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ae r o s pa c e t ec hn o lo g y may 2008 Official publication of the Russian exposition at ILA 2008

Land Launch debut

FEDERAL AGENCY OF INDUSTRY

[p.44]

Upgraded

Buran

MiG-29

gets home in Germany [p.46]

for Slovak Air Force

[p.14]

New heart Sukhoi Su-35 got airborne

for

MiG-27M [p.36]

[p.24]

organised by

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Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation

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May 2008 Editor-in-Chief Andrey Fomin

Deputy Editor-in-Chief Vladimir Shcherbakov

Editor Yevgeny Yerokhin

Columnist Alexander Velovich

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

Design and pre-press Grigory Butrin

Web support Georgy Fedoseyev

Translation Yevgeny Ozhogin

Cover pictures Miroslav Gyurosi (MiG-29AS), Marina Lystseva (Sukhoi SuperJet 100)

Publisher

Director General Andrey Fomin

Deputy Director General Nadezhda Kashirina

Marketing Director George Smirnov

Director for international projects Alexander Velovich

News items for “In Brief” columns are prepared by editorial staff based on reports of our special correspondents, press releases of production companies as well as by using information distributed by ITAR-TASS, ARMS-TASS, Interfax-AVN, RIA Novosti, RBC news agencies and published at www.aviaport.ru, www.avia.ru, www.gazeta.ru, www.cosmoworld.ru web sites 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.

The magazine is registered by the Federal Service for supervision of observation of legislation in the sphere of mass media and protection of cultural heritage of the Russian Federation. Registration certificate PI FS77-19017 dated 29 November 2004

Dear reader, You are holding another issue of the Take-Off magazine, the special supplement to Russian monthly aerospace magazine VZLET, published this time on the eve of ILA 2008 airshow in Berlin. As an international event, ILA marketplace, which has rated high among similar aerospace forums, determines the interest shown

by Russian aerospace companies. This year, Russia has its own national pavilion of a 2,500 sq.m area at the show and got a status of a priority partner of ILA 2008.

Participation of our magazine in the show is supported this time by Vneshaviakosmos company, the organiser of the Russian national exposition at ILA 2008. So, our magazine became an official publication of the Russian exposition at ILA 2008 covering the most important recent developments of the national aerospace industry to be shown in Berlin.

A major trend today is the growing scale of international cooperation in high technology and sophisticated hardware development. Russia has been on a par with the global trends. A case in point is its cooperation with foreign partners under the Sukhoi SuperJet programme and SaM-146 engine for it, cooperation in upgrade of Russian-made fighters in service with European countries, for example Slovak Air Force’s MiG-29s, joint activities in space exploration, just to name a few.

When this issue had been already printing good news came from Komsomolsk-on-Amur in the Russia’s Far East. On 19 May the first prototype of Sukhoi SuperJet 100 new-generation regional airliner fulfilled successfully its maiden flight there with test pilots Alexander Yablontsev and Leonid Chikunov at the controls. This is the great event for the whole Russia’s aerospace industry – so, we decided to stop printing process and make some changes to the cover and the first page of this magazine. More detailed report on SuperJet’s flight debut and programme updates will be available in the next issue of Take-off. Our sincere congratulations to all the participants of Sukhoi SuperJet team!

© Aeromedia, 2008

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

Sincerely, Andrey Fomin, Editor-in-Chief, Take-Off magazine

contents

ILA 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Special status of ILA 2008: Innovation breakthrough in bilateral relations

May 2008

6

In the run-up to the 100th anniversary of the ILA aerospace show, Russia as one of its major foreign regulars opens a large exposition in its national pavilion to professionals and the public. The organisers of the united Russian exposition are the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade and Vneshaviakosmos company. Russia’s large-scale participation as a partner country in the show in Hanover in 2005 and its large informative expositions at the same shows in 2006 and 2007, sponsored by the Russian Ministry of Industry and Energy and Vneshaviakosmos, resulted in a radically new presence of the country at similar international forums hosted by Germany. To expand Russia’s participation in German shows further, a Russian national exposition was established this year in ILA 2008 Pavilion 10 measuring more than 2,500 sq.m, with more than 55 Russian aerospace production and scientific organisations participating in it. Prof. Dr. Alexey Lavrov, President of Vneshaviakosmos, reviews the Russian-German cooperation and peculiarities of Russia’s aerospace industry participation in ILA 2008 airshow

CONTRACTS AND DELIVERIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

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IFC and Aviastar-SP stepping up Tu-204 export Another IrAn-140 check-flown in Iran Irkut exports first Be-200 Maiden flight of first production MiG-29KUB IAF MiG-29 upgrade deal clinched Bulgarian MiG-29s back in service MiGs to remain in RMAF First Su-30MKA batch shipped to Algeria The first A-50EI built UUAZ landing lucrative orders

Upgraded MiG-29s in service with Slovak air force

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take-off may 2008

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

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MILITARY AVIATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

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Su-35 has flown!

All types of Russian combat aircraft in skies over Red Square Kuznetsov returns from cruise Russian Air Force takes delivery of another Tu-160 Second air regiment receiving Su-27SM Torzhok receives first Mi-28Ns Su-24M2 for combat units First MiG-31BMs fielded Su-34 to complete official trials next year Encounters in the Skies

The advanced Sukhoi Su-35 multirole fighter completed its maiden flight in Zhukovsky, Moscow Region, on 19 February 2008, controlled by the Sukhoi design bureau’s test pilot Sergey Bogdan, an Honoured Test Pilot of the Russian Federation. The mission lasted about 55 minutes, crowning the extensive preparations for the advanced aircraft’s flight test programme, which were launched in August 2007. The mission assigned for the first flight was accomplished, and no glitches occurred. “No problem was encountered as far as the engines, systems and avionics are concerned”, the Sukhoi company reported in a press release. Thus, the first Su-35 prototype has kicked off its flight trials, with two more aircraft under construction by KnAAPO to join soon.

According to Sukhoi, the full-rate production of the cutting-edge fighter and its deliveries to both domestic and foreign users are slated for 2010–11. “The Su-35 entering service with the Russian Air Force will bolster the national defence capability and enable Sukhoi to remain competitive until its fifth-generation fighter hits the market. KnAAPO launched the manufacture of its early prototypes late last year”, Sukhoi’s press release emphasises. Andrey Fomin tells about Su-35 maiden flight and fighter’s main distinctive features

www.take-off.ru

contents

INDUSTRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

31

UAC’s strategy approved Irkut reviews the results of the year 2007 SaM146 – under wing of SuperJet Flying a helicopter as fast as a plane Establishing United Engine Corporation Latest advances of Perm engine makers NK-93 tests to continue AI-222-25 afterburning version developed in Zaporozhye Mini-jets to be built in Ulyanovsk

MiG-27M: ‘heart transplantation’

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The experimental MiG-27M fighter-bomber took off for its maiden mission from Gromov LII’s airfield in Zhukovsky, Moscow Region, on 15 January this year. The aircraft was powered by the advanced Salutmade AL-31F Series 30S turbofan engine that had ousted its previous Tumansky/Soyuz R29B-300 turbojet.

MiG Corp.’s test pilot Oleg Antonovich, Hero of Russia and Merited Pilot of Russia, was at the controls of the re-engined aircraft on its first test sortie. The flight trials of the fighter-bomber became another key stepping-stone towards the MiG Corp. and Salut-proposed programme on upgrading the MiG-27 fighterbomber, a venerable member of the famous aircraft family. Around 130 such aircraft are in the Indian Air Force’s inventory, where they are expected to remain for a good long while. Andrey Fomin reviews MiG-27M remotorisation programme

CIVIL AVIATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

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Atlant-Soyuz unveils Il-96-400T More Tu-204-300s for Vladivostok Avia Flight school in Ulyanovsk getting Yak-18Ts and new simulator Aeroflot Cargo launched operation of Boeing 737 freighter S7 gets its first brand-new Airbus

COSMONAUTICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 ISS Turns 10 Energia’s leaders on advanced spacecraft GLONASS for the Masses Vostochny launch facility: dream to come true?

ISS gets first EU cargo craft Soyuz inserts second Galileo

Successful debut of Land Launch

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A Zenit-3SLB launch vehicle mounting a DM-SLB booster upper stage and Israeli spacecraft AMOS3 blasted off from the Baikonur space launch centre on 28 April. The launch was the debut for the Land Launch programme, under which commercial spacecraft are to be inserted into orbit on three-stage Zenit LVs from Baikonur. Previously, only Sea Launch had launched such triple-staged Zenits. Igor Afanasyev and Dmitry Vorontsov review the Land Launch programme

Buran gets new owner in Germany

46

On 12 April, the Cosmonautics Day, the analogue of Soviet space shuttle Buran – BTS-002 – was brought by a towed pontoon to German town Speyer by the River Rhine. This put an end to the long wandering of the unique aerospace plane that used to be the pride and joy of the Soviet aerospace industry. Soon, the Buran will find a new – and, hopefully, last – haven as an exhibit of the Europe-largest private technology museum in Speyer and Sinsheim. A special pavilion 22 m high is being erected to house it there.

According to the new owner, the acquisition of the Buran, its delivery and hangar construction cost the museum almost 10 million euros. The exposition is planned for opening in autumn this year when the 20th anniversary of the first and, ala, the only space flight of the Buran on 15 November 1988 will be celebrated.

Alina Chernoivanova tells about Buran long way to Speyer and Sinsheim

LAST PAGE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Airborne… 45 Years Later!

www.take-off.ru

take-off may 2008

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ILA 2008 | airshow

Prof. Dr. Alexey LAVROV President of Vneshaviakosmos

SPECIAL STATUS OF ILA 2008 Innovation breakthrough in bilateral relations In the run-up to the 100th anniversary of the ILA aerospace show, Russia as one of its major foreign regulars opens a large exposition in its national pavilion to professionals and the public. The organisers of the united Russian exposition are the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade and Vneshaviakosmos company. Russia’s large-scale participation as a partner country in the show in Hanover in 2005 and its large informative expositions at the same shows in 2006 and 2007, sponsored by the Russian Ministry of Industry and Energy and Vneshaviakosmos, resulted in a radically new presence of the country at similar international forums hosted by Germany. To expand Russia’s participation in German shows further, a Russian national exposition was established this year in ILA 2008 Pavilion 10 measuring more than 2,500 sq.m, with more than 55 Russian aerospace production and scientific organisations participating in it.

Emphasis on innovative industrial development In Russia, high-tech introduction and effective utilisation of the technological, industrial and intellectual capabilities have been topical, having become all the more so recently. The reason is the decision of Russian leaders to start implementing a long-term national development strategy aimed at reducing the country’s reliance on raw materials production in favour of comprehensive development of high-tech science-intensive branches of industry.

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Today, the Russian government deems boosting innovation and encouraging the growth of the high-tech sector of economy a priority for the structural reform policy. Under the new strategy, gradual replacement of the basic technologies as the foundation of development is exercised through creating the advance scientific, design, technological and investment groundwork that are an important strategic resource for implementing the optimistic economic development concept and future wellbeing of Russian society. www.take-off.ru

ILA 2008 | airshow The scientific, design and technological groundwork is based on fundamental research spanning a wide range of today’s scientific fields, for it is due to the achievements of Russia’s scientists that advanced aerospace technologies have become feasible in the country.

Tackling social and economic problems facing Russian society is to be via setting up an effective mechanism of the production and entrepreneurial sector of Russian economy through integrating the country’s

wealth of resources and science-intensive technologies. Such an approach served the base for working out a drastically innovative concept of Russian participation in ILA 2008. Under the concept, emphasis will be placed upon development and transfer of innovative technologies and high-tech aerospace products; development of cuttingedge aircraft and advanced materials for use in aviation and space industry; and development of information systems and data transmission facilities.

in aerospace cooperation to further the bilateral relations and increase the bilateral trade by means of high-tech competitive products. This is to be facilitated heavily by both large and well-thought-out Russian exposition and an attendant business programme. The programme rests upon the wealth of experience of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Energy and Vneshaviakosmos company in organising national expositions and hosting industrial forums within the framework of various German shows.

The Russian business programme for ILA 2008 holds a special place for a series of seminars and roundtables united by the common topic of Aerospace Logistics as Economic Interaction Integrationist: Russian-EU Experience and dedicated to aerospace logistics trends in light of the existing experience; the role of aerospace logistics as a tool of boosting business; and the future of aerospace logistics in the Eurasian economic environment. The role of aerospace technology as a factor of innovation economy development and, in the final analysis, as a factor of the growing well-being of the consumer will be looked into as well. In addition, our German colleagues and we will hold roundtables on deepening the cooperation between Russia and eastern lands of Germany, space exploration, etc.

Special status

Partnership proven by years Russia and Germany have been longtime economic partners. The share of Russia in Germany’s turnover last year totalled 3.3 per cent, with Russia being among the 12 main trade partners of Germany. The bilateral trade has been on the rise. For instance, according to Germany’s Federal Statistics Service, the 2007 bilateral trade grew by 6.7 per cent over 2006 to 56.9 billion euros, with Russia’s exports totalling 28.8 billion euros (industrial products worth 28.5 billion euros) and its imports accounting for 28.2 billion euros, including 26.9 billion euros worth of industrial products. For justice’s sake, mention should be made that the growth of the total bilateral trade in 2007 was due to an increase of German exports to Russia in the first place.

Taking part in the ILA 2008 international air show, the Russian exposition organisers strive to maximise the constructive use of the existing capabilities and experience www.take-off.ru

Special mention should be made that ILA’s organisers have invited Russia to participate in the show with a special status of a priority partner of the host country. Unlike the earlier partner nation status, this one is to be permanent starting from ILA 2008.

However, our German partner, the Messe Berlin company, have not, alas, proposed a concept revealing the essence of the status. In the end, to our disappointment, we got in 2008 nothing more than another slogan aimed to pursue only marketing interests of the show’s organisers and unable to have any influence on furthering the cooperation between the two countries. However, we expect that Russia’s readiness for active participation in the ILA 2008 air show will bear fruit and clarify the important notion ‘priority partner’.

The organisers of the Russian exposition are certain that such largescale participation of Russia – a high-tech nation – in the ILA 2008 international air show will considerably influence the Russian-German cooperation in the aerospace field. take-off may 2008

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contracts and deliveries | in brief

Tupolev Tu-204 airliners remain in demand with foreign customers as the most relevant Russian civil aircraft abroad today. Last year, the Aviastar-SP plant in Ulyanovsk made and exported four aircraft of the type, with two Tu-204-100E airliners and a Tu-204CE freighter leased by Cubana de Aviacion from Ilyushin Finance Co. in 2007 and the first Tu-204-300 shipped to North Korea before year-end 2007.

Now owned by North Korean airline Air Koryo, the Tu-204-300 has become the first aircraft of this version exported and the first Russian aircraft exported to North Korea after

a long interruption. The contract on a Tu-204-300 for North Korea was signed in April 2006. On 27 December 2007, the aircraft built by Aviastar-SP took off from the factory airfield, heading for North Korea.

As far as Take-off knows, the North Korean Tu-204-300 with registration number P-632 is based on the airframe of medium-haul Tu-204 No. 64012 made in Ulyanovsk as far back as 1993. From the late ‘90s, it had been stored at the manufacturing plant following a brief stint with Vnukovo Airlines. During its overhaul and upgrade, two sections measuring a total of 6 m were cut out of the

fuselage, with the airliner turning into the Tu-204-300 ‘shrink’.

Aviastar-SP now is completing the trials of another Tu-204CE freighter (No. 64037, Cuban registration number CU-C1703) and preparing it for shipment to Cuba. The carrier and IFC signed the agreement on Cubana de Aviacion’s acquisition of two more Tu-204s in addition to its current three

also. Unlike the previous aircraft of the type, the Iran-bound airliners will be powered by new PS-90A2 turbofan engines featuring enhanced reliability and extended service life.

Their trials are being completed by the Perm Motors in conjunction with Pratt&Whitney. The first Iran-ordered Tu-204 may be completed by the end of next year.

aircraft of the type in August last year. The AviaPort.ru news agency reported on 8 April that the second aircraft under the agreement might be a modified Tu-204-300E airliner with the so-called anglicised flight deck. It could be delivered in early 2009.

Construction of planes under IFC’s August 2007 contract for five Tu-204-100s for Iran is underway

In addition, this year may see the beginning of deliveries of Tu-204-120CE transports to China (the first of the five aircraft ordered by Chinese air carriers was built and flight-tested by Aviastar-SP as far back as 2006).

The manufacturer also counts on the North Korean air company to order another Tu-204-300.

Tupolev

Alexey Mikheyev

IFC and Aviastar-SP stepping up Tu-204 export

Antonov

The fifth production IrAn-140 Faraz passenger turboprop assembled at Iranian plant HESA conducted its maiden flight on 18 March.

The flight lasted 15 min with a crew led by HESA test pilot Ebrahimi.

An-140s are assembled by HESA under the contract the company signed with the Antonov company (Kiev, Ukraine) with participation of KSAMC (Kharkov) and Motor Sich (Zaporozhye) late in 1995. The first

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Iranian An-140 dubbed IrAn-140 by the Iranians (c/n 90-01) first flew on 7 February 2001 followed by the second one (c/n 90-02) on 17 March 2003. Having been given the registration numbers EP-SFD and EP-SFE, they were delivered to Iranian air carrier Safiran. The third IrAn-140 (c/n 90-03), which was built in 2005 and initially delivered to Safiran too, was handed over to Iranian police’s air arm later on (right photo).

Shary Shahram

Another IrAn-140 check-flown in Iran

In his interview with our magazine, Iranian Aircraft Industry Organisation deputy chief Abbas Fallah, who had been a long-time head of HESA, said that the plant had assembled four aircraft of the type by last year, but 10 firm orders for the IrAn-140 from the Iran Airtour carrier were landed in November 2006. “Iran Airtour is our principal customer”, Abbas Fallah said, “The deliveries shall start from the fourth HESA-assembled aircraft. Then all

brand-new aircraft rolling out of the assembly shop will be delivered to this customer”. In all, up to a hundred IrAn-140s are planned to be made in Iran.

According to an Antonov spokesperson, HESA has three more aircraft in the final stages of assembly.

The fuselage of the ninth Iranian An-140 made by KSAMC was airlifted by an Antonov Airlines An-22 transport to Iran in December 2007 for assembly (left photo).

www.take-off.ru

contracts and deliveries | in brief

Irkut exports first Be-200

www.take-off.ru

the first Be-200ChS (RF-21512) – have been owned by Beriev since 2005. Beriev uses them in the fire-fighting role and under various test programmes.

Be-200ChS c/n 02-03, which was delivered to Azerbaijan, is the fifth production aircraft of the type.

It was built by the plant in Irkutsk last summer and displayed at the MAKS 2007 air show, sporting the Russian Emergencies Ministry colour scheme and Russian registration number RF-32679. Before the delivery to the new customer, the aircraft was given some modifications, a new paintjob and Azeri registration number FHN-10201.

The customer’s crew flew it from Taganrog to its permanent station.

The Be-200ChS amphibian has been certificated by IAC’s Aircraft Registry under Russian airworthiness standard AP-25 as a fire-fighting, cargo and passenger aircraft to carry 43 persons. Beriev

continues to work on completing the Be-200’s certification in the EU under the JAR-25 requirements and, together with Irkut Corp., is in talks with other foreign customers on Be-200 deliveries.

The aircraft plant in Irkutsk plans to fly the sixth production Be-200ChS (c/n 02-04) this year, with the seventh aircraft (c/n 02-05) to be completed in 2009.

It is possible that the amphib-

ians will be exported to Greece or Portugal. Should contracts be made to this effect, the Russian Emergencies Ministry is ready to wait for its three final amphibians until 2010–11. In such a case, the aircraft will be assembled not in Irkutsk, but in Taganrog slated to take over the manufacture of all subsequent production Be-200s after aircraft c/n 02-05 has been completed.

Beriev

A Beriev Be-200ChS multirole amphibian was accepted by representatives of the Azeri Emergencies Ministry in Taganrog on 25 April. Thus, the unique amphibian developed by the Beriev company and produced by the Irkutsk aircraft plant (both are divisions of the Irkut Corporation) got itself the first foreign buyer.

The Be-200ChS was delivered to the Azeri Emergencies Ministry under the contract the ministry and Irkut had made by consent of the Russian Emergencies Ministry – the launch customer that ordered seven Be-200ChS amphibians.

The Russian Emergencies Ministry now operates four Be-200ChS amphibians received during 2003–06 (c/n 01-01, 01-02, 02-01, 02-02; registration numbers RF-32765, RF-32766, RF-32767, RF-32768). Two more operational aircraft of the type – the first prototype Be-200 (RA-21511) and

take-off may 2008

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contracts and deliveries | in brief

Maiden flight of first production MiG-29KUB

MiG Corp.

also provides for an option for 30 aircraft more to be delivered until 2015.

MiG Corp. now is making the whole batch of production MiG-29Ks and MiG-29KUBs slated for delivery.

On his visit to MiG Corp.’s plant in Lukhovitsy, Adm. Sureesh Mehta was shown the manufacturing process and said, “We are on the verge of the delivery of the Russian-made MIG-29K carrierborne fighters. We shall accept the first production aircraft in coming May”. According to the admiral, Indian pilots will come to Russia soon to receive training in operating the MiG-29K and MiG-29KUB. The training course provides for ground school, simulator training and flights on MiG-29KUBs. conducted in the modes tested on the MiG-29KUB and MiG-29K prototypes that have been tested since last January and last June respectively. The flight proved the production MiG-29KUB’s characteristics indicated by the customer in the specification requirements.

MiG Corp. and the customer signed the integrated contract for multirole carrierborne fighters for the Indian Navy on 20 January 2004. The deal stipulates construction and delivery of 12 single-seat MiG-29Ks and four two-seat MiG-29KUBs as well as flight and ground crew training, simulator and spares delivery and establishing of a maintenance centre. The contract

MiG Corp.

18 March witnessed the maiden flight of the first production MiG-29KUB carrierborne fighter. The aircraft took off from the airfield of MiG Corp.’s production and test facility in Lukhovitsy, Moscow Region, in the presence of Indian Navy chief Adm. Sureesh Mehta. Built under the programme on 16 MiG-29K/KUB fighters for the Indian Navy, the first production fighter on its maiden mission was piloted by MiG Corp. senior test pilot Hero of Russia Pavel Vlasov and test pilot Hero of Russia Alexander Pelikh.

At first, the plane completed two taxiings and runs and then it was taken for the 42min maiden flight

IAF MiG-29 upgrade deal clinched

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take-off may 2008

MiG-29K/KUB carrierborne fighters ordered by the Indian Navy and the MiG-29SMT aircraft exported to a number of countries. Some of the avionics to fit the upgraded fighters to be designated MiG-29UPG will be developed by Indian corporations Hindustan Aeronautic Ltd. and Bharat Dynamics Ltd. The MiG-29UPGs will have the weapons suite beefed up with air-to-surface precision-guided weapons. In addition, new RD-33 Series 3 engines with a longer service life will power the aircraft. As is known, a $250million contract on India’s licence pro-

duction of the engine was made in January 2007. The early RD-33 Series 3 engines under the Phase I of the licence-production contract may be assembled in India in 2009.

In all, 56 single-seat MiG-29s and eight two-seat MiG-29UB combat

trainers are to be upgraded. Under the contract, the first six aircraft shall be upgraded by MiG Corp. in Russia, with the rest to be modernised by HAL in India. If all goes to plan, the programme will have been completed by 2013.

Andrey Fomin

7 March saw the signing of the long-awaited contract for upgrading 64 MiG-29 fighters in service with the Indian Air Force by MiG Corp., according to reports by the Indian media citing their sources in the Indian Ministry of Defence. The contract is said to be valued at $850 million to $1 billion.

Upgrade will allow an extension of IAF MiG-29s’ service life to 40 years.

The aircraft are to be fitted with Russian, Indian and French-made avionics, including the cutting-edge Phazotron-NIIR Zhuk-ME slotted-array radar that also fits the

www.take-off.ru

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

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

contracts and deliveries | in brief

Bulgarian MiG-29s back in service

Alexander Mladenov

the picture) conducted the acceptance flight on the fighter with side number 32.

The $48million contract for overhauling 16 Bulgarian MiG-29s (12 singleseaters and four twinseaters) and extending their service lives was landed by MiG Corp. on 1 March 2006.

The Russian company was appointed prime contractor, and Bulgarian MRO company TEREM named after Georgy

Alexander Mladenov

29 November 2007 saw the first Bulgarian Air Force MiG-29, overhauled under a contract with MiG Corp., re-entered the inventory of the Graf Ignatievo 3rd Fighter Air Base in a ceremony. Its assigned life had been extended up to 4,000 flight hours or 40 years, with the aircraft having switched to on-condition operation. Bulgarian Air Force test pilot Maj. Nikolay Nedkov (see

Benkovsky and situated at Graf Ignatievo airbase, is a subcontractor.

Disassembly, assembly and overhaul of the fighters’ airframes are being carried out on the premises of TEREM by joint technician teams furnished by MiG Corp., TEREM and the Bulgarian Air Force. Once dismounted, the engines and avionics are shipped to Russia for overhaul.

Two next overhauled MiG-29s were planned for delivery by early this year, with four more by this summer. The

remaining nine fighters are planned for delivery by March 2009.

Most of the Bulgarian MiG-29s were grounded in the late ‘90s due to the lack of spares and expiry of their time between overhaul. From 2001 to 2007, only six aircraft of the type, which had some of the time between overhaul remaining, used to be flown by pilots for training and on alert duty to protect Bulgaria’s airspace following the country’s accession to NATO in April 2004.

Having lost two MiGs in air accidents, RMAF now operates 16 MiG-29N and MiG-29UB aircraft organised with 19 Sqn at Kuantan airbase about 200 km east of Kuala Lumpur on the coast of the South China Sea. Although MiG Corp. has been offering various upgrade variants for RMAF MIG-29Ns for years, the decision to upgrade the fleet, most

probably, is not going to be taken.

The MiGs will have remained in service for five to seven years more until the expiry of their service life to be replaced with advanced aircraft of a different type. Malaysia has not decided yet what type it would prefer. Most probably, a successor to the MiG-29 will be either the Sukhoi Su-30MKM or Boeing F/A-18E/F.

The Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) is mulling over a delay of discarding their MiG-29N fighters from service until 2012–2014, MiG Corp. Deputy Designer General Andrey Karasyov told Take-off.

Earlier, RMAF had planned to decommission its MiGs as early as 2010. The reasons brought up for such a hasty discarding were high operating costs due to insufficient reliability of some aircraft systems.

However, MiG Corp. managers believe most of the complaints are groundless and the problems plaguing the RMAF MIG-29Ns are due to low quality of the spares the service buys on the second-hand market, e.g. in Ukraine or India, instead acquiring them from the manufacturers in Russia.

18 MiG-29s, including two twinseaters, were delivered in April through June 1995 and entered service with two RMAF air squadrons.

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Under the contract, all singleseaters dubbed MiG-29N in Malaysia were overhauled in the late ‘90s.

They were equipped with upgraded N019ME radars allowing the use of advanced RVV-AE air-to-air missiles, though Malaysia has not ordered these missiles to date. In addition, the aircraft were re-engined with extended-life powerplants and were given mid-air refuelling systems.

Andrey Fomin

MiGs to remain in RMAF

www.take-off.ru

contracts and deliveries | in brief

On 25 December, an An-124 Ruslan transport left the airfield of the Irkutsk aircraft plant (a subsidiary of Irkut Corp.) to ship the first two Sukhoi Su-30MKA multirole supermanoeuvrable fighters to their customer – Algerian Air Force.

According to Interfax-AVN, another delivery took place two days later, on 27 December. Thus, the first four out of the 28 Su-30MKA fighters provided for under the contract with Algeria had been shipped to the customer by early 2008. The deliveries shall continue through 2008 to be completed in 2009.

The advance party of Algerian pilots has been trained in flying

Keypublishing.com

First Su-30MKA batch shipped to Algeria

the advanced fighter at Sukhoi’s training centre in Zhukovsky, Moscow Region. Three production Su-30MKAs had been used to this end since last October. With the

Algerian pilots trained, the three aircraft and another one built by Irkut Corp. were shipped to the customer in late December (see also Take-off, Dec. 2007, p. 18).

The first two production Su-30MKAs made in Irkutsk in early summer 2007 have been in Russia so far to be used under programmes on further improvement of the fighter.

other modifications were introduced.

The plane flew its maiden mission sporting a new paint scheme and markings of the customer (side number KW3551).

At the same time, Beriev carries on with conversion of the other two aircraft. “The second and third A-50EI aircraft are in Beriev’s shops.

The work on them is in full swing”, Ivan Gavrilov, Beriev chief of the

design bureau, told Interfax-AVN. According to the Jane’s Defence Weekly, the delivery of the first A-50EI to the customer will hardly have taken place before September this year, with the rest two to be handed over to IAF in 2009–10.

However, IAF’s acquisition of Russian-Israeli AWACS planes will not stop at that, probably. Beriev’s Ivan Gavrilov told Interfax-AVN that delivery of three more aircraft like that to IAF was being pondered.

“We have submitted our technical proposals. The aircraft will differ somewhat from the current three in terms of equipment”, he said.

Meanwhile, on 20 January 2008, having completed its flight trials in Taganrog, the first A-50EI aircraft flew to Ben Gurion Airport in Israel.

ELTA took it for “further work on installing and testing the radar system. The aircraft is planned to be delivered to the customer this year”, Beriev’s press release reads.

Beriev

The advanced airborne warning and control system aircraft A-50EI under development for the Indian Air Force made its first flight from the airfield of the Beriev company in Taganrog on 29 November 2007. On its maiden mission, the aircraft was flown by the crew led by Beriev’s test pilot Konstantin Parkhomenko.

The Beriev A-50EI AWACS aircraft is being derived under the Russian-Indian-Israeli contract, made by the signatories in early 2005, from the Ilyushin Il-76TD airlifter. Beriev fits it with advanced PS-90A-76 engines from the Perm Engine Company. ELTA, the manufacturer of the Phalcon radar system, will mount it at its facilities. Three Il-76TD airframes to be converted

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to the A-50EI aircraft were built by the Tashkent Aircraft Production Corp. (TAPC). In addition to installing the engines, Beriev manufacturers the radomes and handles other improvements to the airframes and aircraft systems to turn the Il-76TDs into the A-50EIs. The Vega corporation, which was appointed Russian prime contractor for airborne warning and control systems, is to supply a number of electronic systems to fit the aircraft.

The first IL-76TD subject to conversion to the A-50EI flew to Taganrog in April 2005, with the other two following suit in June and July that year.

Last autumn, the aircraft was fitted with PS-90A-76 engines, radomes and in-flight refuelling system with

Beriev

The first A-50EI built

www.take-off.ru

contracts and deliveries | in brief

Boran Pivcic

The Ulan-Ude Aircraft Plant (UUAZ), a member of the Russian Helicopters holding company, delivered another two Mil Mi-171Sh utility helicopters to the Croatian Defence Ministry on 6 February.

The delivery was under the contract between Rosoboronexport and the Croatian Defence Ministry dated 2007 and was part of the repayment of Russia’s debt to the Croatian Republic, inherited from the Soviet Union. The first two Mi-171Sh machines of the 10 under the contract were shipped to Croatia in early December last year.

The Croatian military has given rave reports to the Russian-made Mi-171Sh, with Croatian Air and Air Defence Force Brigade general Vlado Bagaric said that Croatia had both “the world’s best helicopter in the class”. According to Brig.-Gen. Bagaric, the Mi-171Sh is ideal for the climate and environment of the country. In last December, the first two Mi-171Sh shipped took part in the celebration of the Croatian Air and Air Defence Force Day (see the photo below), during which Croatian

UUAZ

UUAZ landing lucrative orders

issued the type certificate to the Ulan-Ude-made Mi-171. The certificate enables Mongolian carriers to launch operation of machines of the type. Confirmation of the Mi-171’s Russian type certificate in Mongolia was initiated by Russia in May 2007. In the process, the Aircraft Registry of the International Aviation Committee (IAC), Mil

Moscow Helicopter Plant (the developer), UUAZ and Mongolian Civil Aviation Department concluded a quadripartite agreement. The Mongolian certificate allows UUAZ to launch Mi-171Sh deliveries to the country. Mention should be made that Mongolia became the fourth foreign country to certificate the Mi-171. It had been preceded by China, South Korea and Slovakia. In addition, Brazil in 2005 certificated the Mi-171A-1, a derivative of the Mi-171.

On 21 February, news came about an unprecedented deal clinched by UUAZ for delivery of Mi-171 helicopters to a Russian company. UTair Deputy Director General Andrey Ilmensky told a news conference in Hanty-Mansiisk that his company and UUAZ earlier this year had signed a con-

tract for 40 new Mi-171s, of which 20 are to be delivered this year and the remainder during 2009–10. According to UTair Director General Andrey Martirosov, the worth of the deal will exceed $200 million be financed by means of a syndicated loan, with the helicopters to be delivered to the carrier via its subsidiary leasing company UTair Leasing JSC. It also was reported in February that new UUAZ-made Mi-171s might soon be bought by another major Russian air company, Gazpomavia, which is ready to by up to 46 aircraft of the type until late 2012. Consultations with the manufacturer are under way to wrap up this spring. The helicopter acquisition deals are to be financed at the expense of Gazpromavia’s owner – Gazprom JSC.

www.take-off.ru

Boran Pivcic

President Stipe Mesic familiarised himself with them. The rest of the 10 machines are to be delivered by this May. The Croatian contract is far from the only order for Ulan-Ude-built helicopters to be fulfilled in the near future. For instance, several Mi-171s are slated for delivery to Mongolia in 2008, where both governmental organisations and private air companies will use them. In this March, the Mongolian Civil Aviation Department

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Michal J. STOLAR, Miroslav GYŰRÖSI (Slovakia) Photos by Miroslav Gyűrösi

UPGRADED MiG-29s

IN SERVICE WITH SLOVAK AIR FORCE On the last day of this winter, 29 February, Slovak air base Sliač hosted the ceremony of accepting the 12 MiG-29AS/UBS fighters into the Slovak Air Force’s inventory. The fighters had been upgraded by Russian aircraft corporation MiG in Slovakia in cooperation with a local aircraft repair plant and several Western companies.

During the ceremony, Slovak Defence Minister Jaroslav Baska gave the chief of the Slovak General Staff, Gen. Ľubomír Bulík, a symbolic key to the renovated fighters.

Following that, the upgraded MiG-29s accomplished a group demonstration flight to entertain those present, with as many as 10 fighters taking to the skies over Sliač.

Our correspondents attended the ceremony.

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www.take-off.ru

contracts and deliveries | report

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

NATO-compliant MiGs Fielding the upgraded aircraft, crowned with a unique group takeoff of as many as 10 renovated MiGs, became the well-deserved outcome of a long and often thorny restructuring, reorganisation and upgrade of the Slovak Air Force and its aircraft fleet. The upgrade of 10 MiG-29s to MiG-29AS standard (A indicates the export version of the MiG-29 – Variant A, or item ‘9-12A’ – and S stands for Slovakia) and two MiG-29UBs to MiG-29UBS standard kicked off as far back as 2004. The improvements included advanced radios and IFF gear, latest navigation aids and measures to make the aircraft compatible with standard systems used by NATO forces. At the same time, the service life of the MiG-29s was extended by 10–15 years.

The upgrade programme for 12 MiG-29s cost Slovakia 1.6 billion korunas (about $78 million).

Our magazine covered the contents and process of upgrading the Slovak MiGs (see Take-off, May 2006, p. 10–13). The first upgraded Slovak MiG-29AS (No. 6728) completed its maiden flight from the factory airfield in the Slovak city of Trencin, flown

by MiG Corp. test pilot Pavel Vlasov on 1 December 2005. A week later, Vlasov completed a check flight on the first uprated two-seater, MIG-29UBS No. 5304. By then, the Slovak Air Force had operated a total of 21 MiG-29s – 18 MiG-29 Variant A singleseaters and three twinseaters. 10 of them were inherited by the country in 1993 from Czechoslovakia’s dissolution into two independent states (Czechoslovakia had www.take-off.ru

gotten them from the Soviet Union in 1989–90), with 14 more delivered by MiG Corp. during 1994–95 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Despite Slovakia’s accession to NATO on 15 April 2003, its government decided to retain the Sovietand Russian-built aircraft in the Slovak Air Force inventory and introduce them into NATO’s combined forces, to boot. In this connection, Slovakia and MiG Corp. made on 24 November 2004 a contract on upgrading 12 Slovak MiG-29 fighters, extending their service life and tailoring the aircraft to meet NATO standards.

Mind you, this is the first time a Russian company has worked on materiel operated by a NATO member state.

The upgraded MiG-29AS/UBS aircraft completed their opeval in last December, with a small additional series of fight tests flown in January. However, as far back as mid-2006, the first several MiG-29AS fighters joined the NATO Integrated Air Defence System (NATINADS), to which Slovakia allocates two fighters under a current agreement.

‘Digital’ camouflage pattern Upgraded MiG-29AS No. 0921 was rolled out of a hangar of the aircraft repair plant in Trencin on 20 December last year. It was the first Slovak Air Force aircraft to get a rather original – ‘digital’ – camouflage pattern made up of tiny square ‘pixels’ in two shades of grey on the third shade of grey covering the airframe and both sides of the vertical tails. The first upgraded MiG-29’s new camouflage pattern was the beginning take-off may 2008

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contracts and deliveries | report of the final stage of the Slovak MiG-29 upgrade programme. The improvements of the last of the 12 aircraft under the contract were introduced in November 2007, and the planes are to be repainted gradually. Not long before the acceptance ceremony, in January this year, the ‘digital’ camouflage pattern was given to the second MiG-29AS, No. 0619, whose fins were decorated with the stylised Slovak national tricolour in the same ‘pixelised’ manner due to the 15th anniversary of the Slovak Air Force.

New simulator for new MiG pilots The upgrade programme for the 12 Slovak MiG-29s is wide-ranging and, in addition to improving the aircraft proper, provides for uprating the MiG-29 Full Mission Simulator operated by the Slovak Air Force. The upgraded simulator, intended for training the pilots of the Slovak MiG-29AS planes, was dubbed LTV-29M. Until recently, Slovakia has used the KTS-21/LTV-29 derived by the Trencin-based Virtual Reality Media company (VRM) from Russian simulator KTS-21 in 1996. The Slovak KTS-21/LTV-29 entered service with the Slovak Air Force in March 1997.

VRM launched the upgrade of the simulator in 2004. Its visualisation system was replaced with the indigenous IMMAX 2005 graphics system from VRM. The IMMAX 2005 comprises six 3D Perception SX25i projectors displaying the airspace in a hemisphere with a radius of 3.6 m and with a field of view measuring 180x90 deg. A key

part of the simulator upgrade programme was its database beefed up with very realistic digital maps of actual terrain of Slovakia.

This gives the pilot in the simulator the sensation of flying over the familiar Slovak terrain.

The second phase of the simulator modernisation began in 2006, consisting in bringing it up to date with the advanced systems introduced in the MiG-29AS. This included transition from the metric system into the imperial one. The simulator’s data display system followed in the footsteps of the one in the fighter’s cockpit, receiving the advanced MFI-54 multifunction display, PU-29 control console, PUS-29 I/O module and console of the AN/ARC-210(V) radio. VRM modified the software package of the MFI-54 and PU-29

in cooperation with their developer, the Russian Avionics company. The simulator’s software also was modified to reflect the change to the fighter’s navigation suite beefed up with the TACAN, VOR/ILS and GPS/Navstar systems.

In the course of the upgrade, the simulator’s electronic and electric systems were improved or replaced as well, which gave a considerable boost to its reliability.

Its feel-spring mechanisms were replaced with an induction servomotor electronic system, which made the pilot’s sensation on the control column and pedals more realistic.

The instructor station was altered, too, with him now able to configure and adjust the simulator to a particular trainee depending on the latter’s skills.

The MiG-29AS/UBS pilots who flew the group demonstration on 10 upgraded fighters during the acceptance ceremony at the Sliac air base on 29 February 2008

LTV-29M simulator

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www.take-off.ru

contracts and deliveries | report The current simulator variant simulates up 14 types of aircraft and 22 types of ground equipment, with its integrated database fit for use on group simulated missions, e.g. in conjunction with a pilot ‘flying’ the TL-39 simulator. The latter is designed for L-39 pilots and is available at the Sliac air base, too.

The prime contractor, VRM, and Slovak Defence Ministry made the simulator manufacture contract in 2006, the work was done in three phases and was completed last year. The LTV-29M simulator has been set up at Sliac, the home station of the upgraded Slovak MiG-29AS/UBS fighters.

The simulator was formally accepted by the Slovak Air Force concurrently with the ceremony of fielding the upgraded fighters on 29 February 2008.

www.take-off.ru

take-off may 2008

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military aviation | in brief

All types of Russian combat aircraft in skies over Red Square The air segment of the parade started with a trio of Mi-8 helicopters carrying the flags of Russia, the Russian Armed Forces and Russian Air Force. They were followed by an An-124-100 heavy airlifter escorted by a pair of Su-27 fighters, a Tu-160 strategic bomber accompanied by a pair of MiG-31 interceptors, three Tu-22M3 long-range missile-carrying bombers, a Tu-95MS strategic bomber escorted by two MiG-29s in the mid-air refuelling formation in the wake of an Il-78 tanker, another Il-78 simulating in-flight refuelling of Su-34 and Su-24M tactical strike aircraft and a four-ship formation of Su-25 attack aircraft.

The air parade was crowned by a composite formation of Su-27s and MiG-29s flown by the Russian Knights and Swifts who saluted the crowd by multiple ejections of their flares.

Marina Lystseva

A large-scale military parade of the Russian Armed Forces was conducted on Red Square in Moscow on 9 May 2008 in commemoration of the 63rd anniversary of the victory in WWII. For the first time after a long interruption, the Air Force took an active part in the parade, demonstrating more than 30 in-service warplanes and helicopters over the nation’s main square.

Red Square hosted the previous large-scale air parade as far back as 1951. The tradition of demonstrating combat aircraft over downtown Moscow resumed in 2003. However, until now, the Air Force’s participation has been limited to flypasts of the Russian Knights and Swifts display teams on Su-27 and MiG-29 fighters.

This time, RusAF displayed almost all of its in-service combat aircraft during the parade.

The Northern Fleet’s CVBG led by the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier with its CAG on board completed a long cruise to the Atlantic and Mediterranean early in February.

The two-month cruise kicked off on 5 December last year. It was the first exercise of the kind in more than a decade.

The welcoming ceremony of the carrier battle group, which accomplished the mission, was held under command of Russian Navy commander-in-chief Adm. Vladimir Vysotsky at the Northern Fleet’s main naval base in Severomorsk on 3 February.

Addressing the battle group’s crews, the Russian Navy commander-in-chief said that the mission had been accomplished, and, following preventive maintenance and relevant training, the ships and their crews would have to accomplish new missions as important as the newly completed cruise. Vysotsky said that Russian ships would be

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Alexander Dundin

Kuznetsov returns from cruise

everywhere the nation’s interests were being pursued.

The cruise led by Northern Fleet commander Vice-Adm. Nikolay Maximov was aimed at practicing Russia’s naval presence in key areas of the ocean. During the cruise, carrierborne aircraft, which included

nine Sukhoi Su-33 fighters, two Su-25UTG trainers and several Kamov Ka-27PS and Ka-29 helicopters, flew 20 flight shifts, i.e. about 400 sorties, of which over a hundred were conducted by the fighters.

During the cruise, the CVBG covered upwards of 15,000 nm and

accomplished all missions assigned, including doing so in conjunction with the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet ships. The battle group also staged several combined exercises with French and Italian naval ships and made port calls in Tunisia, France and Italy.

www.take-off.ru

military aviation | in brief

Dmitry Pichugin

Russian Air Force takes delivery of another Tu-160

manufacturer over the past eight years. KAPO suspended the Tu-160 production as far back as the early ‘90s, stopping at about 30 aircraft, most of which remained in Ukraine after the Soviet Union collapsed and only six had been delivered to Engels AFB in Russia. During 1999– 2000, eight Ukrainian Tu-160s were redeployed to Engels AFB under a Russian-Ukrainian deal and entered RusAF’s inventory. At the same time, KAPO completed and delivered to RusAF another new Tu-160 given the name of Alexander Molodchy and serialled 07. That Tu-160, which was the first for RusAF to receive in seven years, first flew in Kazan on 10 September 1999 and was fielded with RusAF in May 2000, bringing the strength of Engels AFB-based bomber fleet up to 15.

Following the tragic crash of Tu-160 Mikhail Gromov (side number 01) in September 2003, the loss was offset in summer 2006 when KAPO

overhauled and upgraded a Tu-160 that had flown under various test programmes before without being fielded. The aircraft was serialled 19 and named after Valentin Bliznyuk, the Tu-160’s chief designer. It was ferried to Engels AFB from Kazan on 5 July 2006.

The latest Tu-160 was completed last year and conducted its maiden flight on 28 December 2007.

According to Maj.-Gen. Anatoly Zhikharev, chief of staff, 37th Air Army, the delivery of the brand-new

Dmitry Pichugin

On 29 April, the Russian Air Force accepted a new Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bomber in a ceremony at the airfield of the Kazan Aircraft Production Association named after S.P. Gorbunov (KAPO). The bomber was named after Vitaly Kopylov who led KAPO from 1973 to 1993. Under his guidance, the plant productionised the aircraft of the type and built virtually all of the existing Tu-160s.

During the ceremony, KAPO Director General Vasil Kayumov gave the symbolic key to the new bomber to Col. Anatoly Serebryakov, officer commanding the 121st Guards Heavy Bomber Air regiment. On the same day, a crew with the regiment ferried the aircraft from Kazan to Engels AFB vic. Saratov, where a Take-off correspondent expected it.

Fielded with the Russian Air Force, Tu-160 side number 08 became the 16th aircraft of the type to be stationed at Engels AFB and the first aircraft received directly from the

strategic bomber is important to the service. In addition to buying new Tu-160s, RusAF is going to have two to three existing aircraft of the type upgraded every year. According to Gen. Zhikharev, three bombers have been sent to KAPO for overhaul and upgrade (one last year and two this year). One of them is expected to return to Engels before the year-end.

During the ceremony in Kazan, UAC President Alexey Fyodorov said several more new Tu-160 strategic bombers would be completed and handed over to the military in the coming years. Fyodorov had said earlier that KAPO, which is slated for incorporation in UAC soon, would be able to deliver an average of a Tu-160 every two years. Owing to resumption of the bomber’s production by KAPO, RusAF’s Tu-160 fleet might have totalled about 30 aircraft by 2025–30.

Second air regiment receiving Su-27SM Conversion of a second Russian Air Force regiment to the Sukhoi Su-27SM upgraded fighters began in last December. In 2004–06, 24 such aircraft were fielded with the Far Eastern RusAF/AD formation’s fighter air regiment stationed at Dzyomgi AFB near Komsomolsk-on-Amur. The regiment became the first Russian unit to operate an all-Su-27SM fleet. In addition, the Air Force Combat and Conversion Training Centre (CCTC) in Lipetsk have operated five Su-27SMs since December 2003 for converting pilots from combat units.

www.take-off.ru

The Russian Defence Ministry announced last August that the Sukhoi fighter being upgraded by the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Production Association (KnAAPO) would be fielded with the air regiment at Tsentralnaya Uglovaya AFB in the Primorsky Territory. On 12 December, the first three Su-27SMs were ferried from Komsomolsk-on-Amur to Tsentralnaya Uglovaya AFB vic.

Vladivostok. Five Su-27SMs more hopped to Tsentralnaya Uglovaya AFB on 19 December. Thus, the Guards air regiment in Tsentralnaya Uglovaya had received eight upgrad-

ed fighters by year-end. According to the official Web site of the Defence Ministry (www.mil.ru), the second air regiment is to complete its conversion to the Su-27SM in autumn 2008 when all 24 upgraded fighters will be shipped to the air base.

Overhaul and improvement of other aircraft under the State Defence Procurement Programme are being handled by KnAAPO. The Su-27SMs delivered to Tsentralnaya Uglovaya AFB are the first aircraft of the type fitted with improved AL-31F Series 42 (AL-31F-M1) engines during the

upgrade. The engines feature enhanced thrust and extended service life and were developed by MMP Salut in Moscow. The official bench test report was signed on 28 December 2006, with Salut launching the engine’s production and delivery to KnAAPO to fit Su-27SMs last year.

The modernisation gives Su-27SMs a more advanced fire control system from Tikhomirov-NIIP capable of handling an expanded suite of air-to-air and air-to-surface weapons, while the cockpit management system is now based on full-colour multifunction liquid-crystal displays.

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military aviation | in brief

Torzhok receives first Mi-28Ns

Mil

On 7 February, the 344th Combat and Conversion Training Centre (CCTC) of the Russian Air Force’s Army Aviation in the town of Torzhok, Tver Region, held a ceremony of fielding two first Mil Mi-28N helicopters with the helicopter regiment in Torzhok. The official handover of the machines serialled 41 and 42 to RusAF took place at the airfield of the Rostvertol JSC in Rostov-on-Don on 22 January.

The Mi-28N is now in the final stages of the joint official trials.

The two first production machines delivered to Torzhok-based CCTC launche their operational evaluation intended to iron out all possible glitches in the Mi-28N to meet all Air Force requirements. The job is to be done within a year and a half, tops, after which a decision will be taken on whether to bring the helicopter into service.

According to a Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant spokesperson, under the current plan, the Air Force is going to buy 10–15 Mi-28Ns annually and then increase the acquisition to have renovated its

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combat helicopter fleet by 2015.

Once the Torzhok regiment has been outfitted in full, deliveries will start to other units, in the first place those stationed in the North Caucasus Military District.

“The characteristics of the Mi-28N advanced attack helicopter are superior to all foreign-made machines in the class and meets the most stringent requirements of today’s combined-arms battle”, said Andrey Shibitov, Director General, Russian Helicopters JSC. “We hope for Mil’s Night Hunter to remain Russian Army Aviation’s reliable ‘sword and shield’ and a source of a steady export income for our state”.

Rostvertol launched full-rate production of the Mi-28N in November 2007 based on the successful completion of the first stage of its official trials last year. Until recently, the Defence Ministry has used preproduction and production helicopters of the type under the joint official test programme only, with the preliminary permission for low rate initial production signed by the Air Force chief on 4 March 2006.

The launch of production allows a more proactive promotion of the Mi-28NE export variant. According to Andrey Shibitov, several Middle East, North African and Latin American countries have indicated their interest in the machine, with clinching the first deals in 2008 being very possible.

Rostvertol

Rostvertol

advanced protection and avionics tailored to requirements of specific customers. The upgraded helicopters also are to be furnished with advanced optronic surveillance and targeting systems and cutting-edge guided missiles.

However, Mil does not limit itself to the Night Hunter programme alone, having begun to work out a concept of the next-generation combat helicopter tentatively dubbed Mi-XX. “Without going into detail, I can say it will be a rather formidable and inexpensive response to Western

Since advanced avionics and weapons have emerged while the Mi-28N has been under development for over a decade, Mil started beefing up the Mi-28N’s combat and information capabilities at the same time with the second stage of its test programme. “In 2009 at the latest, we will launch proactive efforts to upgrade the machine heavily for the Russian military”, Andrey Shibitov told in his interview with Take-off.

Besides, specific requirements from foreign customers, which can be different to those of the Russian Defence Ministry, cannot be disregarded either. Therefore, Mil has started deriving the upgraded Mi-28EM helicopter for potential foreign buyers. The derivative’s preliminary external appearance was unveiled at the news conference on the occasion of the Mil design bureau’s 60th anniversary (see the left photo), as were some of the modifications under the upgrade, including a new defence aids suite,

helicopters”, Alexey Samusenko, Mil’s Designer General, told Take-off.

“It is a good case in point of how the problems of survivability, on the one hand, and effective performance, on the other, should be resolved”.

At the same time, the Mi-XX is not going to be a Mi-28N replacement or derivative. Mil’s leaders see it as a combat helicopter in a lighter class. On the other hand, the developer is in no rush to place the two aircraft into two clear-cut niches, preferring instead to emphasise drastically innovative approaches to designing the Mi-XX, which combat helicopter designers all over the world have not used yet. “How can a helicopter be made low-observable, efficient, manoeuvrable and survivable? This is a very difficult problem calling for a range of trade-off solutions – radical innovations in physical metallurgy, materials technology, propulsion engineering and instrument making”, Alexey Samusenko stressed, commenting the Mi-XX programme.

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military aviation | in brief

Yury Kabernik

Ordered by the Russian Defence Ministry, upgrade of six Sukhoi Su-24M tactical bombers was completed by the Novosibirsk Aircraft Production Association (NAPO), a division of the Sukhoi company, in November last year. The first four aircraft upgraded for Pereyaslavka AFB and re-designated as Su-24M2 returned to their home station near Khabarovsk on 24 December.

A couple of weeks before, on 7 December, the first two of these six aircraft were ferried from NAPO to Lipetsk where RusAF’s Combat and Conversion Training Centre is situated. Conversion of aircrew to the Su-24M2 is underway there.

The upgraded aircraft had been waited for in Pereyaslavka AFB for a long time. The unit had prepared for it in advance, with its first crews having converted at CCTC by the time the first Su-24M2s arrived (the very first two Su-24M2s upgraded by NAPO flew from Novosibirsk to Lipetsk as far back

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First MiG-31BMs fielded

Two first upgraded MiG-31BM interceptors entered the inventory of the Russian Air Force Combat and Conversion Training Centre (CCTC) in Lipetsk on 20 March, according to RusAF’s public relations service. The Sokol aircraft plant in Nizhny Novgorod upgraded the aircraft. The first two MiG-31BM upgrades were flown home to Savasleika AFB (part of CCTC) by the crews consisting of Honoured Pilot and Sniper Pilot Col. A. Gribov and navigator 1st class Lt.-Col. I. Kisilenko, on as August 2006 – see Take-off, the one hand, and pilot 1st class Col. V. Shkalenko and navigator November 2006, p.4).

The Su-24M2s were equipped 1st class Maj. A. Sergeyev. with latest avionics mated with an advanced digital computer and a satellite navigation receiver. The cockpit underwent considerable change, receiving sophisticated full-colour multifunction liquid-crystal displays. This allowed the use of a greater number of weapons and enhanced precision by far.

Meanwhile, NAPO launched upgrade of another six Su-24Ms flown in from Pereyaslavka AFB. Overall, the Far Eastern RusAF/AD force is to receive 20 Su-24M2 bombers, said Col. Alexander Drobyshevsky, assistant to RusAF commander-in-chief. “This number of aircraft stationed at Pereyaslavka AFB in the Khabarovsk Territory was stipulated by the international agreement on the 100km military predictability and transparency zone on both sides of the Russian-Chinese border”, Col. Drobyshevsky emphasised.

The programme on the joint official testing of the Sukhoi Su-34 multirole strike aircraft is planned to be completed in 2009, the ARMS-TASS news agency reported. The first stage of the trials was completed with success in 2006. Now, Stage II is underway, involving five Su-34s. The aircraft’s ability to use air-to-surface weapons was tested at Stage II last year. The test programme provides, in particular, for testing air-to-air missiles this year.

One of the two first production Su-34s was ferried to the Combat and Conversion Training Centre

The customer’s preliminary agreement enabling Sokol plant to launch upgrade of RusAF combat-unit MiG-31s was granted last November based on the first stage of the joint official trials of the MiG-31BM upgraded interceptor. The upgrade includes introduction of an improved Tikhomirov-NIIP long-range phased-array radar, advanced cockpit management system, sophisticated satnav aids and new weapons.

Lipetsk-based CCTC will evaluate the MiG-31BM’s combat capabilities and convert flight and ground crews to the upgraded aircraft, with MiG-31BMs to start fielding with other RusAF units soon.

Su-34 to complete official trials next year

Dmitry Pichugin

Yury Kabernik

Su-24M2 for combat units

(CCTC) in Lipetsk last August (see Take-off, November 2007, p. 34), while the other has been undergoing the joint official test programme at the Defence Ministry’s GLITs Main Flight Research Centre in Akhtubinsk. The public watching the Victory Day military parade on Red Square on 9 May this year had an opportunity to see Lipetsk CCTC’s production Su-34 serialled 02 doing a flypast along with a Su-24M bomber above the main square in Russia, simulating a mid-air refuelling from an Il-78 tanker plane.

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military aviation | in brief

As is known, under the instructions by the command-in-chief of the Russian Armed Forces, President Vladimir Putin, the RusAF’s 37th Air Army (Strategic) resumed air patrolling in remote areas over the Arctic Ocean and adjacent seas on 17 August last year. The patrolling is aimed at showing the flag of the Russian Long-Range Aviation Command in the areas of strategic importance to Russia and at training aircrews in operating in horse latitudes. Patrols are flown by Tupolev Tu-95MS and Tu-160 strategic bombers. Mention should be made that the Long-Range Aviation Command suspended continuous air patrolling as far back as 1992.

Naturally, the resumption of regular operations by the Russian strategic bombers could not go unnoticed by the adjacent countries that scramble their fighters every time Tu-95MS’s and Tu-160s show up over neutral waters. In January, Maj.-Gen. Pavel Androsov, CG, 37th Air Army, said that Russian bombers had been intercepted more than 70 times before year-end 2007 since the resumption of long-range air patrols in August last year. “The interceptions involved about 120 foreign air defence fighters. The time they logged in the air totaled over 40 hours. The maximum one-time following in the vicinity of Alaska equaled about 3.5 hours”, Maj.-Gen. Androsov said. Along with the usual F-15s, F-16s, F-18s and Tornadoes,

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the Russian ‘strategists’ saw such advanced aircraft as the Eurofighter Typhoon and even fifth-generation US fighter Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor flying by their side.

The first encounter between Russian strategic bombers and a Typhoon took place on 17 September last year when a duty pair of Typhoon F2s with XI Sqn was scrambled from RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire to intercept Tu-95MS bombers. The first Typhoons came to the airbase in March 2006, and their dash to get the Tu-95MS’s was their first scramble.

Familiarisation of Russian aircrews with the Raptor took place on 22 November 2007 when a pair of F-22As from the 90th Sqn, 3rd FW, Pacific Air Forces, were scrambled from Elmendorf AFB vic. Anchorage in Alaska. A KC-135 tanker and an E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft have supported the two fighters. Mention should be made that the Raptors deployed to Elmendorf AFB in September 2007, with only 14 aircraft like that having been there by 2007 end. Previously, F-15C fighters stationed at the same airbase had intercepted Russian

strategic bombers, but following the November crash of an F-15C in Missouri, the whole 442-ship fleet of F-15s was grounded temporarily. So, brand-new F-22As had to substitute.

Speaking of tactics of such intercepts, Maj.-Gen. Pavel Androsov says, “Given the dearth of airfields in horse latitudes, they normally operate near the Alaskan shore as part of air patrols, i.e. a fighter package is accompanied by a tanker and an AWACS plane, which greatly enhances the fighters’ ability to be guided to targets and shadow them.

This is especially convenient when there is no reliable continuous radar coverage. Near the shore of Norway, it is the other way round, with fighters operating in pairs, with pairs rotating throughout our stay near their shore. We also met French Air Force Mirage fighters and Royal Air Force Tornadoes, albeit less frequently. Once they even scrambled an advanced fighter, an EF2000 Typhoon, i.e. the whole gamut of fighter aircraft providing air defence to the NATO countries has been there,” the Russian Long-Range Aviation Command chief concludes.

RAF

USAF

Encounters in the Skies

www.take-off.ru

Sukhoi

military aviation | event

SU-35 HAS FLOWN! The advanced Sukhoi Su-35 multirole fighter completed its maiden flight in Zhukovsky, Moscow Region, on 19 February 2008, controlled by the Sukhoi design bureau’s test pilot Sergey Bogdan, an Honoured Test Pilot of the Russian Federation.

The mission lasted about 55 minutes, crowning the extensive preparations for the advanced aircraft’s flight test programme, which were launched in August 2007. The mission assigned for the first flight was accomplished, and no glitches occurred.

“No problem was encountered as far as the engines, systems and avionics are concerned”, the Sukhoi company reported in a press release.

Thus, the first Su-35 prototype has kicked off its flight trials, with two more aircraft under construction by KnAAPO to join soon. According to Sukhoi, the full-rate production of the cutting-edge fighter and its deliveries to both domestic and foreign users are slated for 2010–11. “The Su-35 entering service with the Russian Air Force will bolster the national defence capability and enable Sukhoi to remain competitive until its fifth-generation fighter hits the market. KnAAPO launched the manufacture of its early prototypes late last year”, Sukhoi’s press release emphasises.

Our magazine has covered the Su-35’s features in detail (see Take-off, June 2007, p. 46–53). Therefore, let us only touch on its principal features setting it apart from other aircraft of the Su-27 family and on the developments under the programme over the past year.

Mention should be made outright that the differences are far more numerous than meets the eye, with the Su-35 resembling the usual Su-27 and Su-30MK in outward appearance only. Virtually all elements of its structure, systems, powerplant and avionics and weapons suites have been modified with an extensive use of design solutions borrowed from the current fifth-generation fighter development programme. This is a

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reason for calling the Su-35, essentially, an all-new aircraft.

The airframe was modified heavily to meet the requirements for the assigned life extension up to 6,000 flying hours, service life extension up to 30 years, an increase in the fuel load and introduction of latest aircraft and avionics systems. The basic fuselage, wing and empennage components were reinforced to this end in the first place.

The introduction of the advanced Irbis-E radar and mid-air refuelling system resulted in a modified design and layout of the fuselage nose section, with the radar bay embodying the so-called ‘hatched layout’ that lacks the canted frame and tilting nosecone skirt. The aft-cockpit avionics bay was shortened, and

the remaining volume now houses an extra fuel cell. The upper surface of the fuselage centre section lacks the air brake, with his job now being handled by differentially operated rudders. The rudders were enlarged and now have the vertical trailing edge, while the tail tips are made of metal.

The central and side tail booms have extra room to house fuel. The fuel load grew by more than 2 t, totalling 11,500 kg.

In addition, the Su-35 is the first in the Flanker family able to carry drop tanks 2,000 litres each. Another first for the aircraft of the type is the Aerosila TA14-130-35 gas-turbine auxiliary power unit (APU) set in the axisymmetric manner in the fuselage tail section (previously, each engine had had www.take-off.ru

military aviation | event Merited test pilot of Russia Sergey Bogdan

Sukhoi

Sukhoi

Andrey FOMIN

www.take-off.ru

take-off may 2008

25

military aviation | event the Su-27 family is its NPO Saturn 117S engines, which thrust has grown by 2,000 kg and assigned life has increasing up to 4,000 flying hours. The engines are fitted with an integrated digital control system and swivelling nozzles embodying the all-aspect thrust vector control concept.

The fighter carries a radically advanced digital integrated quadruple-redundant control system KSU-35 from Avionika company. It allows both manual and automatic control of the aircraft in all axes, ensures the fighter’s stability, controllability and centre of gravity, controls the swivelling nozzles, ensures supermanoeuvrability, flight conditions constrains, aircraft control while on the ground, and wheel braking.

By the way the Su-35’s primary difference from the earlier Su-27 derivatives is its

Su-35-1 being prepared for delivery to Gromov LII, 2 August 2007

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In the cockpit of the Su-35-1

KnAAPO

a starter APU of its own). The TA14-130-35 is designed to start the engines and provide power supply and air conditioning of the equipment and cockpit during maintenance without resorting to external APUs. The fighter also has an integral oxygen generation unit to enhance its self-contained operation capabilities. To reduce its radar signature, the aircraft makes an extensive use of radio-absorbing materials, and the cockpit canopy has electro-conductive coating. Wrapping up this outline of the basic airframe modifications, mention should be made of the total revamping of numerous antennas on the surface of the fuselage, wings and empennage due to the introduction of advanced avionics.

An important feature distinguishing the Su-35 from the previous aircraft of

KnAAPO

KnAAPO

Saturn 117S engine is ready for installation onboard Su-35-1 prototype, April 2007

www.take-off.ru

military aviation | event

KnAAPO

Su-35-1's final assembly. June 2007

new-generation avionics suite. Our magazine has already described its composition and basic features in detail. Let us underline once again the advantages furnished by the fighter’s cutting-edge Irbis-E phased array radar with additional hydraulic steering from Tikhomirov-NIIP. The radar guarantees lookup acquisition and lock-on at a range of 200 km (170 km in the lookdown mode) and features an unrivalled range in a more narrow coverage sector of 100 deg., spotting airborne threats with the 3sq.m radar cross-section at the record-breaking 350–400km range.

The Irbis-E tracks up to 30 targets in the track-while-scan mode and can engage eight of them at the same time. It acquires surface targets at a range of 400 km. Its electro-hydraulic actuator steering the array in azimuth and roll allowes a considerable www.take-off.ru

coverage sector increase in azimuth – up to 120 deg., with all advantages of electronic scanning retained.

The second information channel of the Su-35’s fire control system – the infrared search and track (IRST) sensor – uses targets’ IR signature to acquire and track them at a range of 90 km in the pursuit mode. The IRST ranges aerial and surface targets with its integral rangefinder at 20 km and 30 km respectively. In addition, the IRST can be used to paint ground targets for laser beam-riding missiles. A surveillance/targeting optronic pod will provide the radar with even greater capabilities in the lookdown mode and in the navigation and piloting roles.

The Su-35 has a drastically different cockpit management system. The 30x20deg.

wide-angle collimator head-up display (HUD) and two large colour MFDs on the instrument panel display all data the pilot needs to fly the fighter and use its weapons.

The aircraft is controlled by means of the joystick-type control sidestick, pedals and strain-gauge throttles. All key system and weapon controls are on the sidestick and throttles in line with the HOTAS concept.

There is a helmet-mounted target designator at the pilot’s disposal. To reduce the workload on the pilot, his information support involves the so-called ‘dark cockpit’ approach, with prompting messages issued to him in an emergency. Piloting and navigating are made much easier owing to a precision laser strapdown inertial/satellite navigation system (INS), digital moving terrain map and radio-technical navaids. The Su-35’s BINS-SP inertial/satellite navigation system was developed by the Moscow Institute of Electromechanics and Automation in cooperation with other members of the Aviapribor-holding company. Several other navaids and the display system were developed by the Ramenskoye Instrument Design Bureau and other members of the Technocomplex scientific production centre.

The S-108 communications suite from the Nizhny Novgorod-based Polyot company includes two UHF/VHF radios and a short-wave one and Link-16 datalink capability. The S-108 allows voice and data communication between the aircraft and ground control stations, among aircraft within a mixed package, etc. Automatic data swapping is exercised through the radios’ channels with both voice and data communications being encrypted.

The Su-35 is very capable in battle owing to its sophisticated electronic warfare suite comprised by an individual/mutual take-off may 2008

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Sukhoi

military aviation | event

protection active electronic countermeasures (ECM) system and a group protection ECM system (at the customer’s request), an antiradiation missile targeting system, radar and laser warning receivers, a missile attack warning system and a chaff/flare dispensers.

Along with the existing guided and non-guided weapons used by the Su-30MK and Su-27SM, the Su-35’s weapons suite is to be beefed up with latest precision-guided munitions under development by the Tactical Missiles corporation and Novator design bureau in Yekaterinburg, including advanced long-range air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles. The Su-35’s maximum payload on 12 hardpoints accounts for 8,000 kg.

The first Su-35 prototype designated Su-35-1 and given side number 901 was built by the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Production Association (KnAAPO) last summer. In August, it was ferried to the Gromov LII Flight Research Institute in the town of Zhukovsky, Moscow Region, where it was unveiled during the MAKS 2007 air show (see Take-off, November 2007, p. 14).

Right on the heels of the show, Sukhoi

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and its subcontractors launched the planned preparations for the Su-35’s maiden flight.

Efforts were mostly focused on debugging its advanced integrated flight control system and ground tests of other sophisticated equipment.

Concurrently, a test programme was being run on the 117S engines intended to power the Su-35 on its maiden mission. On 30 January 2008, NPO Saturn’s subsidiary in the Moscow Region – the Lytkarino Machinebuilding Plant – completed the 117S prototype’s endurance tests intended to obtain permission for the first flight of the Su-35. The rig-tested engine had logged 200 hours in 100 test cycles, including 6,000 swivelling nozzle deflection cycles and 16 hours of test burns simulating high-speed conditions.

The whole prototype batch passed the set of tests. The batch consisted of the 117S-01 used in special trials in support of the Su-35’s fight flight; the 117S-02 used in gas-dynamic stability and endurance tests; the 117S-03 tested on the Su-27M (T10M-10) flying testbed; and the fourth and fifth prototypes

(117S-04 and -05) delivered to KnAAPO and mounted on the Su-35-1 last spring following their rig tests.

By mid-February, the ground tests of the avionics had been over, and the fighter had been rolled out for its first taxiing. Following a series of tests on the runway, including high-speed taxiing, the methodological council allowed its first flight, and Sukhoi design bureau test pilot Sergey Bogdan took the Su-35-1 to the skies for the first time at 11.25 hours on 19 February. Another Sukhoi fighter, the Su-30MK2 side number 502 two-seater, accompanied the new aircraft. During the flight at altitudes up to 5,000 m, operation of key systems, stability, controllability and powerplant operation were tested. Sergey Bogdan landed safely 55 minutes after the takeoff. According to Sukhoi, the tasks assigned for the first mission were fulfilled. On the next day, 20 February, the first Su-35 prototype was shown in a Gromov LII hangar to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the then First Vice-Premier Dmitry Medvedev visiting Zhukovsky. By the cockpit of the Su-35, www.take-off.ru

military aviation | event Tikhomirov-NIIP is preparing its first standard-issue radar complete set for delivery to KnAAPO. The State Ryazan Instrument Plant will launch full-scale production of the Irbis-E. The Su-35 test programme is slated for completion by 2010–11 when KnAAPO will have launched the full-rate production of aircraft of the type. On 20 February, Sukhoi Director General Mikhail Pogosyan told the media, “Deliveries of Su-35s to the Russian Air Force will begin during 2010–11. We also are going to promote the fighter on our traditional markets in Southeast Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America”. Su-35 deliveries are known to have been part of the Russian Federation State Armament Programme through 2015. According to the regional media, Venezuela and China might be Su-35’s launch customers.

Viktor Drushlyakov

Sergey Bogdan gave the VIPs a rundown on what was inside it.

This year, the second and then the third prototypes under construction by KnAAPO now are to join the test programme. At the same time, NPO Saturn and UMPO are making eight final-layout 117S engines that will be used to refine the design. Two of them will be used for endurance tests, one will be tested in CIAM’s climatic test bench, three will be tested on board the second Su-35 prototype, one will be subjected to special tests and one to official trials. NPO Saturn and UMPO have been running the development and productionising of the 117S engine to power the Su-35 on parity basis.

The trials of the advanced Irbis-E radar continue as well, using the Su-30MK2 side number 503 flying testbed, with testing the Irbis-E on the Su-35 to kick off soon.

Su-35-1 in its maiden flight on 19 February 2008 accompanied by Su-30MK2 No. 502

www.take-off.ru

take-off may 2008

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industry | in brief

UAC’s strategy approved The board of directors of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) considered the 2008-2025 corporate development strategy during its session on 12 February. Chaired by Vice-Premier Sergey Ivanov, UAC’s board of directors approved the strategy but ordered its continuous improvement.

At the same time, the board bolstered the idea of setting up the National Aircraft-Making Centre in the town of Zhukovsky, with the need for such a centre stipulated by the 20 February decree of the Russian President.

Approved on 12 February, the document titled Fundamentals of the Development Strategy of the United Aircraft Corporation through 2025 set five long-term goals for the aircraft industry, namely domination of the domestic civil aircraft market (after 2015); gaining competitive positions in some of the niches of the global civil aircraft market (before 2025); meeting the requirements of uniformed services and other governmental bodies in advanced aircraft inde-

pendently; maintaining parity with US and EU suppliers on military aircraft markets of third countries; restoration of Russia’s independent development and production of transport aircraft, fielding them with the Russian military and their aggressive promotion to foreign markets. According to Sergey Ivanov, Russian aircraft’s share of the global market should total 10 per cent by 2025.

Target prices stated by Sergey Ivanov during the session of UAC’s

board of directors call for the corporation to have increased its proceeds from the current $4 billion to $12–14 billion by 2015 and to $20–25 billion by 2025. UAC’s capitalisation should hike from the current $100 billion to $400 billion by 2015 and to $1 trillion by 2025. If the strategy is pursued with success, the Russian aircraft industry is expected to achieve the world-class level of manufacturing efficiency and labour productivity – $250,000– 300,000 per worker a year.

Irkut reviews the results of the year 2007

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fighters being returned to Russia (Su-30Ks were delivered to India in 1997–99).

Irkut is intent on maintaining the production of combat aircraft in the near future at approximately the same level. For instance, Oleg Demchenko said the corporation’s production plan for 2008 provides for making 36 aircraft of the Su-30MKI family and 35 aircraft of the type in both 2009 and 2010. According to Irkut’s president, the output will have remained until 2012–13.

The share of civil aircraft will be growing gradually at the same time. The company pins its future on developing and manufacturing the new-generation MS-21 short/medium-haul airliner.

Demchenko said that a decision had

been taken recently on delineating the areas of responsibility between two new programmes pursued by Irkut. The Ilyushin company was appointed prime contractor under the Russian-Indian MTA (Medium Transport Aircraft) programme, while the production of the MTA’s Russian variant will, most probably, assigned to the Aviastar-SP plant in Ulyanovsk. Ilyushin, in turn, pulls out of the MS-21 programme, with Irkut become its prime contractor in the form of the Yakovlev design bureau. At the same time, the MS-21 is supposed to be developed by a large team of Russian companies. The so-called ‘black’ wing with the composite structure will be designed by the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft company while

Irkut’s division Beriev company will design the tail unit. Tupolev is expected to join the MS-21 programme too, with Antonov having agreed to join it.

A final concept of the MS-21 is to be approved and its conceptual design devised completed by August this year, and initial design is to be launched in September. By then, a decision on the powerplant will have been taken. To select a powerplant, tenders will be issued to Russian and foreign companies. The baseline MS-21 will be designed to carry 150 passengers. In addition to it, a 130-seat ‘shrink’ and a 170-seat ‘stretch’ are to be developed within the framework of the aircraft family, with a 210-seat stretch being a possibility some time in the future.

Andrey Fomin

The order book of the Irkut Corporation is worth $4.6 billion, said Irkut President Oleg Demchenko at the news conference dedicated to the company’s results in 2007, emphasising that Irkut’s share of the total Russian arms exports last year accounted for 20 per cent. In 2007, Irkut Corp.’s net profit hiked by 3.4 times over 2006, totalling 3.9 billion rubles (more than $150 million). The receipts stood at 30.9 billion rubles ($1.2 billion) and the pre-tax profit accounted for 5.2 billion rubles (more than $200 million). Irkut plans to earn as many as 33.4 billion rubles ($1.4 billion) in 2008.

In 2007, Irkut exported 40 multirole aircraft of the Su-30MKI family.

In particular, India took delivery of 16 complete aircraft under new contracts and eight Su-30MKI kits for licence production (12 aircraft were assembled from such kits a year before). Irkut started fighter deliveries to two countries more last year: the first 10 Su-30MKMs were made for the Royal Malaysian Air Force (at the photo) and six had been delivered before last year’s end, while the first six Su-30MKAs were completed for the Algerian Air Force. According to Oleg Demchenko, two new deals were clinched with India – one for an additional 40-ship Su-30MKI batch to boost the licence production programme and the other for 18 such aircraft more to offset the Su-30K

www.take-off.ru

industry | in brief

SaM146 – under wing of SuperJet tests, proved its characteristics and readiness for operation, proved its characteristics during restart and reignition in autorotation, proved the speed increase and reduction characteristics were on a par with latest requirements, determined the flam-

NPO Saturn

On 18 February, the PowerJet company – a Snecma and NPO Saturn joint venture – announced the results produced by the first stage of trials of the advanced SaM146 turbofan engine designed to power Sukhoi SuperJet 100 prospective regional airliner.

SCAC

ing a total of 150 flight hours. The second stage of the trials is slated for the second quarter of 2008 and will take place in the test centre in the city of Istre, France.

At the same time, the Komsomolsk-on-Amur subsidiary of Sukhoi Civil Aircraft in February launched tests of two engines delivered earlier by NPO Saturn as part of a Sukhoi SuperJet powerplant. The first burn of the SaM146-101 under eout limit, tested the FADEC’s operation, proved the in-flight fan-blade flutter margin and assessed the general operation of the engine, its stress level and vibrations.

The SaM146’s flight tests on the Il-76LL will continue to gather data for the engine’s certification requir-

SCAC

The programme of flight tests on Gromov LII’s Il-76LL (RA-76454) flying testbed kicked off in Zhukovsky on 6 December 2007 (the right photo above). The engine had logged 42 flight hours on 22 missions by mid February. The SaM146 had completed the open bench

the wing of SuperJet first flying prototype (No. 95001) took place on 20 February. The engine idled smoothly for 10 min (left photo).

Engines tests continued later resulting in getting approval for Sukhoi SuperJet maiden flight slated for May. When this issue prepared for press the first SuperJet prototype entered its first taxi tests at the KnAAPO airfield.

The first taxi test took place on 12 May (bottom photo).

Flying a helicopter as fast as a plane

www.take-off.ru

opment programme (see Take-off, November 2007, p.15). At their turn Mil leaders described their vision of the concept of a future fast helicopter dubbed Mi-X1 at the December 2007 news conference on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant. The Mi-X1 is being developed under Mil’s traditional single rotor configuration, but according to a picture shown, it may be fitted with a ducted pusher propeller set behind the empennage.

“According to our estimates, the machine should fly at a speed of about 500 km/h,” said Andrey Shibitov, head of the Russian Helicopters holding company. “Along with the helicopter’s ability to land and take off vertically, this will enable it to rival short-haul planes”.

The Mi-X1’s radical speed increase is to be produced by means of the main-rotor retreating blade stall suppression system. Today, retreating blade stall is the main obstacle to increasing the speed of traditional helicopters and, therefore, the fastest of the existing helicopters cannot exceed 320–340 km/h. A new main rotor, coupled with several other solutions

(one of them provides for using an additional pusher prop), enables Mil to expect a large increase in speed.

“For starters, we believe we will achieve 450–500 km/h”, says Mil’s General Designer Alexey Samusenko.

“We hope, we will pull it off. If we do, everybody will know of it at once, because we will start breaking world speed records immediately”.

Mil

Today’s situation in the world’s helicopter industry facilitates the emergence in the near future of high-speed transport helicopters capable of putting real competition to regional airliners in some cases. A case in point is Sikorsky’s programme on developing the X2 high-speed helicopter demonstrator to feature a design speed of 460 km/h. The X2 may fly this year. The machine is to have the rigid coaxial main rotor and an additional pusher propeller in the tail section. Should the demonstrator succeed, it may serve the base for developing fast transport and combat helicopters and multirole UAVs. It has turned out recently that similar work is under way in Russia as well. During last year’s MAKS 2007 airshow, Kamov went public with its Ka-92 fast transport/passenger helicopter devel-

take-off may 2008

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industry | in brief

Establishing United Engine Corporation On 16 April, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed Decree No. 497 “On Further Development of the Oboronprom United Industrial Corporation” that sets forth steps to be taken to continue the establishing of the helicopter division of the company and gives the green light to setting up a second engine-making holding in Russia.

As a payment for Oboronprom’s additional shares issued due to an increase in its authorised capital, Oboronprom will receive the government-owned holdings of stock of the following engine-making companies: Aviadvigatel (45.03%), Metallist-Samara (25.66%), Motorostroitel (38%), Povolzhsky Aviation Technology Institute (38%), NPO Saturn (37%), Perm Motors (14.25%), Inkar Perm aggregate association (14.95%), SNTK Kuznetsov (60%), Samara Engineering Design Bureau (50%) and Perm-based STAR JSC (60%).

In addition, the decree ordered the NPP Motor company in Ufa auctioned and 100 per cent of its stock

transferred into Oboronprom’s authorised capital.

The government was given 15 months to implement the above measures while retaining the government’s share of Oboronprom’s authorised capital at 51 per cent at the least. Within the same timeframe, Oboronprom should set up a subsidiary – a management company named United Engine Corporation (UEC), with Oboronprom as the sole shareholder. UEC should increase its shares in the authorised capital of the companies to be included in the engine-making holding company up to at least 50 per cent plus a share.

UEC’s priorities are to include preparations for launching development and production of advanced aircraft and rocket engines, their upgrade and life-cycle support and pursuance of long-term programmes on developing turbine-making companies, including doing so by wooing intellectual, production and financial resources to them. These measures are to facilitate introduction of cut-

ting-edge technologies and make Russian companies in this field compliant with international quality standards.

In mid-March, Oboronprom bought from the Sistema finance company 100 per cent of the stock of the Sales JSC owning 71.63 per cent of the stock of the Perm Engine Company and controlling stock of other companies of the Perm Motors Group. As a result, Oboronprom got the controlling stock of Perm Motors (51.52%), Perm Engine Company (71.64%), Reductor-PM (80.84%) and PMK management company (about 60%) and the blocking stake in Aviadvigatel (45.03%).

“The decree determines the mechanism of and deadline for establishing the engine-making group. This is a kind of working schedule to us to consolidate the industry”, an Oboronprom spokesperson told Take-off. “The decree provides the legal base for the emerging group intended to become the Russian leader in making engines for aircraft and

gas-transfer facilities. In line with the presidential instructions dating back to August 2007, Oboronprom has bought the Perm Motors and 21 per cent of the stock of SNTK Kuznetsov and reached agreement in principle on acquiring 13 per cent of the stock of Motorostroitel”.

Thus, the corporation owns the controlling stock of the major Samara-based aircraft engine developers, SNTK Kuznetsov (over 80%) and SKBM (50%), and will soon get the controlling stock (51%) of the Samara-based Motorostroitel production plant.

Mention should be made that during the briefing by Deputy Industrial and Energy Minister Denis Manturov at the Engines 2008 show, it was said that the government was intent on launching in 2010 a comprehensive engine industry development programme worth about 60 billion rubles (approx. $2.5 billion) in governmental financing. The programme is being devised and will likely prompt updates of the three-year government spending plan for 2008–10.

Andrey Fomin

Latest advances of Perm engine makers

At the news conference during the Engines 2008 show in April, Alexander Inozemtsev, Designer General of the Perm-based Aviadvigatel company, spoke of the status of the work on the upgraded PS-90A2 turbofan engine slated for

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certification in 2009. Aviadvigatel is developing the PS-90A2 in cooperation with Pratt&Whitney. Long-term rig tests are under way, with the engine having logged 1,000 hours with the turbine inlet temperature being 200 deg. higher than that

of the baseline PS-90A version.

Aviadvigatel has made one more PS-90A2 engine for the official 150-hour test in compliance with FAA requirements.

At the same time, the company works on further development of the PS-90A engine family. At Engines 2008, Aviadvigatel unveiled two derivatives more, one being the PS-90A2M version of the PS-90A2 with thrust increased to 17,600 kg and the other, the PS-90A3, being derived from the PS-90A to feature even higher thrust (18,500–20,000 kg).

The PS-90A3 is designed to power increased takeoff-weight planes and meet the future ICAO 2008 emission standards, with PS-90A3-powered planes to meet the ICAO Chapter IV noise requirements. The company continues to

develop the PS-90A-42 engine – a version of the PS-90A to fit the Beriev A-42 search-and-rescue amphibian, with the engine fit for operation in any climates, including the Arctic and the tropics.

Aviadvigatel’s Designer General touched upon the company’s future family of turbofans to power commercial aircraft. According to Inozemtsev, the company will be focused for the three coming years on developing critical technologies fundamental to developing an engine core for the future engine.

This will allow quick development of a wide range of derivatives with thrust ranging from 7,000 to 18,000 kg, if need be. As is known, an engine of the family (PS-12) will compete under the tender for a powerplant to fit the future MS-21 short/medium-haul airliner.

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industry | in brief

NK-93 tests to continue testbed in late 2006. The Il-76LL with an NK-93 on board flew for the first time at Gromov LII on 29 December 2006, and with the engine working – in May 2007.

However, due to the shortage of money, the NK-93 development and

test programmes slipped far behind schedule. Nonetheless, once the Oboronprom corporation took over SNTK Kuznetsov in December last year, the NK-93 got a chance to stick it out, because the corporate development programme

stipulates allocation of serious money by the government to complete the advanced engine’s trials.

“After Oboronprom came to SNTK Kuznetsov, the hope for productionising the engine re-emerged”, believes Alexander Rubtsov.

Andrey Fomin

The advanced NK-93 propfan to power transport and passenger aircraft was displayed at the Engines 2008 show in April by two companies at one: SNTK Kuznetsov being its developer and KMPO – its possible future manufacturer. Take-off has learnt that earlier this year the Ilyushin Finance Co. leasing company and Ilyushin aviation complex launched feasibility studies into fitting such engines to upgraded Il-96s.

According to IFC’s head Alexander Rubtsov, the NK-93 may be fitted to Il-96 upgrade in 2011. “If the flight tests prove the initial data, i.e. the 18-tonne thrust increasable to 22 tonnes, it will be a good plane”, Rubtsov opined. A 10–20-per cent drop in fuel burn over the existing engines, which the NK-93 is to provide, will extend the aircraft’s range and increase its payload”.

The NK-93 has been developed in Samara since 1990 to fit the Tu-214, Tu-330 and Il-96 future versions. By early 2008, SNTK Kuznetsov’s experimental manufacture facility had made 11 NK-93 engines, with one of them mounted on the Il-76LL c/n 3908 flying

AI-222-25 afterburning version developed in Zaporozhye

Yevgeny Yerokhin

Early this year, MMP Salut completed the successful tests of the advanced AI-222-25 turbofan producing a thrust of 2,500 kg and designed to power Yakovlev Yak-130 combat trainers ordered by the Russian and Algerian air forces. The engine was developed by Ivchenko-Progress, with Salut and Motor Sich productionising

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it. Rig tests of the first AI-222-25 in Zaporozhye began in 2003 and flight tests as part of the Yak-130’s powerplant in 2004. Currently, two preproduction Yak-130s powered by AI-222-25s are used under the official joint test programme. Soon, another such aircraft will join them, with deliveries of production Yak-130s to the

Russian Air Force and then Algerian Air Force to begin in late 2008. A production AI-222-25 example was displayed at Salut’s stand during the Engines 2008 show in April (see the photo).

Concurrently with productionising the AI-222-25 to fit the Yak-130, a family of light turbofans with 2,200– 4,200kg thrust is being derived from the baseline model of the engine. Last summer, Ivchenko-Progress conducted the first rig test of the AI-222-25F afterburning version in Zaporozhye.

The first start-up of the AI-222-25F took place on 27 June 2007, and already on 10 July, the engine was tested in full afterburning mode with success, during which the 4,200kg thrust was produced.

The AI-222-25F afterburning turbofan with a degree of afterburning

of 1.68 is designed to power trainers, combat trainers and light combat aircraft with a speed of Mach 1.6. As far as the turbine compressor segment is concerned, the afterburning version is fully common with the AI-222-25 baseline model. The introduction of the afterburner resulted in lengthening the engine from 2,238 mm to 3,478 mm and in its dry weight growing from 440 kg to 560 kg. As far as the maximum rating is concerned, the AI-222-25F’s characteristics are virtually identical to those of the baseline AI-222-25 (2,500kg thrust, 0.66 kg/kgf.h specific fuel consumption). In full afterburner, the thrust reaches 4,200 kg and the specific fuel consumption totals 1.9 kg/kgf.h. The AI-222K-25F version afterburning variant is designed to fit Chinese-made production L-15 trainers.

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industry | in brief

Mini-jets to be built in Ulyanovsk

Mikhail Zherdev

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Mikhail Zherdev

Mikhail Zherdev

Sergey Stepashin. It should be mentioned that the plant is to be built at the expense of foreign capital invested in the new industrial zone Zavolzhye situated not far away from one of the largest Russian aircraft making companies, Aviastar-SP plant, and established by the Ulyanovsk Region authorities to woo foreign investment.

The investor is Luxembourg company ETIRC Aviation, a subsidiary of Dutch high-tech venture fund ETIRC B.V. specialising in investing in East European and post-Soviet countries. In 2007, ETIRC B.V. bought a large chunk of stock of US aircraft maker Eclipse Aviation and is now the exclusive distributor of Eclipse planes in Russia, most of Central Asia, Eastern Europe and Turkey.

The plant in Russia is to become a very high-tech facility pioneering conveyor-type aircraft assembly.

The plant is planned to start operation already in the fourth quarter of this year, with the first 50 aircraft to be completed by late 2009. Under the company’s ambitions plans, the estimate output may total 800 aircraft a year by 2012, with the total market for such mini-airliners in the region estimated at more than

will work with customers in Europe and later in Russia and the Middle East”.

The Eclipse Aviation company was set up in 1998 as an affiliate of Williams International. The Eclipse 500 aircraft is in the class of super-lightweight jet airliners known as very light jets and comprising 4–8-seat jets with the takeoff weight within 4,500 kg.

The plane measures only 10.2 m in length with a wingspan of 11.6 m. Its empty weight is 1,646 kg and maximum takeoff weight is 2,719 kg. The powerplant consists of two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW610F turbofans producing 410 kg at takeoff.

The jet carries three to five passengers to a distance of 2,400 km at a cruising speed of 685 km/h.

Its run and roll is only about 700 m. The avionics suite enables it to operate in any weather and on trans-Atlantic lines.

The Eclipse 500 first flew on 26 August 2002 and got its US type certificate in September 2006.

Deliveries kicked off late in 2006.

To date, the Eclipse Aviation plant in Albuquerque has made over 170 Eclipse 500s that are in service with private persons and aerial-taxi companies. An Eclipse was involved in the foundation stone laying ceremony in Ulyanovsk, conducting several demonstration rides with passengers.

Mikhail Zherdev

cost as much as those made by Eclipse Aviation’s plant in the United States – in the neighbourhood of 1 million euros (about $1.5 million).

According to Mr. Roel Pieper, ETIRC B.V. and Eclipse Aviation chairman of the board, the company’s motto is Make On-Demand Flights Affordable to the Masses.

“Today, we are trying to embody the idea of aerial taxi”, says Roel Pieper.

“In Europe, they are already creating conditions ensuring integration and coordination of operations by future users of this type of service, who

2,000 aircraft. Many of the planes assembled will be exported.

Eclipses will be assembled in Ulyanovsk using imported materials and components but local production of some of them is possible further down the road. The plant will create 1,500 jobs, with the total investment to account for about 5 billion rubles (about $200 million).

Owing to the benefits provided by the Ulyanovsk Region administration, Eclipses built in Ulyanovsk will

On 20 February, the city of Ulyanovsk saw an event, which was extraordinary for the present-day Russian aircraft industry – contraction of a new aircraft plant was launched. The plant is to build super-lightweight Eclipse 500 six-seat passenger jets developed

by US company Eclipse. The symbolic foundation stone was laid in a ceremony attended by Ulyanovsk Region Governor Sergey Morozov and Chamber of Accounts Chairman

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industry | project

MiG-27M:

Andrey FOMIN Photos by Sergey KUZNETSOV

‘HEART TRANSPLANTATION’ The experimental MiG-27M fighter-bomber c/n 11-15 (side number 14 at the time) took off for its maiden mission from Gromov LII’s airfield in Zhukovsky, Moscow Region, on 15 January this year. The aircraft was powered by the advanced Salut-made AL-31F Series 30S turbofan engine that had ousted its previous Tumansky/Soyuz R29B-300 turbojet. MiG Corp.’s test pilot Oleg Antonovich, Hero of Russia and Merited Pilot of Russia, was at the controls of the re-engined aircraft on its first test sortie. The flight trials of the fighter-bomber became another key stepping-stone towards the MIG Corp. and Salut-proposed programme on upgrading the MiG-27 fighter-bomber, a venerable member of the famous aircraft family. Around 130 such aircraft are in the Indian Air Force’s inventory, where they are expected to remain for a good long while.

During 1986–96, Indian corporation HAL’s aircraft factory in Nasik licence-produced 165 Mikoyan MiG-27M aircraft in cooperation with the aircraft plant in Irkutsk (now a division of the Irkut corporation), with the planes fielded with seven IAF squadrons.

Considering that the programme is pretty long in the tooth (the MiG-27M was derived as far back as 1976) and an intention to retain the aircraft of the type in IAF service for a long time, MiG Corp. in the late ‘90s offered IAF a programme on upgrading its fighter-bomber fleet, including fitting the planes with advanced avionics and weapons. However, India decided to go it alone on improving its MiG-27s.

25 March 2004 saw the first flight of the

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MiG-27M upgraded in Nasik and equipped with a number of surveillance, fire control, navigation, communications and electronic countermeasures (ECM) systems from Indian, French and Israeli manufacturers.

The upgraded MiG-27Ms are being fielded with IAF squadrons, with the service intent on upgrading up to 130 of its MiG-27Ms. Nonetheless, MiG Corp. is still hopeful of joining the next stage of the Indian fighter-bombers’ modernisation. The reason is that, getting avionics that are advanced enough, the MiG-27Ms are still powered by obsolescent R29B-300 gas-guzzlers, which reduces their tactical capabilities. A way out may be re-engining the MiG-27Ms with the

advanced AL-31F turbofan powering the Sukhoi Su-27 family and advanced Chinese fighter J-10. The AL-31F will provide the MiG not only with a noticeable fuel efficiency increase, but with a hike in thrust-to-weight ratio as well.

Russian aeroengine maker Salut in Moscow took up deriving an AL-31F version fit to power the MiG-27M several years ago. The engine, designated as AL-31F Series 30S and differing from the production AL-31F Salut makes for Sukhoi fighters in the low-mounted accessory gearbox and in several design elements mated with the airframe, is 200 kg lighter than the MiG-27M’s organic R29B-300 and 16–20 per cent more fuel-efficient in non-afterburning mode. Its full-afterburning thrust is 1,000 kg higher – 12,500 kg. The engine’s dimensions almost the same as those of the R29B-300.

Replacing the R29B-300 with the AL-31F Series 30S will boost the aircraft’s rate of climb by 4–14 per cent and steady-turn g-load by 2–6 per cent, while slashing the acceleration time by 6–8 per cent and the takeoff run by 13–15 per cent. The flight range above the ground will increase by 7–8 per cent and the range at 11,000 m by 16 per cent. In all, the www.take-off.ru

industry | project

MiG Corp.'s test pilot Oleg Antonovich

re-engining alone may drive the MiG-27M’s tactical effectiveness up by 22–27 per cent.

The work on re-engining the MiG-27 kicked off in earnest in September 2003 when an AL-31F mockup was mounted on MiG-27M No. 01-01, a write-off by then.

Salut launched rig tests of the first and then the second full-size AL-31F Series 30S in March 2004. Two years ago, the company assembled the third engine of the type designed for flight trials. It was the engine that powered MiG-27M c/n 11-15 on its maiden flight in Zhukovsky in January.

So far, MiG Corp. and Salut have been paying for the MiG-27 re-engining and flight tests out of pocket through co-financing www.take-off.ru

arrangements. The results of their efforts will be shown to the Indians who will hopefully appreciate the advantages of the Russian offer.

The first phase of the special flight tests of the AL-31F-powered MiG-27M fighter-bomber prototype was completed earlier this year. 12 test missions were to be flown under the test programme, but a considerable improvement of several characteristics of the re-engined aircraft, particularly, a longer flight endurance, allowed all of the tasks to be accomplished on only eight sorties. As a result, MiG-27M c/n 11-15 has completed the special flight test phase by March. MiG Corp. test pilot Oleg Antonovich had flown all missions.

The trials displayed the stable operation of the engine, which is radically new to the MiG-27M, in all stages of flight, even though the AL-31F Series 30S has a higher airflow than the R29B-300 does, with the fighter-bomber retaining its non-variable air intakes. Test flights were conducted throughout the speed bracket all the way to Mach 1.72 and displayed the 18–19 per cent drop in consumption per kilometer. Owing to the trust, which increased by a tonne, the aircraft showed a noticeable improvement in the rate of climb and other flight, takeoff and landing characteristics.

Once the special flight test phase was over, the AL-31F-powered MiG-27M prototype was ferried from Zhukovsky to MiG Corp.’s Lukhovitsy facility where it was given a paint scheme symbolising the colours of the flags of Russia and India. It is expected that an Indian test pilot may come to Russia to conduct familiarisation flights on the MiG-27M serialled now 115 (it was given a new side number after it had been repainted). After that, India might allocate one of its MiG-27Ms for re-engining. If the results to be produced are OK with the customer, a contract may be made for upgrading other aircraft of the type in the Indian inventory. take-off may 2008

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civil aviation | in brief

Atlant-Soyuz unveils Il-96-400T

Andrey Fomin

More Tu-204-300s for Vladivostok Avia

According to a Vladivostok Avia spokesperson, the four new Tupolev Tu-204-300 airliners it operates logged a record-breaking number of flight hours for their type last year. The average annual flight hours per each of them accounted for 3,500 hours, which stands for over 290 flight hours in monthly flight time. In this connection, the carrier decided to train more aircrew to increase the number of crews per plane and prepare for receiving new airliners of the type in advance.

The four Tu-204-300s built by Aviastar-SP in Ulyanovsk were delivered to Vladivostok Avia in 2005 under a financial leasing scheme with Ilyushin Finance Co. The aircraft

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have the two-class configuration for 134 seat in economy class and eight in business class, are fitted with an in-flight advanced audio and video entertainment system and operate with success on 2,000–8,500km lines. The Tu-204-300s have been flying regular services to Moscow from Vladivostok, with the first Vladivostok-Seoul flight completed on 20 June 2007.

Under the contract with Ilyushin Finance Co. dated 27 November 2006, Avistar-SP is completing two more Tu-204-300s. Both aircraft serialled RA-64044 and 64045 are slated for delivery to Vladivostok Avia this summer under a 15-year financial leasing arrangement.

enter operation with the Atlant-Soyuz carrier. VASO will build three more Il-96-400Ts on order from Ilyushin Finance Co. for Atlant-Soyuz during 2009–10. The five aircraft with a lift-

ing capacity of 92 t each are planned

by Moscow’s company to start hauling up to 120,000 t of cargo a year since 2011, earning over $0.25 billion per annum.

Vladimir Karnozov

pilot of MiG Corp. The aircraft made its maiden flight on 14 August 2007 and entered certification tests at once. In September 2007, it was fitted with advanced PS-90A1 engines featuring an enhanced thrust of 17,400 kg. Flights on the advanced powerplant continued in October, and the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) certificated the modified PS-90A1 on 28 December 2007, having issued Type certificate Supplement 16-D/D29.

The other Il-96-400T (RA-96101) first flew in mid-March 2008. The Il-96-400T certification tests are to be completed in the near future. On the heels of IAC’s type certification, the two Il-96-400Ts will be able to

Flight school in Ulyanovsk getting Yak-18Ts and new simulator In February, installation of an advanced integrated simulator of the Yak-18T Series 36 trainer was completed in the UVAUGA Higher Civil Aviation School in the city of Ulyanovsk. The double-controls four-seat Yak-18T is the main type of basic trainer for Russian commercial pilots. Last year, the aircraft plant in Smolensk launched production of an upgraded version of the aircraft, featuring an updated control panel and sophisticated navigation aids. The new variant was dubbed Yak-18T Series 36. This year, a batch of such aircraft is to be delivered to Russian civil aviation flight schools, particularly, Ulyanovsk Higher Civil Aviation School. Under a governmental contract, the plant in Smolensk is to make 60 advanced Yak-18T trainers.

The first Series 36 plane was demonstrated during the MAKS 2007 air show in last August (see the photo).

To prepare rookies to fly the advanced trainer, the NITA company in St. Petersburg developed and built an advanced simulator of the Yak-18T Series 36. The simulator enables crewmembers to train all relevant tasks, including pre-flight cockpit preparations, taxiing, takeoff, en-route flight, landing and actions in case of an emergency or a failure. The simulator consists of the cockpit, instructor-pilot stations, computerised simulation and modelling system and visual and acoustic simulation systems. This spring the first NITA’s Yak-18T Series 36 simulator was delivered to Ulyanovsk Higher Civil Aviation School.

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The Atlant-Soyuz airline owned by the Moscow mayor’s office unveiled advanced Ilyushin Il-96-400T transport jet to its future foreign partners in cargo traffic at the Voronezh-based VASO aircraft company on 18 March. The first two freighters built by VASO at the expense of the Ilyushin Finance Co. leasing company that leases them to Atlant-Soyuz are now in the final stages of certification trials and will enter operation soon. The first of them, RA-96102, has been flying since last summer, having been given the name Valery Menitsky to commemorate the recently deceased Atlant-Soyuz chairman of the board and previously famous chief test

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civil aviation | in brief

Aeroflot Cargo launched operation of Boeing 737 freighter

Aeroflot Cargo

Aeroflot’s subsidiary Aeroflot Cargo, a freight specialist, started operating Russia’s first Boeing 737-300F cargo plane. Aeroflot Cargo and the GECAS leasing company signed a five-year operating lease contract for two such aircraft last year. The first aircraft registered as VP-BCN arrived to Sheremetyevo

Aeroflot Cargo

Airport in Moscow on 19 January 2008.

The aircraft was made in the 737-3Y0 version in 1986 (c/n 23500, l/n 1243) and was initially operated in Brazil, the United States and China and, after its conversion to 737-3Y0F cargo version, in Iceland and Mexico. Now, Aeroflot Cargo’s first Boeing hauls commercial cargo on regular operations from Moscow to Manchester, Helsinki and Paris. It carries 17 t of cargo to a distance of

up to 4,600 km. In the near future, the company is to take delivery of its second aircraft of the type, with acquisition of two more planes like that by year-end being considered.

In addition, within a year, Aeroflot Cargo is going to start using three MD-11F widebody freighters able to haul 90 t of cargo to a distance of 5,500 km (the company has been using three DC-10-40Fs with a carrying capacity of 60–65 t to this end). The later half of the

year is to see the company to start taking deliveries of Russian-made Ilyushin Il-96-400T freighters with a lifting capacity of 92 t, which are now under construction by VASO. Overall, Aeroflot Cargo is to get six Il-96-400Ts under the 20 June 2007 financial leasing contract with Ilyushin Finance Co. The first three of them are planned for delivery in July, August and December this year, with the rest to be received during 2010.

S7 gets its first brand-new Airbus

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from an Airbus plant is the beginning of implementing major contracts for new aircraft under the S7 Airlines strategic programme on renovating and modernising its aircraft fleet. By summer 2008, our passengers will have flown three new A320s more, and the delivery of another batch of 25 A320s will begin in 2009. The A320 family

will make up the backbone of the S7 Airlines airliner fleet. 17 A319s have been in service with our company”.

The A320-214s being bought by S7 are designed to carry 160 passengers (eight in business class and 152 in economy class) to a distance of up to 4,000 km. In April, they kicked off services from

Moscow to Novosibirsk, Barnaul, Krasnodar, Kemerovo, Sochi and Frankfurt and from Novosibirsk to Vladivostok and Beijing.

With receiving the first new Airbus aircraft, S7 proved its being among Russian leading carriers, ranking second after Aeroflot and able to afford foreign-made airliners directly from manufacturers.

Vladimir Karnozov

The new Airbus A320-200 medium-haul aircraft serialled VP-BCZ flew to Tolmachevo Airport in Novosibirsk from Toulouse on 29 March. It is the first foreign-built airliner of the S7 Airlines bought directly from the manufacturer.

Launching a renovation of its aircraft fleet, the company opted for used Western aircraft from the outset. However, last year, it received ten A319-114s, six of which were only two to three years old. Time of brand-new aircraft came too: the A320-214 (c/n 3446), which arrived in Novosibirsk on 29 March, had first flown in Toulouse less than a month before that – on 5 March.

It is the first of the four same-type Airbuses earmarked for delivery to S7 by summer 2008 under a leasing agreement with the ILFC company.

At the acceptance ceremony in Toulouse on the eve of the A320’s flight to Tolmachevo Airport, S7 Director General Vladislav Filyov said, “The delivery of the first A320

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cosmonautics | in brief

NASA

ISS Turns 10

29 January 2008 was the 10th anniversary of the signing in Washington the Agreement among the Government of Canada, Governments of the Member States of the European Space Agency, the Government of Japan, the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the United States of America concerning Cooperation on the Civil International Space Station, governing the rights and obligations of the partners and ISS resources distribution based on the parties’ contribution. On the same day, the Memorandum of Understanding between the Russian Space Agency (now Federal Space

Agency) and National Aeronautic and Space Agency of the United States was signed. The MoU laid the groundwork in ISS construction that kicked off on 20 November 1998 with the launch of the orbiter’s first element – the Russian-made Zarya functional cargo block (FСB) – from the Baikonur space launch centre.

The construction of the ISS continued later on. In addition to the FСB, Russian units Zvezda and Pirs and US units Unity, Destiny and Harmony have been brought in orbit. Several new Russian-made units – the SO-2 docking module, Docking Cargo Module and Multipurpose Laboratory

Module – are to be commissioned in 2009, 2010 and 2011 respectively.

The two recent flights of the US space shuttles Atlantis and Endeavour, which returned to the Earth safely on 20 February and 26 March, brought the EU’s Columbus module, first section of Japanese module Kibo and Canadian robotic manipulator Dextre to the ISS. The missions flown by Atlantis (STS-122) and Endeavour (STS-123) were the space shuttles’ 24th and 25th flights to the ISS. On 8 April, the Soyuz TMA-12 manned spacecraft blasted off from the Baikonur launch facility towards the ISS atop a Russian Soyuz-FG

launch vehicle. It was crewed by the cosmonauts of the 17th main ISS expedition Sergey Volkov (Soyuz TMA-12 and ISS-17 commander) and Oleg Kononenko (flight engineer) and So-Yeon Yi, a crewmember from the Republic of Korea. At the same time, it was the 14th visiting expedition to the ISS, which was completed on 19 April with the return of the first South Korean cosmonaut and ISS ‘long-livers’ Peggy Witson and Yuri Malenchenko, members of the 16th main expedition to the ISS. Now, cosmonauts Sergey Volkov and Oleg Kononenko and US astronaut Garrett Reisman remain on board the station.

Energia’s leaders on advanced spacecraft On 31 January, Energia Corp.

President Vitaly Lopota said the future Russian manned spacecraft should be developed in 2015 at the latest. According to Mr. Lopota, the craft’s design will be based on the all-body configuration. It will be able to carry six people in orbit over three crewmembers the current Soyuz-TMA carries. The principal requirements to the craft are reli-

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ability and safety. It should ensure crew safety both during launch and throughout the flight.

Energia Deputy Designer General and cosmonaut Sergey Krikalyov is certain that Russia will need advances spacecraft of various types to implement its space exploration programmes. “It is impossible to develop a spacecraft that would be equally fit for missions to the

Moon, Mars and near-earth orbit.

Therefore, I think it is possible that several manned spacecraft will be built, rather than one”, the cosmonaut emphasised. The advanced spacecraft will be developed for operation from a new space launch facility under construction in the Russian Far East, Krikalyov said.

Earlier Vitaly Lopota said Energia would switch Progress cargo craft

and Soyuz manned craft to digital technologies in 2008–09 to enhance their reliability. He also said Russia was in talks with the United States on extending the service life of the International Space Station from 2015 to 2020, but agreement is yet to be achieved. The leaders of major Russian space rocket manufacturers had repeatedly spoken for extending the orbiter’s service life.

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cosmonautics | in brief

GLONASS for the Masses stellation to make it cover the whole of Russia by early 2008 and the globe by early 2009 – a year before the deadline set by the Global Navigation System federal programme.

At the conference held by the Russian President on 24 December, First Vice-Premier Sergey Ivanov said there would have been 24 GLONASS satellites in orbit by 2010, with new-generation satellites to be orbited in 2008 and 2009 to stay there for 7 to 10 years.

www.CosmoPort.info

in service since December 2003. It weighs 1,415 kg.

The December launch had at least two features. The Proton-M launch vehicle with the DM upper stage was used for the first time to insert a spacecraft, while the older Proton-K LV had handled this job before. In addition, the Russian Space Forces and Russian Space Agency used the launch to fulfil the presidential instructions to have 18 navigation satellites in orbit by late 2007. The

which 13 were Glonass-M models and three were Glonass ones.

A Proton-M LV booster lofted another three Glonass-M navigation satellites to orbit from the Baikonur launch centre on 25 December 2007.

Three and a half hours later, the navsats reached their final transfer orbit. Each of the three was brought to its assigned point in orbit by its powerplant.

The previous Glonass launch took place on 26 October 2007. The Glonass-M satellite was derived by the NPO PM in Krasnoyarsk from a previous version, Glonass, which pressurised platform it uses. The basic modifications boil down to altering the antenna-feeder device, extending the active life to seven years from the baseline Glonass’s 3– 4.5 years and introducing the second navigation frequency for commercial users. The Glonass-M has been

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18-bird constellation will ensure continuous coverage of virtually the whole of the Russian territory. The current satellites provide averaged availability of the navigation signals at 60 per cent of the Russian territory with a maximum interruption of 2.6 hours. The GLONASS 24-satellite constellation will provide the coverage of about 95 per cent of Russia and 86 per cent of the globe.

As is known, the GLONASS system entered service in support of the Russian Defence Ministry in September 1993 with a limited constellation of 12 satellites. In December 1995, the constellation was beefed up to a full strength of 24, but then the number of satellites dropped again due to insufficient funding. In December 2005, the Russian president tasked Russian Space Agency and the Defence Ministry to expedite the rebuilding of the GLONASS con-

www.CosmoPort.info

Igor Afanasyev

Due to the adjustment of the 2006–15 Federal Space Programme, 13 Glonass-M satellites more will be made to replenish the GLONASS global navigation constellation. The news was announced by Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems First Deputy Director General Victor Kosenko on 21 March. According to Kosenko, the constellation “is to grow from 24 satellites to 30 including backups”. He added that there were 16 operational Glonass satellites, of

Currently, the principal problem is not so much establishing the constellation, as the development of relevant ground infrastructure – the launching of production of Russian navigation receivers in the first place. The problem is so urgent that it served the grounds to Space

Forces chief Col.-Gen. V. Popovkin to say, “The main thing is to avoid a repetition of the 1997 situation when there were 24 satellites in orbit but the military was the only one to use the service they provided. Unfortunately, the situation may repeat itself because there are problems with developing navigation gear for mass users, though the Designer General is working to resolve them”.

However, Sergey Ivanov promised the President that “equipment for users will have gone on sale by year-end; along with private companies we are launching production of purely commercial receivers, the so-called palmtops to be carried by users”. Indeed, the combined GPS-GLONASS receiver from the Space Instrument Research Institute (RNIIKP) went on sale on 27 December 2007. The first Russian ‘household’ vehicular receiver with 20 GPS and 12 GLONASS channels has extra features in addition to navigation, e.g. voice warning of turns, flat and 3D maps, route memorisation and determining by the number of a house. Construction of production facilities for 450,000 receivers a year was launched.

During the conference, Sergey Ivanov stressed that Russian receivers would benefit the users more since they would offer more accurate coordinates owing to using two or even three (GPS, GLONASS and Galileo) navigation systems, rather than one the Americans use.

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cosmonautics | in brief

Vostochny launch facility: dream to come true?

The plan for building the Vostochny space launch facility, which was ordered by the Russian President on 6 November 2007, are fleshing out: Vice-Premier Sergey Ivanov tasked the Russian Space Agency with enabling the new launch facility to handle launches of boosters of any type by 2016 and start manned flights there in 2018.

As is known, the new space launch centre will be built near the town of Uglegorsk where the Svobodny military launch facility used to be before it was shut down by the presidential decree. Five satellites had been inserted from Svobodny set up 12 years ago in the Amur Region on the premises of a ballistic missile division. The last launch took place in April 2006 when a Start-1 launch vehicle lofted Israeli remote sensing satellite EROS-1B into near-Earth orbit.

Selecting a site for the cosmodrome in the Russian Far East was no small beer. Russian Space Agency pondered several options, among which Uglegorsk and the port of Vanino were most preferable just like they were back in 1994.

The former was selected, inter alia, due to a better seismic situation

and the availability of developed transport and power supply infrastructure in its area.

Russian Space Agency’s chief Anatoly Perminov said the new space launch facility was to be designed within the coming 42 months. According to Perminov, Russian Space Agency, the Defence Ministry and Amur Region administration have set up joint task groups to estimate the volume of work on site. Construction will be handled in two stages. Stage I is to be completed in 2015–16 with the development of basic infrastructure and a launch of a unmanned cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station.

There was a bit of suspense to the endeavour too. Under the instructions by the Amur Region governor, Nikolay Kolesov, the former head of Energia, Nikolay Sevastyanov, was appointed deputy governor on 14 January and is now a supervisor of Svobodny’s construction.

The thing is that the official reason for his dismissal last year was his disagreements with Russian Space Agency leaders as to the future of the Russian space exploration programme. Sevastyanov pushed

for manned space flight, including lunar and Martian missions, which was used by Agency’s top manager to accuse him of ‘fits of lunacy’.

Now, Russian Space Agency is stepping up manned space flight efforts with an eye on lunar and Martian flights some time in the future, and Nikolay Sevastyanov to become one of those to implement these plans.

Having assumed office, Nikolay Sevastyanov made several statements. According to him, the new launch facility should support operations of medium and heavy launch vehicles with a lifting capacity of up to 40 t or more. What rockets will be used has been unknown so far, but Sevastyanov believes future LVs should burn environment-friendly components of the LOX-hydrogen and LOX-kerosene fuels. He thinks community and living infrastructure should be built concurrently or even before the cosmodrome is built. Operating the launch facility will call for new jobs for 25,000 personnel and their dependants. The town is expected to be planned and built based on the cutting-edge urban construction technologies.

Mr. Sevastyanov also touched upon urgent problems, the most pressing of which being the shortage of skilled workforce. To tackle the problem, affiliates of major Russian technical colleges and universities are to be established in the Amur Region to train personnel for the rocket and space industry.

As was said by Russian Space Agency chief Anatoly Perminov after the Security Council’s session in the Kremlin on 11 April, the Vostochny space launch facility in the Amur Region should be built before 2015, with all manned space programmes to be shifted there by 2020. The decision was stated in the “Fundamentals of the Space Exploration Policies of the Russian Federation through 2020 and Further On”, approved by Russia’s Security Council. Speaking about using the Baikonur launch centre, Perminov said that during the Security Council session the President “ordered its full-scale operation until 2050 as provided for by the Russian-Kazakh agreements”. The Agency chief also noted that the session paid close attention to developing the Angara space rocket system and its ground infrastructure.

On 9 March, the Kourou space launch centre in French Guiana handled a successful launch of an Arianne-5ES LV that orbited the EU’s first ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle) automatic cargo

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spacecraft named after famous French science fiction author Jules Verne.

The ATV cargo craft from EADS Astrium is designed to carry equipment, spares, foodstuffs, oxygen

and water to the International Space Station. The craft’s launch weight is 19,357 kg (dry weight – 10,470 kg), with the consumables weighing about 8.5 t.

29 and 31 March saw two tests in orbit, which demonstrated the spacecraft’s ability to conduct fully safe docking with the ISS (the tests involved self-contained approaches to a distance of 3.5 km and 11 m respectively). Finally, the Jules Verne linked up with the docking adapter on the Zvezda service module situated on the Russian segment of the ISS. The first EU ‘space truck’ has an upgraded docking system developed and made by Russian corporation Energia specifically for ATV programme.

ESA

ESA

ISS gets first EU cargo craft

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cosmonautics | in brief

www.CosmoPort.info

At 02.16hrs Moscow time on 27 April, the Russian Space Agency launched a Soyuz-FG LV carrying a Fregat upper stage booster and the EU GIOVE-B navigation satellite.

The insertion was conducted from Launcher 6 of Launch Pad 31 of the Baikonur space launch centre.

The customer was the European Space Agency (ESA) and the service provider was Russo-French joint venture Starsem that chalked up the launch as its 21st one.

The orbiting of the GIOVE-B satellite into baseline orbit was uneventful and in line with its mission profile. After the satellite and the upper stage separated from the third stage of the carrier, three burns of the Fregat’s powerplant placed it into the target orbit inclined about 56 deg. with a perigee of 23,255 km, an apogee of 23,453 km and an orbital period of about 850 min. The payload

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separated from the upper stage at 06.01hrs Moscow time, and then the Fregat moved it into disposal orbit by means of two burns of its low-thrust engines.

ESA representative in Russia Christian Feichtinger attending the insertion praised the work done by companies and organisations of the Russian space industry.

GIOVE-B (Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element) as is clear from its designation is the second satellite for orbital evaluation of EU navigation system Galileo being deployed now. The GIOVE-A blasted off smoothly on a Soyuz-FG launch vehicle from Baikonur on 28 December 2005.

The purpose of the satellite made by UK company SSTL (Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd) is broadcasting navigational signals on all frequencies used by the Galileo constellation, frequency

registration, gauging radiation characteristics of the orbit, conducting experiments and testing calibration frequency generators and digital technologies.

Just like GIOVE-A, the new satellite is fitted with two precision ‘atomic’ clocks to emit stamps, whose error is within 10 ns a day. For the first time, the satellite carries a Passive Hydrogen Maser (PHM) with an error of 1 ns a day (Maser is an abbreviation of Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation).

The satellite also mounts radiation monitoring equipment and a laser reflector for long-range laser range-finding.

The prime contractor for the system is the Galileo Industries consortium, and Thales Alenia Space is the provider of the platform. The estimated service life of GIOVE-B is two years, launch weight stands at about 530 kg and dimensions measure 0.95x0.95x2.4 m. The satellite has the three-axis stabilisation system and the hydrazine powerplant. 1,100W power supply is provided by two solar panels 4.34 m each.

The spacecraft emits signals via three frequency channels, covering the whole Earth surface facing it at any given time.

By 2013, the Galileo constellation is to consist of 30 satellites – 27 basic and three backup ones. Another three experimental spacecraft will have been inserted before that. Distribution of the satellites among three orbital planes (nine operational satellites and one backup each) will provide navigational coverage of the whole globe with the best operating characteristics within the swath between 75 deg. N. lat. and 75 deg. S. lat.

The total cost of the programme is estimated at 3.5 billion euros.

Once operational, the Galileo will offer commercial users positioning services with a circular error probable (CEP) of up to 1 m.

The programme’s headquarters is in Toulouse and its operations

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Soyuz inserts second Galileo

centre in London. Two main control centres are being set up in Germany and Italy, with a backup one in Spain. In 2007, several UK, German, Spanish, Italian and French companies pulled out of the programme due to financial disagreements, and the EU members’ governments had to use the taxpayer’s money to bail the programme out.

Further deployment of the Galileo system will be supported with navsat launches from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou (French Guiana) on the basic insertion asset – the Russian-made Soyuz-ST launch vehicle, a tailored derivative of the Soyuz-2.1a.

Starsem handles marketing of launch services with the use of the Soyuz-ST. The Russian Space Agency and TsSKB Progress are among the founders of the company.

The three-stage Soyuz-FG used for this launch is a variant of the Soyuz-family LVs and features an outsize large-diameter payload fairing. The rocket’s launch weight totalled 308 t. The Fregat booster was developed by the Lavochkin scientific production association.

It is quite possible that the launch has been Starsem’s last one conducted at Baikonur. Future commercial launches are planned to be shifted to Kourou, though Baikonur may retain individual specific launches.

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cosmonautics | project The first two stages of the rocket brought the upper stage/satellite stack to staging orbit. The first burn of the upper stage’s powerplant put the upper stage/satellite stack to baseline orbit with an inclination of 51.3 deg., a perigee of 174 km and an apogee of 429 km. Following the second and third burns at 09.15hrs and 15.05hrs Moscow time, the satellite was inserted into target near-stationary orbit inclined at 0 deg and with a perigee of 35,786 km and an apogee of 39,092 km. The satellite separated from the upper stage at 15.19hrs Moscow time and control over it was handed over to the customer, Israeli company IAI Spacecom, on the same day.

Thus, the Land Launch programme has made its debut with success. The programme was launched several years ago by the Sea Launch international consortium and was aimed at consolidating its positions on the launch services market by means of orbiting rather light (up to 2,500 kg) geostationary telecom satellites. In addition, a Zenit launch vehicle blasted off for the first time from the dedicated launch complex made by the KBTM (Design Bureau of Transport Machinebuilding) design bureau.

The Zenit-3SLB carrier was made by a pool of Russian and Ukrainian companies. The first two stages (Zenit-2 LV) was developed by the Yuzhnoye design bureau and built by the Yuzhny Machinebuilding Plant in the city of Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, while the third stage (DM-SLB booster) was developed and built by Russia’s Energia space rocket corporation in Korolyov, Moscow Region.

The launch vehicle’s first stage is powered by the world’s most powerful RD-171 four-chamber 780t liquid-propellant engine from NPO Energomash in Khimki, Moscow

assembled at the latter’s facility in Toulouse, with some of the components brought from Rome.

AMOS-3 will replace in orbit the AMOS-1 satellite that has been in service since 1996 and whose service life expires in 2008. Owing to 15 transponders deployed, AMOS-3 will expand the coverage of Ku-band relays, provide quality communications and broadband datalink throughout the Middle East, Europe, Africa and east coast of North America. The satellite’s service life is 15 years.

Under the initial plan, the new satellite was slated for insertion in March this year.

During October through November 2007, representatives of Sea Launch, IAI, AsiaSat, SPACECOM, Astrium, Loral, Intelsat, etc. came to Baikonur to learn more about the state of the facilities used for preparing and conducting the launch.

However, due to the satellite being incomplete, the launch slipped to late April (the customer also wanted to time it with the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel

to be marked in May 2008). The launching campaign kicked off with the AMOS-3’s delivery to the Yubileiny airfield of the Baikonur space centre by an An-124-100 Ruslan aircraft owned by the Volga-Dnepr carrier.

Having cleared the customs, the satellite was brought to the assembly and test shop at Site 31 where Israeli engineers started preflighting it. On 10 April, the DM-SLB upper stage was mated with the satellite and adapter, after which the stack was turned into the horizontal position and the payload fairing was placed to house it. On 15 April, crews from Russian and Ukrainian space companies assembled the Zenit-3SLB launch vehicle, having attached the upper stage/adapter/AMOS-3 satellite stack to the two-stage rocket. Finally, on 21 April, the rocket was rolled to the launch pad at Site 45 and put it vertically, having attached service lines. Then checks of the satellite, upper stage and launch vehicle began.

Prelaunch preparations were completed on

Igor AFANASYEV, Dmitry VORONTSOV

SUCCESSFUL DEBUT OF LAND LAUNCH Region. The second stage is fitted with an RD-120 single-chamber engine developed

by Energomash and manufactured by the Yuzhny Machinebuilding Plant.

The AMOS-3 spacecraft designed for commercial telecommunications support was made by IAI (Israel Aircraft Industries).

The communications payload with Ku- and Ka-band relays including a quad-antenna system as well as the telecommand system and the rangefinder was delivered to IAI

by Thales Alenia Space. The payload was

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A Zenit-3SLB launch vehicle mounting a DM-SLB booster upper stage and Israeli spacecraft AMOS-3 blasted off from Site 45 of the Baikonur space launch centre at 09.00hrs Moscow time on 28 April. The launch was the debut for the Land Launch programme, under which commercial spacecraft are to be inserted into orbit on three-stage Zenit LVs from Baikonur. Previously, only Sea Launch had launched such triple-staged Zenits. www.take-off.ru

cosmonautics | project

www.CosmoPort.info

www.CosmoPort.info

23 April. The State Commission convened on the next day and OK’d the launch, but the launch had to be postponed for several days.

On Monday, 28 April, the launch countdown resumed to be crowned with a successful Zenit launch – the third such launch this year. As is known, in the first quarter, the Sea Launch consortium conducted two launches of two telecom satellites into geostationary transfer orbit: Thuraya-3 owned by the UAE mobile communications provider of the same name was orbited on 15 January and DirecTV 11 satellite for HDTV broadcasting was inserted on order of US company DIRECTV on 20 March.

The third successful launch in less than four months is a reason good enough to consider the Zenit’s ‘rehabilitation period’ after the 30 January 2007 crash to be over.

Alexey Gonchar, Director General of KBTM, the ‘master’ of the Zenit launching facility at Baikonur, said, “Our Israeli

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partners want to rename their satellite AMOS-60 and even fixed a stylised emblem of the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel. However, this proved to be not enough: the customer’s emotional representatives had ornamented the whole of the fairing with designs before the Zenit-3SLB was erected for launch.

Indeed, there is a tradition at Baikonur to sign one’s name on the rocket, but it was the first time a rocket blasted off with its upper part covered with graffiti of numerous hearts. take-off may 2008

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www.museumspeyer.de

cosmonautics | event

BURAN GETS NEW OWNER in Germany Alina CHERNOIVANOVA

On 12 April, the Cosmonautics Day, the analogue of Soviet space shuttle Buran – BTS-002 – was brought by a towed pontoon to German town Speyer by the River Rhine. This put an end to the long wandering of the unique aerospace plane that used to be the pride and joy of the Soviet aerospace industry. Soon, the Buran will find a new – and, hopefully, last – haven as an exhibit of the Europe-largest private technology museum in Speyer and Sinsheim. A special pavilion 22 m high is being erected to house it there. According to the new owner, the acquisition of the Buran, its delivery and hangar construction cost the museum almost 10 million euros. The exposition is planned for opening in autumn this year when the 20th anniversary of the first and, ala, the only space flight of the Buran on 15 November 1988 will be celebrated.

So, the Buran’s prototype has finally found itself a new and, hopefully, the best owner.

Over the past several years, the legendary shuttle has changed hands three times and been resold under forged deeds, being a subject of dozens of lawsuits. The German technology museum in Speyer officially confirmed on 10 March that the protracted trying experience of the prototype of Soviet aerospace plane Buran had been nearing its end. Early in March, BTS-002 developed under the Energia-Buran programme was rolled out of a hangar in the port of Manama (Bahrain), loaded on a dry cargo ship and sent on its final journey – this time back to Europe. According to the German museum’s spokesperson, BTS-002 is to turn a new leaf as the central exhibit of the future space exposition of the largest private technological museum in Europe.

The fate of the Soviet shuttle was finally sealed as far back as February this year, but the museum had been in no rush to let the media know until the ship carrying BTS-002 left the Bahraini territorial waters. The

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struggle for the Buran made the German museum very careful about everything concerning the Soviet shuttle in particular and Russia in general, since the museum’s web site announced the purchase of the Buran as far back as early 2005. The Buran was planned to join the museum’s other exhibits in spring 2005, but the shuttle’s road from Bahrain to Germany took far longer than the Germans expected.

Over the four years preceding the purchase, the unique spacecraft had been the subject of a bitter legal battle among several contenders.

However, the ‘earthly’ history of the shuttle prototype began much earlier – soon after the Energia-Buran programme had been discontinued. In outward appearance, BTS-002 is a dead-ringer for the first Buran that completed its legendary orbital mission 20 years ago. The only difference, essentially, is the four air-breathing jet engines fitting the analogue – two non-afterburning AL-31s and two AL-31F afterburning turbofans that are virtually the

same as those powering the famous Sukhoi Su-27 fighter. Under the Energia-Buran programme, BTS-002 was used for atmospheric test flights, with the prototype logging 24 test missions from 1985 to 1988.

It operated from Gromov LII’s airfield in Zhukovsky in the course of the so-called Level Flight Test Programme aimed at developing the Buran’s landing system.

During the Level Flight Test Programme, BTS-002 completed 19 aborted landing approaches, two landing approaches until touchdown (the roll was controlled manually) and 15 full-automatic landing www.take-off.ru

cosmonautics | event

Thomas Merkl

approaches with complete landing and roll until full stop on the runway.

When the programme was terminated, BTS-002 was displayed at MAKS air shows several times, but the Molniya scientific and production company, the prime contractor for the Soviet shuttle, started to fall apart in the ‘90s. One of the full-size Buran mockups, which had been used in static load tests, was sold to a private company for display in the Gorky Park in Moscow, where it has sat to this day. BTS-002 was to be used to make big money, for which purpose it was sent all over the world.

In 1999, Molniya leased BTS-002 to specially established Australian-Russian company Buran Space Corporation for nine years. The shuttle was shipped to Sydney and set up as a tourist attraction during Olympics 2000. It was supposed to remain there for two years and then start touring coastal cities in Australia. In November 2001, the Sydney exposition was closed down, after which Buran Space Corporation declared itself bankrupt, having not paid Molniya the money promised. The Russian company was quick to find a new buyer for the Buran, a Singapore national. www.take-off.ru

However, it is impossible now to find out how the Singaporean got the ownership of the shuttle. According to Buran programme researcher Vadim Lukashevich, the Singaporean paid nothing to Molniya and took possession of BTS-002 using fake instruments of payment.

Under the plans of the new ‘owner’ who set up the Space Shuttle World Tour company to use the Buran, the shuttle was to go on display in Malaysia, Singapore, China, Japan and the Philippines, with Bahrain being the first stop on its route. In 2002, Bahrain’s Economic Development Council was gearing up for the first summer festival. Its officials decided that BTS-002 might be the thing to attract tourists and professionals to the new event. Having been paid about $1.3 million by the Manama festival’s sponsors, the Singaporean managed to bring the Buran from Australia to Bahrain. However, after the festival was over, BTS-002 remained in Bahrain, because Molniya’s management had finally made up their mind about selling the shuttle to the museum situated in the German towns Sinsheim and Speyer. The company announced that the Singaporean firm had failed to meet its contractual obligations, won a court ban on the shuttle’s shipping from Bahrain and launched talks with the Germans. The Buran remained in a hangar in the port of Manama for the long four years, where reporters from Dusseldorf run into it by chance in 2004. By the time, Russia had forgotten about the shuttle, but German reporters covering a Formula 1 competition dug it out of oblivion.

The news that the Soviet aerospace plane turned out to be in the port of Manama in the Persian Gulf made a minor sensation in Russia. Molniya’s leaders had to make excuses to the public. “The rarity is all right”, the company assured, “A preliminary agreement has been achieved on selling it to the technological museum in Sinsheim”.

However, the owner of the hangar housing the Buran and the Singaporean still claiming the shuttle had a different slant on it. The former – a Bahraini businessman who organised the local summer festival demanded his hangar vacated and the hangar rent and the Buran’s storage paid for. He was intent on getting the spacecraft as a payment. The latter, the Singaporean, claimed that the Buran had been his legally since he allegedly

had paid Molniya the money promised in full. By June 2005, the Bahraini courts of law had been so entangled in the situation that the Kingdom’s Supreme Court of Arbitration referred the contenders to the London Court of International Arbitration. But this did not stop at that in Bahraini courts, with lawyers filing appeal and a new proceedings commencing. However, while the future of the shuttle was being decided in Bahrain, the situation drastically changed for Molniya in Moscow – all of its top managers leaving the company in 2006.

A few months later, the new managers of Molniya tried to sort things out with the Buran stranded in Bahrain. The German museum’s commercial director Michael Walter learnt of the managerial reshuffle in Molniya by chance: it turned out that the previous managers continued to try and flog the shuttle to the museum even after leaving the company. Molniya’s new team managed to convince Michael Walter and his colleagues of them representing the company now. The museum broke off its contacts with the previous Molniya managers, and the new team had regained control of BTS-002 by 2007. The company won the case in Bahrain, initiated by the local businessman who paid for the Buran’s downtime in the port, and proved that the Singaporean had not been entitled to the shuttle whatsoever. In February 2008, Molniya regained the full rights for the Buran and transferred them to the museums in Speyer and Sinsheim. “It is a great moment to us”, the museum’s representatives said on 10 March. “Now, the ship carrying the Buran is in international waters, heading for Europe.

If all goes to plan, the shuttle will arrive in Rotterdam in late March and then to Speyer”.

The dry cargo ship with the Buran on board docked in Rotterdam on 2 April. The Soviet shuttle was reloaded onto a special pontoon at a terminal, and a tugboat towed it away to its last berth. The Buran-laden pontoon travelling up the Rhine at 8 km/h entered Cologne, with numerous onlookers watching it from the banks. “Thousands of people came to the banks of the Rhine. Some almost waded into the water. They were riding their bicycles along the banks, waiving to us, shouting something, taking pictures or simply watching the pontoon”, reporter Stefan Fichtner wrote in his blog. “Nobody has yet seen a Russian spacecraft on the Rhine!”

Finally, the pontoon hauling BTS-002 entered the haven near Speyer at about 7 a.m. on Saturday, 12 April – the date celebrated all over the world as International Day of Aviation and Cosmonautics. Then it was taken to the technological museum by road. A 22m-high hangar is being under construction on the premises, with the exposition slated for opening in the coming autumn. take-off may 2008

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Alexey Mikheyev

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Airborne… 45 Years Later!

A group of aviation enthusiasts from the Advanced Aircraft Technologies design bureau had had a surprise for history fans before the New year 2008. Gromov LII Flight Research Institute personnel and people in local summer cottages were surprised in December to see a Yakovlev Yak-30 two-seat jet trainer first taxiing over the airfield and then flying in the skies of Zhukovsky.

Right, it was the very Yak-30 built in the faraway 1960 during the tender for the common Warsaw Pact trainer! Despite its obvious advantages over its Czechoslovak and Polish rivals, the aircraft in the early ‘60s lost out due to political considerations to the then famous Czechoslovak Aero L-29 Delfin.

Having lost the competition, the Yak-30 programme as well as its single-seat Yak-32 derivative were terminated, and it seemed that nothing can get the aircraft back into the skies. Of the four Yak-30s and three Yak-32s built, one crashed, another was given to the Russian Air Force Museum in Monino and several were mothballed by the Yakovlev design bureau along with about two dozens of other Yakovlev planes in special containers at Yakovlev’s base in Kubinka, Moscow Region. Later on, save for minor experimental work in the early ‘60s when Yak-30s were used as airborne command posts in trials of target drones and except an attempt to convert a Yak-32 into the Yak-32P aerobatic aircraft in 1972, the aircraft had flown no more.

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Four decades and change have passed since then. The enthusiasts from Advanced Aircraft Technologies got wind of the Yak-30s and Yak-32s mothballed in a quite satisfactory condition in Kubinka by pure chance and decided to bring back to life the aircraft that had not flown for nearly half a century. They came to terms with the design bureau’s leaders about selling them. A year and a half ago, the first Yak-30 left its ‘prison’ where it had spent many years. The aircraft serialled 80 was the third flying Yak-30 built in June 1961. According to the records, the last flight before the mothballing was flown by famous LII test pilot, Merited Test Pilot of the Soviet Union Arkady Bogorodsky (1923–72) on 26 February 1962. That was as many as 45 years ago! Since then, the aircraft had sat idle. However, the conditions General Designer Alexander Yakovlev created for the aircraft mothballed in Kubinka (they were looked after well enough during the Soviet times, conducting regular examinations and servicing) allowed the Yak to remain in a well satisfactory state despite the difficult ‘90s when the storage facility in Kubinka was virtually neglected due to the design bureau lacking money even to pay salaries to its designers.

Thus, in mid-2006, Yak-30 No. 80 found itself at Myachkovo airfield, Moscow Region, where AdvancedAircraftTechnologieshas a base. The aircraft was examined thoroughly, subjected to relevant

reconditioning and had some of its instruments and electrics replaced.

Even the Tumansky/ Soyuz RU19-300 engine was left in place. Getting an aircraft, which had sat idle for roughly half a century, was the unique feat. However, an attempt at replacing the engine with a similar RU19A-300 widely used as an auxiliary power unit on passenger and transport Antonov An-24RV and An-26 turboprops necessitated a rather large number of modifications. Therefore, a decision was made to resuscitate the original engine.

In late October 2007, the enthusiasts launched initial tests runs of the engine at their Myachkovo base. To conduct flight tests, the aircraft was brought to LII where the preparations for the first flight began. Actually, it would be correct to say ‘another flight’ 45 something years after the previous one. A renowned LII pilot seasoned in flight-testing both fighters and small aircraft, Merited Test Pilot of Russia Ildus Kiramov, was invited to conduct a check flight on the Yak-30.

As usual, he completed several high-speed taxiings and hops.

Finally, everything was set for the fight flight on 19 December.

One of the leaders of the endeavour, immediately involved in the programme, recollects a dialogue with the flight dispatcher:

FD: “I won’t allow an experimental plane to fly an hour before dusk”.

Crew: “It is not experimental, it has just sat idle for a while”.

FD: “Right, 50 years”.

Crew: “Noooo, just 45!”

Finally, the flight was a go, and Ildus Kiramov took Yak-30 No. 80 off LII’s runway and completed a pattern not long before dusk on 19 December. On the following days, he flew several test flight more, proving that the aircraft was quite fit for flight operations – after almost half a century of oblivion.

It was unprecedented for Russian aviation!

The new owners have officially registered the Yak-30 in Russia’s aviation authorities as a ‘unique aircraft’. The plane was ferried to Bykovo Airport in mid-January 2008. Now, it is going to operate from there. The Yak-30 will be given a new paintjob soon.

Next in line is the refurbishing of two more Yakovlev aircraft – Yak-32 singleseaters this time.

The three aircraft are to be used a kind of aerobatic team. We wish the enthusiasts, who succeeded in restoring a legend to life, luck and happy flights!

Andrey Fomin

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