aircraft’s service documentation.

Nevertheless the first operational experience for An-148 has already been gained by Ukrainian carrier Aerosvit. It operates only one aircraft that flies on domestic routes between Kiev and Odessa, Simferopol and Lviv. According to the airline, the aircraft makes two flights a day with the average flight time of 4-5 hours. In the nearest future Aerosvit plans to increase the intensity of operations up to 4 daily flights.

Due to its technical parameters the regional An-148 became quite popular on the market. As for now Russia’s Ilyushin Finance (IFC) leasing company that is marketing the new jet, has about 70 firm orders for An-148. Rossiya should receive 6 aircraft during 2009-2010. Initially it was expected to get 4 jets this year, but later these plans have been reduced to 3 aircraft. The second and the third An-148s are to be delivered to the Russian carrier in November and December, correspondingly.

To finance the An-148 purchases from United Aircraft Corporation, VASO’s parent company, IFC opened a

Rossiya airline became with first customer for Russian-built An-148 jet with the order for 6 aircraft

3 billion rubles (about $100 million) credit line at VEB bank for a period of 7-10 years. The parties didn’t report how many aircraft have already been purchased. The An-148’s list price for airline amounts to $24-30 million.

But despite the firm orders and secured financing, the main problem for An-148 program is to ensure the required production rate. As the initial manufacturer – Kiev-based Aviant plant failed to respond the growing orders; it was decided to move the fuselage assembly from Ukraine to Voronezh. According to the source in the Ukrainian aerospace industry, Russia and Ukraine finally realized that political tensions and aspirations to keep 50 to 50 parity in the An-148 production could kill this rather successful program, so now all efforts are focused to ensure high aircraft’s assembly rate.

In the cabin layout, ordered by Rossiya, An-148 can carry 8 passengers in the business class and 60 persons in the economy class at the range of 3.5 thousand km with a cruise speed of 800-870 km. The aircraft has a high-wing monoplane design, so the highly mounted engines enable to operate An-148 from local unimproved airfields. The other ad-

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vantages of An-148 are the high fuel efficiency of Motor Sich D-436-148 engines and the entrance stairs that enables to board and deplane passengers without special ground equipment.

Despite the unpretentious takeoff and landing parameters, another reason for delay with the start of An-148 commercial operations is that the Russian airports are still not certified to accept this type. The head of Aerosvit carrier Konstantin Botev expects that Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport will be ready to accept the aircraft in December. After that the Ukrainian airline will start to operate An-148 on its flights between Kiev and Moscow. According to Botev, the An-148 flights to Europe could start as early as in mid-2010.

An-148 can hardly compete with the existing regional aircraft by the world’s leading manufacturers on the markets with the highly developed ground infrastructure, but it has quite good chances in Russia, the CIS and developing countries. In June Russia, Ukraine and Iran signed a trilateral memorandum for delivery of 50 An-148s. Nevertheless these plans will be realized as soon as the manufacturers reach the required production rate.

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DEFENSE

Re-arming the arsenals

The Russian government supports the re-armament of the national Armed Forces Maxim Pyadushkin ussia is defining its military budget for 2010. At the end of October the State Duma, a lower chamber of the Russian parliament, approved in the first reading the federal budget for the next year. According to the draft budget, the spending for the national defense will amount to 1,253 billion rubles (about $43 billion under the current exchange rate). This figure in rubles shows a slight increase by 3.4% compared to 2009, but it’s much smaller than a year ago when the national defense expenses grew by 16% compared to the previous year. Nevertheless the share of military expenses of the overall budget spending will increase from 12% to 18%. It shows

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for 10% decrease in the defense procurement. As the result the share of the procurement in the Defense Ministry expenditures will amount to just 44.8% compared to more than 47% in 2009.

The committee stresses that it goes against the earlier plans to reach 50:50 balance between the Armed Forces’ rearmaments programs and operational expenditures by 2011. By 2015 the balance should be 30 to 70 in favor of the procurement, mention the lawmakers.

But on the other side, the procurement budget for 2010 will give more priorities to the purchase of new weapons and military equipment. The weapons purchases will amount to 65% of the procurement budget compared to 56% in 2009. The expenses for the repair of the existing equipment will contrary will be decreased from 18% to 15% of the procurement spending.

rate for the next year the real volume of the defense expenses will be by 2.3% smaller than in 2008. The Duma’s Defense Committee also mentioned that the share of the national defense expenditures in the country’s GDP will decrease from 3.1% in 2009 to 2.9% in 2010. According to the lawmakers, this figure is below the level of the defense expenditures set up by Russia’s Security Council – 3.21% of GDP. More than 75% of all defense expenditures in 2010 – 946 billion rubles will go for the armed forces. This article shows a 5% increase while the most of the other expenditures such as defense researches and the development of the nuclear weapons have been cut down. The largest growth is planned for the spending for the peacekeeping and collective security

In the last two years the Russian military managed to switch from repair to the procurement of new armaments

Leonid Faerberg

New procurement priorities

that despite the efforts to cut the budget expenses in the hard times of the economic crisis the Russian government is keen to support and strengthen the national armed forces.

But the parliament members criticized the draft budget, saying that taken into account the forecasted inflation 12

missions. They will skyrocket from 0.6 billion ruble in 2009 to 11.1 billion ruble in the next year. The most of this money – 10.5 billion rubles will be spent for the construction of the Russian military bases in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The Defense Committee also points out that the draft budget for 2010 calls

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Earlier this year the government discussed the new defense procurement strategy that will be reflected in the defense budget for 2010. During his meeting with the country’s President Dmitry Medvedev in July the deputy prime minister Sergey Ivanov announced that the defense procurement budget for 2010 will be based on seven priorities.

The main priority, however, will remain quite traditional – the development of the strategic nuclear forces.

Besides, the 2010 budget will focus on space systems and ballistic missile defense; purchase of new weapons and equipment for conventional forces as well as repair of their existing hardware at minimally required level. As the fifth priority Ivanov pointed out the implementation of long-term contract for sophisticated weapons signed by the Defense Ministry and other security agencies in 2008-2009. He explained that

ATO

DEFENSE

The first MiG-29SMT rejected by Algeria have already been naded over to the Russian Air Force

the backlog of such contracts amounted to 178 billion rubles (about $5.7 billion).

The last two priorities are evidently the response to the results of the last year war in the Caucasus. The Russian military will reinforce their forces in the Southern Russia and The Black Sea fleet. Following the earlier decisions taken by the Russian president and the prime minister the Armed Forces will also increase the procurement of new combat aircraft.

“These priorities will enable us to fulfill the government defense procurement program and to maintain the combat effectiveness of the Armed Forces and other security services at the required level”, explained Sergey Ivanov. In September the vice premier announced that the government defense order that includes the purchase and repair of armaments for the military and law-enforcement agencies, will grow by 8% in 2010 to reach 1.1 trillion rubles.

From repair to new weapons

The procurement strategy allows the Russian military to increase the purchase of new equipment. As the deputy defense minister and chief of armaments of the Russian Armed Forces Vladimir Popovkin has recently mentioned, “for the last two year we managed to change the defense procurement situation – in fact, from the repair orders we began to switch to the

purchases of weapons in batches suitable to re-arm a company, battalion and squadron”.

The results of such shift are already visible this year. According to Popovkin, in 2009 the Russian Armed Forces are to receive 9 strategic missiles, 6 spacecraft, 43 combat aircraft, 41 helicopter, one corvette, three Iskander tactical missile launchers and 13 missiles for them.

Among other services, the significant share of the procurement expenses – up to 40% goes to the development of the naval strategic nuclear forces. Nevertheless, the plans for this year prove that the military are keen to strengthen their air power – for the fist time over the more than a decade the Air Force are receive large numbers of new aircraft. Partly it became possible due to the refusal of Algeria to take 34 MiG29SMT and MiG-29UBT fighters. At the end of 2008 the Russian Air Force agreed to take the rejected aircraft. The first 12 aircraft were handed over to the Russian military in the beginning of the year. Besides, the Air Force should have received modernized Su-27SM fighter and Su-25 ground attack aircraft, a pair of Su-24 tactical reconnaissance aircraft and a first Yak-130 advanced jet trainer.

Moreover, in 2009 the Air Force placed some new orders. In August it signed contracts for delivery of 64 aircraft in 2010-2015, including 12 singleseat Su-27SM and 4 Su-30M2 double-

seat fighters and 48 new Su-35 multirole combat jets. These contracts were supplemented by large order of airlaunched weapons for Su-35 and MiG31BM aircraft.

So taken into account the new orders, the Air Force will continue to modernize its fleet – in 2010 the service is expected to purchase 17 combat aircraft and 48 helicopters. Besides, next year the Russian military plan to purchase one mobile strategic missile system, 5 battalions of S-400 long range SAM system and to launch 11 military satellites, told Popovkin. The Navy should receive two new submarines, one corvette and will launch the construction of five more ships.

Nevertheless, the deputy defense minister stated the further re-armament plans may be delayed due to the limited production capacity of the national defense industry. This problem has been recently discussed at the special meeting on development of the defense industrial complex headed by the Russian president Dmitry Medvedev.

He pointed out the necessity to speed up the modernization of the defense production capacities and called to the local manufacturers to improve the quality of the produced weapons and to cut down the production costs. According to Medvedev, this will allow the industry to reduce the price for the defense products and will enable the military to expand their procurement programs.

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DEFENSE

Defense Friendship Russia and India move to joint weapon development Maxim Pyadushkin ussia and India continue their defense cooperation despite the certain problems. New Delhi turned into the major importer of the Russian armaments, but future plans call for joint development of new weapon systems. In mid-October the defense ministers of the Russia and India, Anatoly Serdyukov and A.K. Anthony met in Moscow to discuss defense-industrial collaboration.

The parties planned to agree a final price for the aircraft carrier Vikramaditya, being converted by Russia from the Admiral Gorshkov, and signed a new program of defense cooperation for 2010-2020.

Despite the certain expectation, the signing of both agreements has been delayed. According to the Russia’s Committee for Military Technical Cooperation, the parties agreed to find an acceptable solution on Vikramaditya’s issue “in the nearest future”. In 2004 India agreed to take the 44,500-tons aircraft carrier for free. It should have paid only $800 million to equip the ship with an extended deck and a ski-jump enabling it to operate MiG-29K STOBAR aircraft. Later the Russian side insisted on increasing the price to $2 billion saying the cost of moderniza-

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tion was underestimated at the time the contract was signed. Now the carrier is expected to be ready only in 2012.

The Vikramaditya’s deal also included the $700 million purchase of 16 MiG-29K ship-based fighters. The first aircraft were assembled in 2008 and the Indian pilots have already trained on them in Russia. At the end of September MiG-29K made their first sea trials on Russia’s only aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetzov. According to MiG Corp., two aircraft – MiG-29K single seater and two-seat MiG-29KUB made several take-offs and landings from the carrier’s deck in the Barents Sea. MiG-29Ks have an upgraded airframe with high degree of composites, digital fly-by-wire system, in-flight refueling capabilities and new avionics including fully glass cockpit and ZhukME slot array radar. The aircraft also has reduced signature and increased combat load that includes air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons. Representatives

by MiG confirmed to Russia & CIS Observer that the first fighters will be delivered to India by the end of the year.

The program for bilateral defense collaboration from 2011-2020 should be finally agreed by the end of the year.

The Russian defense industry source told that compared to previous pro-

MiG

MiG representatives say that trials at Admiral Kuznetzov completes the development of MiG-29K ship based fighter

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gram through 2010 it will become less detailed and will be a more of a framework. Nevertheless the parties noticed joint development of fifth generation fighter, 10-12 ton helicopters and new infantry fighting vehicle among future programs. The defense ministers also discussed the licensed assembly Su30MKI fighters and T-90 tanks in India as well as joint development of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile.

This anti-ship missile developed by BrahMos joint venture, set up by India’s DRDO and Russia’s NPO Mash, is already taken into service by the Indian Navy. As the JV co-director Alexander Baskakov explained to Russia & CIS Observer, the missile is now being installed at several ships being constructed or modernized for the Indian Navy. The company is also working on an air launched modification that should be carried by Su30MKI fighters. Baskakov said that the contract for the development of the air launched version has been prepared by Russia’s Rosoboronexport arms trading agency, but is not signed yet.

“The next decade is likely to be the time of joint programs with India”, said Konstantin Makienko, deputy head of the Center for analysis of strategies and technologies (CAST), Moscow-based defense think-tank. “This is good for Russia because it gives a new market to its defense products while India is the best possible partner for joint projects”, he said.

According to CAST estimations, since 2007 India became the leading importer of Russian weapons replacing China. Its share in total deliveries and orders for Russian weapons is about 30%. “The Indian defense market rapidly grows, but other exporters – USA, Europe and Israel take advantage of this growth”, mentioned Makienko.

DEFENSE

Training check

Russian military tested new unmanned systems during a military exercise Denis Fedutinov he last year’s conflict with Georgia demonstrated that the Russian troops don’t have modern unmanned systems. Now the Russian Defense Ministry tries to improve this situation. It has already purchased 14 unmanned systems from Israel Aerospace Industries, including middle class Searcher МК II UAVs and portable Bird Eye 400 systems. However, according to Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin, purchase of foreign UAVs does not mean giving up the domestic developments.

«We do not say that we stop all work in this area in our country,» says Popovkin.

The Defense Ministry also keeps studying products of Russian designers.

Thus, several domestically developed unmanned systems were tested in September 2009, during the Zapad2009 military exercise – the largest maneuvers since the Soviet era.

Dozor-100 UAV developed by St. Petersburg Tranzas company in the class of tactical unmanned systems was tested by the Defense Ministry for the first time. This new system was unveiled this summer at International Maritime Defense Show in St. Petersburg. Dozor-100 represents an aircraft designed according to a normal airplane configuration with V-shaped tail assembly and pushing propeller. The maximum takeoff weight of the UAV is 95 kilograms, the wingspan is 5.4 meters. The system includes three UAVs and a ground control post. The UAV can perform both autonomous flights and remotely-controlled flights with duration of up to ten hours. The optical and thermal imaging system of the UAV includes a high-resolution video camera and a thermal imager of the middle infrared band mounted on a moving platform.

Transas

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During Zapad-2009 military exercise Dozor-100 UAV was searching for ships of the opposing enemy in the Baltic Sea

During the military exercise Dozor100 UAV performed two flights for detection and identification of ships of the opposed enemy in the area of the exercise in neutral waters of the Baltic Sea. During the flights the UAV transmitted images from a distance of 50 kilometers.

The first flight lasted for about two hours. This time Dozor-100 flew 300 kilometers. The UAV took off from the airfield located 20 kilometers from the main control station and was guided by the temporary control post. As the aircraft was approaching the mission area, the flight control was handed over to the main control post. Thus the designers demonstrated a possibility to transmit the information from the UAV to the ground equipment located at a significant distance from the takeoff-landing site. In the future this feature will allow transmitting the information from the UAV to a portable computer of any unit commander located in the coverage area.

The second flight with a similar mission was performed on the next day.

The only difference was that the lower edge of clouds was at an altitude of 600 meters, so the flight was performed at 500 meters altitude.

Another UAV tested during Zapad2009 was Strekoza mini-UAV developed by Izhevsk-based ZALA Aero Systems. This is a portable compact

system that includes two UAVs and a compact control station with a spare set of batteries for the UAV. The Strekoza UAV is designed according to «flying wing» configuration and has a wingspan of just 80 centimeters and takeoff weight of 2.1 kilograms. The range of the UAV is 15 kilometers. Batteries of the UAV enable it to perform flights with duration of up to 100 minutes. Payload may include video and photo cameras and a thermal imager.

Strekoza system is designed to be used in the first line of reconnaissance.

Twenty flights were performed during Zapad-2009 exercise in Kaliningrad Region and 45 flights were performed in Belarus.

Practically all flights of both Dozor100 and Strekoza UAVs were performed in adverse meteorological conditions with low clouds and wind speed of 1011 m/s with gusts of up to 15 m/s, which confirmed a high level of reliability of the offered systems.

Interestingly, the UAV systems, tested by the military, were developed at expense of the designers and not financed by the Russian Defense Ministry. This evidently confirms the recent trend when in some areas the Defense Ministry moves from financing of R&D programs to procurement of the readyto-purchase systems available on the market.

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A I R T R A N S P O RT

Losing out

Leonid Faerberg

Russian airlines face strong foreign competition

The number of foreign airlines operating to Russia has been growing over the past eight years, prompted by a consistent increase in passenger numbers

Polina Zvereva he recent decline in passenger traffic figures has intensified competition both on Russia’s domestic routes and internationally. In the latter case Russian carriers often have to face off against much stronger rivals. Although the level playing field on most international routes is enforced by intergovernmental agreements, this does not automatically guarantee equality of market standings. As if this weren’t enough of a setback, the Russian aviation authorities are unwittingly playing into the hands of foreign airlines.

The list of foreign carriers operating to Russia has been growing over the

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past eight years, prompted by a consistent increase in passenger numbers. A majority of the newcomers — Emirates, Thai Airways, Etihad, Niki, United, Singapore Airlines, Iberia, bmi and TAP Portugal — chose Moscow’s airports as their destinations. Others, such as Air Berlin and Germanwings, opted for both the capital and St. Petersburg.

Those already well established on the Russian market carried on with their expansion plans. Valery Okulov, currently a deputy transport minister, repeatedly stressed during his previous career as the head of Aeroflot airlines that Russia’s fastest growing carrier was Lufthansa. Indeed, Lufthansa regional director for Russia and the CIS Ronald Schulz admitted in August 2009 that his

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airline’s passenger traffic to and from Russia had dropped by just 6%, compared to the average decrease of 15% across the Russian air transport scene.

The ever-growing popularity of foreign airlines in Russia owes much to their aggressive use of web-based services, and also to the progressive availability of the Internet in Russia. Even though the penetration of banking cards in Russian households remains relatively insignificant, online ticket sales have considerably expanded the airlines’ reach.

The economic crisis has forced some international carriers to revise their expansion plans for Russia. American Airlines, for example, stopped flying between Chicago and Moscow. Norwegian has cancelled its service from Oslo to Moscow, although the airline’s flights to St. Petersburg continue. Other players, however, have carried on regardless. El Al last winter introduced a Moscow-Elat route, while Singapore Airlines has launched an additional Singapore-Moscow-Houston service.

As for demonstrating the Russian flag abroad, the country’s largest carrier Aeroflot remains the only significant player on the international market. The current stern regulations allow other Russian companies, such as Transaero, S7 Airlines or UTair, to launch scheduled international services, but they certainly do not guarantee the most lucrative city pairs for new entrants.

Aeroflot, for its part, constantly faces competition from the strongest foreign carriers on each of its foreign routes, which does not make the airline’s market position any more secure.

A I R T R A N S P O RT

International flights from St Petersburg are operated by Rossiya Airlines.

Although this market segment has seen lesser foreign presence, competition from abroad is nevertheless giving the Russian airline a hard time. Sources at Rossiya name the German market as an example, where there is no parity between the Russian and foreign carriers.

«The German airlines, which possess much greater resources, control the routes to Russia,» they say, quoting media reports which assert that Lufthansa carried 430,000 passengers from St Petersburg to German destinations in 2008 — compared to just 155,000 for Rossiya. The sources say the Russian aviation authorities are not doing enough to protect the interests of national airlines flying to Germany.

Kaliningrad-based KD Avia also attempted to strengthen Russia’s footing on international routes. The airline spent two years evolving its base at Khrabrovo airport into a massive hub with the idea that passenger from across Russia could fly to Europe via Kaliningrad. But months of soaring fuel prices, closely followed by the economic downturn, affected the volume of passenger traffic and ultimately brought KD Avia to bankruptcy. The government pledged financial help but the carrier never got any and eventually folded. Now, the demise of a powerful rival might have called for a celebratory party at any of the remaining Russian airlines, but the country’s air transport in general lost a share of the international market as the result. Aeroflot promptly announced its intention to set up an operation in Kaliningrad and maybe even move a portion of its fleet

there, but the timeline for this plan has not yet been defined. In the meantime, in November LOT Polish Airlines is to resume the Warsaw-Kaliningrad service it discontinued in September 2008.

LOT does not conceal that its return to the region has become possible thanks to the death of KD Avia. The Polish airline will fly ATR 42 and 72 turboprops to Kaliningrad, which appears to be a sensible decision given the decreased passenger traffic.

KD Avia’s bankruptcy may also give an extra boost to Latvia’s AirBaltic, which already operates scheduled services to Kaliningrad. AirBaltic vice president Janis Vanags reported a 15% increase in passenger traffic to and from the Russian exclave. The airline, which previously performed only point-to-point services between Kaliningrad and Riga, has recently started offering connection flights with a stopover in the Latvian capital.

Kaliningrad and St Petersburg are the two most prominent examples of how domestic airlines have been losing out to foreign competition in western Russia.

It has long been an open secret that residents of these two particular regions prefer to catch a coach to the nearest airport in the neighbouring country (Finland for St Petersburg and Poland for Kaliningrad) and fly low-fare from there to anywhere they fancy in Europe.

The bilateral agreements governing commercial flights between Russia and foreign countries are rather restrictive on Russian airlines planning to break into international markets. Ironically, these same agreements have recently started impacting the international operations of Aeroflot, Russia’s designat-

Sergey Sergeev

Russia’s largest carrier Aeroflot has to take on every competitor in sight, rather than focusing on strategic destinations

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RUSSIA/CIS OBSERVER № 4 (27) NOVEMBER 2009

ed carrier on most international routes.

More and more often, Russian carriers that are normally restricted to their domestic networks sign interline and prorate agreements with foreign carriers.

This enables them to offer connection flights for much less than the sum total of all the separate sectors of those flights. Being unable — for legal and/or economic reasons — to fly international routes on their own, these airlines collect passengers from all over Russia and pass them on to their foreign partners. Transaero, for one, has recently supplemented its existing interline agreement with Lufthansa with a prorate agreement, and has also struck a code-sharing deal with Austrian Airlines. S7 offers connection services jointly with several foreign carriers. In autumn 2009 the airline introduced a range of attractive air fares for one-stop flights from Russian regional airports to foreign destinations. The fares apply if one of the flight’s legs is operated by S7, and the other one by a partner airline. Possible routes include the following combinations: from a Russian regional airport to Moscow Domodedovo and on to foreign destinations; from Novosibirsk to South East Asian countries; and from Domodedovo to destinations abroad with a stopover at a foreign hub. The Russia & CIS Observer has learnt the details of one such connection agreement, between S7 and Etihad airlines. According to Etihad sources, a passenger travelling from a Russian regional destination will fly the Moscow leg almost for free; their only charge on that leg will be the applicable airport fee.

One can only praise the enterprising Russian airlines, which constantly devise yet new ways to develop further, but on the whole the current situation does not benefit Russian civil aviation at all.

Russian airlines cannot hope for an equal dialog with foreign carriers, who are well aware of their inability to independently develop international route networks. Aeroflot, meanwhile, dissipates its resources by taking on every competitor in sight, rather than focusing on what is really important.

B U S I N E S S AV I AT I O N

Waiting for takeoff

Leonid Faerberg

Drastic consequences of the global financial crisis keep having negative impact on business aviation in Russia. However, at the beginning of the second half of 2009 situation in this segment grew slightly better. Some operators of the Russian market (Air Charter Service and Moscow Sky) said that in the summer period the quantity of business charter flights demonstrated a 20% growth on average and reached the level of 2007. Results of the autumn months will show if the growth of flight intensity in summer of 2009 has become a trend or has been simply a seasonal fluctuation.

Vnukovo-3 remains the most demanded business aviation airport not only in Russia, but also in Europe

Anna Nazarova espite the economic instability and decrease of demand in the sector of business aviation, Russia still occupies a noticeable part of the European market. According to Swedish aviation charter online system Avinode that contains about 80% of all available European business charter flights, the share of all requests for flights to and from Russia amounts to 30% being inferior only to the UK. Avinode system, which records the activity of about 900 air carriers and brokers, has developed several indices that indicate condition of the European (Russian) market of business aviation.

Thus, according to the quantity of requests in the system for flights to/from

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Russia, at the beginning of 2009 the local market of business aviation decreased significantly. January and February of 2009 turned out to be the most «unsuccessful» months since 2006: the quantity of requests did not exceed 8,000 per month then. The company partially explains the low results of January by the end of the season’s holidays. In March, Avinode system registered a slight revival and in April the quantity of requests for business charter flights grew to 13,000.

Such a leap was probably related primarily to the Easter and May holidays.

The next growth of the index of requests was registered in July and was evidently dictated by the summer season of vacations. In August, the quantity of requests decreased a little relative to July but still remained bigger than in

the winter months. However, in general the curve of requests for charter flights to Russia grew slowly and unstably between April and August 2009.

For revealing of clearer market trends the schedule of requests is, as a rule, compared to such more accurate indicators as Avinode Demand Index and Avinode Pricing Index (the main admission in these indices is the fact that they offer summarized data and are not oriented at local markets). The Pricing Index that reflected an average price of a flight hour decreased gradually since January until September of 2009 and this decrease was interrupted by an insignificant growth only in July. It is necessary to remark that growth of the flight hour price could happen due to the real increase in demand for business charter flights. The Demand Index that reflected an average price of a charter flight booked through Avinode system per day demonstrated a spasmodic growth in April and July, which was also explained by holidays and summer vacations.

Thus, despite that Avinode charter system registers only requests and not the actually performed flights, comparison of the requests, price and demand indices may indirectly reflect the real market trends.

It also seems possible to determine the classes of aircraft and the arrival and departure airports most demanded in the interests of Russian users relying on requests statistics. The category uniting heavy jets and business airliners became the most popular in the period between September 2008 and August 2009. Historically, this class of longhaul business jets is more stable to fluctuations of demand unlike smaller aircraft. This peculiarity characteristic for the global market of business aviation in general finds indirect confirmation in Avinode base too. The share of business jets of heavy class in the overall

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B U S I N E S S AV I AT I O N

quantity of requests for all business airplanes (business jets of heavy class, midsize and light jets and turboprops) permanently exceeded 50% throughout the entire period. May 2009 was the only exception when this share fell almost to 40% and got practically equal with the quantity of requests for midsize class jets. Such stability in requests for aircraft with big capacity and range is possibly explained by the trend that Russian players of the business aviation market have voiced frequently since the beginning of the crisis of aviation transport: the industry starts getting transformed into an independent and indispensable kind of transport and even serious economic perturbations cannot force majority of the users to return to regular airlines. Passengers try to cooperate but not to migrate to business classes of regular carriers.

The crisis practically did not influence distribution of flights of business

aviation among Russian airports. In the period between September 2008 and August 2009, Vnukovo-3 was traditionally the most popular among Russian airports according to the quantity of requests. This airport is one of the few in Russia that also offers comprehensive services for modern business jets. In the aforementioned period Vnukovo accounted for 68.5% of the overall quantity of requests for departure of charter flights registered by Avinode. Moreover, according to Avinode, as of September 2009 Vnukovo remained the most demanded airport in Europe too where it outruns such centers of business aviation as Nice, Le Bourget in Paris and Luton in London. The other requests for flights from Russian cities were distributed mostly among St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo (8.7%), Moscow’s Sheremetyevo (1.4%) and Domodedovo (1.3%), Krasnodar (0.8%), Rostov-on-Don (0.8%) and Samara (0.8%). The quan-

tity of requests for arrival of aircraft of business aviation to Russian airports differs slightly but Vnukovo remains the favorite in this aspect too and its share amounts to 41.6%.

The data revealed by Avinode approximately outlines the general market trends. The limp winter of 2009 changed to certain revival in April and summer months. Along with this, the low flight activeness did not have a serious influence on distribution of flights among Russian airports and the Moscow aviation hub retained the priority. Unfortunately, it is hardly possible to decide how soon the cyclic demand of the industry will end on the basis of Avinode data but the representative of the company Max Liebermann remarks that after the decrease in demand at the beginning of the year the peak of the crisis on the business aviation market is evidently over and the quantity of requests for business charter flights starts growing.

New training tool for Russian pilots Anna Nazarova

rowth in quantity of foreign-made commercial aircraft the Russian airlines increasingly prefer pushes the local educational institutions to change the system of pilots training. It is obvious that the Soviet era training airplanes at which students of majority of Russian pilot schools still practice already do not comply with the modern requirements and after the graduation pilots have to immediately get retrained to operate modern types of aircraft, which results in additional expenses and loss of time. Initial training of stu-

St. Petersburg University of Civil Aviation will be the first educational institution in Russia to start training pilots in Cessna 172

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Cessna Aircraft

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dents to operate modern airplanes as an efficient and a less expensive method to solve the human resources problem may become a trend soon. At least, the first step towards this was already taken: the St. Petersburg State University of Civil Aviation (GUGA) started to renovate its Soviet fleet of training airplanes with foreign aircraft.

At the end of October, the university received the first single-engine Cessna 172S airplanes. GUGA and Cessna Aircraft signed a contract purchase-sale on 12 airplanes of this type and five simulators for initial training of pilots at the beginning of September. For operation of Cessna 172S in Russia the American manufacturer agreed to train engineers and technicians and to improve qualification of instructor pilots of the St. Petersburg University.

In the last few decades Cessna 172S earned reputation of a reliable and undemanding tool for training. Representatives of Cessna Aircraft presume that Russian higher educational institutions that are usually cash-strapped will also appreciate the price aspect of the matter: Cessna airplanes equipped with the state-of-the-art aviation systems are much cheaper than aircraft of the same class including the Russian ones.

According to Alexander Yevdokimov, representative of Cessna Aircraft in Russia, «signing of a state contract means that the process of pilots training in Russia follows a path of international standardization of quality.»

S PAC E B U S I N E S S

Building on sand?

The Russian ISS segment is to be completed by 2016

he Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS) will further grow with the addition of the Mini Research Module-2 (MIM-2) that was successfully launched aboard Soyuz-U launcher in November. The new component will provide the docking of a second Soyuz-TMA spacecraft, which is critical to maintaining an expanded permanent crew at the station. During the next few years Russia will keep building up the capabilities of its ISS segment so that it could eventually continue fully autonomous orbital operations, if so required.

The ISS is the largest space exploration project ever. It is a joint effort of Russia, the USA, Japan, Canada and member nations of the ESA European Space Agency. The initial ISS configu-

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ration was agreed in 1996, when it was decided that the station would consist of the Russian and US segments (the latter one with the participation of Canada, Japan, Italy and the ESA member nations). The ISS was to orbit the Earth at an altitude of about 400 km, with an inclination of 51.6 degrees.

Compromising for success

The orbit parameters were a substantial compromise: they cost the USA an ability to service its in-orbit satellites — something NASA was initially planning for, — while simultaneously depriving Russia of an opportunity to monitor a significant portion of its own territory (which would have been secured with Moscow’s original plan for an orbit inclination of 65 degrees). The exact overall cost of building and operating the ISS is unknown, but our estimate is that the price tag stands at some $150

Since the mid-2000s Russia increased the funding for ISS program, so the Russian segment should be completed by 2015-2016

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billion, since the USA alone has so far spent at least $100 billion on the program – including the cost of sending the space shuttles to the station.

As of mid-October 2009, America’s ISS segment included the following major modules: the US-made Destiny, Quest, Unity (Node 1) and Harmony (Node 2); ESA’s Columbus, and Japan’s Kibo. At print time, the Japanese HTV H-II Transfer Vehicle was docked to the Harmony node. The Russian segment currently comprises the Zarya Control Module, Zvezda Service Module and Pirs Docking Compartment.

Zarya, also known by the name of Functional Cargo Block or by its Russian abbreviation FGB, was the first element of both the Russian segment and the entire ISS. Orbited on 20 November 1998, it became the growth point of the station.

Zarya was built by the Khrunichev Space Center as a derivative of an earlier can-

NASA

Igor Afanasyev, Dmitry Vorontsov

S PAC E B U S I N E S S

celled program. Ironically, since Zarya was built at the US request and the major portion of the development funding for the module (some $250 million) came from the USA, it is formally referred to as a component of the US ISS segment.

And yet Zarya remains part of the Russian segment because of the Russianmade equipment it accommodates. The FGB’s primary functions were to provide for the station’s initial attitude control and propulsion. Apart from that, prior to its mating with Unity and Zvezda, Zarya provided limited power supply to the entire installation. Weighing in at over 20 tons and measuring 12.55 meters in length, the module is now also valued for the all-important storage capacity it provides, as well as for other operational capabilities. Its design service life spans at least 15 years.

The Zvezda module was launched on 12 July 2000 to provide living quarters for the Russian segment. At the beginning of ISS construction, it served as the life support system for the entire station and was also available for flight control and propulsion operations.

Zvezda was used as the docking port for Progress-type cargo resupply vehicles.

It also provided a communications link with the Earth and doubled as the ISS computing center. The module has a mass of 19.05 tons, measures 13.1 meters in length, and is equipped with four docking ports. Like Zarya, it was built

by Khrunichev.

The Pirs Docking Compartment is intended as an additional docking portal for Soyuz-TMA and Progress craft.

Apart from that, it is also used as an airlock for Russian cosmonauts’ extravehicular activities. The module weighs some 3.6 tons and has a length of 4.91 m. It was built by the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation and was launched on 15 September 2001.

For quite some time the development of the Russian ISS segment was impeded by a variety of factors. The hardest blow to the assembly progress was dealt by the Shuttle Columbia disaster on 1 February 2003, in the wake of which the entire budget of the Russian manned space program got steered towards pro-

viding crew relief missions on board Soyuz-TMA vehicles and cargo resupply flights by Progress craft. Financial difficulties were also never far away from the ISS — the Russian funding did not fall into a comfortable pace with the program needs until the mid-2000s.

Looking into the future

Despite these difficulties, Russia has continued working to expand the ISS. The global economic crisis notwithstanding, the financial problems have been largely solved, and the current target of the year 2015 or 2016 as the completion date for the Russian segment does not look all that fantastic. The MIM-2 research module was launched on November 10, 2009 from Baikonur Cosmodrome. This module is based on a Progress spacecraft design, and its primary role will be in providing the docking opportunity for an extra Soyuz-TMA craft. This is essential because the permanent ISS crew was expanded from three to six people earlier this year. This means that at any given time the station must have two Soyuz-TMAs docked to provide a rescue capability in case of

The primary role of new MIM-2 module will be in providing the docking opportunity for an extra Soyuz-TMA craft

and Progress-M vehicles. The lower section of MIM-1 houses components that will eventually be moved to Russia’s prospective Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM). These include a portable airlock and a spare elbow joint

Future Multipurpose Laboratory Module will enable Russia to conduct fundamental and applied research and create new materials at ISS emergency. MIM-2 will dock Zvezda’s space-facing port. The module weighs some 4 tons, including one ton of instrumentation to be used on the station.

In the spring of 2010, space shuttle mission STS-132 will deliver to the ISS another small-size research module MIM-1. This one is being built at NASA’s request. It will have a total mass of just under 8 tons, including 3.2 tons of cargo for the station — of this figure, 1.4 tons will be destined specifically for the US segment. The MIM-1 design is based on the as-yet-nonexistent Russian Science Power Module (NEM). Apart from the cargo for the ISS it will be used as a docking module. It will dock to Zarya’s Earth-facing docking node, and will accommodate both Soyuz-TMA

for the European Robotic Arm manipulator, and a transferable workplace with an ERA mounting platform.

The MLM has a mass of 21 tons. It will be one of the largest Russian modules at the ISS. Scheduled for lift-off in 2011, this module will serve as the new center of the Russian segment. It is planned to be used for major scientific experiments. The MLM design is based on the concept of replaceable payloads, which turns it into a top-class multirole science laboratory.

In order to expand the functional capabilities of the Russian segment, The Universal Docking Module (UDM) with six docking ports is to be delivered to the station in 2013. It will use one of those ports to dock to the MLM. The

RUSSIA/CIS OBSERVER № 4 (27) NOVEMBER 2009

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UDM will be used to accommodate the two Science Power Modules (NEM-1 and NEM-3), as will provide extra docking opportunities for Soyuz and Progress craft.

The Russian segment will be complete after the two NEM modules are delivered. NEM-1 will go up in 2014, to be followed by NEM-2 a year later.

These modules will accommodate additional scientific equipment and will increase the Russian segment’s power output by at least 72 kW. Each of the NEM modules weighs about 20 tons and is fitted with large-area solar arrays.

The completion of the Russian segment will boost the effectiveness of ISS-based scientific experiments, which has repeatedly drawn criticized over the past few years. At present the Russian segment is used for a variety of experiments as part of a long-term applied research program approved in 1999. Many of them are conducted by Russian cosmonauts in the interests of foreign customers. The situation is sure to change after the MLM becomes part of the Russian segment and enables

Russia to conduct fundamental and applied research and create materials with unique properties.

The most important question for the ISS, however, is whether it will be able to

In Russia’s case the ISS creates a very much specific problem that rarely gets mentioned. Up to 50% of the country’s space budget is spent on the manned space program (the other space powers

The ISS program has once rescued Russia’s space industry by keeping it busy through the difficult mid-1990s and early 2000s. go on for much longer. The key existing agreements between the program participants expire in 2016. The USA has repeatedly stated that it was not planning to keep using the station beyond that date. Washington’s position jeopardizes the entire program, as Russia and Europe would like for the ISS to continue through 2020. Recently, after Barack Obama became president, the US administration has somewhat backed up on the issue. It would appear that, having encountered technical and financial problems in its own Constellation human spaceflight program, Washington decided after all to stick with the ISS.

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spend much lesser proportions of their overall budgets on maintaining human presence in orbit). Such massive spending precludes appropriate development of other aspects of space exploration.

On the other hand, the ISS once rescued Russia’s space industry by keeping it busy through the difficult mid-1990s and early 2000s. Besides, Russia cannot just dump one of its priorities — longperiod manned space flights. This is why the Russian segment is being built in such a way as to continue operating autonomously, as the national orbital station, if the Western partners choose to walk out on the program.

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