INDUSTRY
• UAC and Aviation of Ukraine to work together
• Line of helicopter models to be optimised
• Su-35’s debut
• Details on MiG-35’s new exterior
• Tikhomirov NIIP unveils AESA developments
• Kamov’s new programmes
• Second Ka-60 has flown!
• Tactical Missiles Corp. unveils new weapons
• Novator air-launched premiers
• Back to origins (La-225 UAV)
• BARUK, younger brother of Dan
• Squadron of new unmanned aircraft (ENIKS UAVs)

MiG-29 catches its second wind
Over 800 MiG-29 fighters have been exported since the aircraft entered production, with many of them still being in service with the air forces of almost 30 countries. Many of them were delivered from 1986 to 1995 and are now in the middle of their service life, which makes the users keen on having them upgraded. Therefore, along with designing and productionising new variants, such as the MiG-29K/KUB, MiG-29M/M2 and MiG-35, MiG Corp. has been pursuing several MiG-29 upgrade programmes to meet requirements of various customers. At the same time with introducing advanced avionics and weapons, the upgrade may include overhaul, conversion to on-condition maintenance and service life extension. Depending on tasks and the depth of the pockets of the customers, the upgrade may be either deep or ‘lite’. The former option results in the MiG-29SMT featuring the highest combat capabilities for earlier built aircraft of the type. Such fighters have already been supplied to countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The MiG-29SD and MiG-29SM offer less expensive upgrade packages, with their avionics not being subject to such drastic updating. Nonetheless, these versions acquire a number of advanced capabilities in using latest weapons systems. In addition to modernising operational MiG-29s, MiG Corp.’s work is in full swing on developing a heavily upgraded derivative of the Fulcrum, the MiG-35, that will hit the market after 2009–10. The MiG-35’s advanced technical solutions also are to be embodied in the MiG-29M/M2 intermediate derivative carrying less expensive avionics and weapons suites commonised with the MiG-29SMT. Andrey Fomin reviews MiG-29 upgrade programmes

CONTRACTS AND DELIVERIES
• Ilyushin Finance Co. to deliver planes to Cuba and Iran
• Ka-32 exports on the rise
• Irkut makes first Su-30MKA jets for Algeria
• Venezuelan Su-30 deliveries on schedule
• MMRCA tender kicks off at last
• Indonesia to get more Sukhoi fighters

Su-30MKM already in service with RMAF
This summer, the first Su-30MKM supermanoeuvrable multirole fighters entered service with the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF). The ceremony of acceptance of two first planes took place at the airfield of the Irkutsk Aircraft Plant, a subsidiary of the Irkut Corp., on 24 May 2007. The Malaysian delegation attending the acceptance ceremony was led by the RMAF commander, Gen. Dato' Sri Azizan bin Ariffin. Less than a month later, on 18 June, a Ruslan airlifter flew both aircraft to RMAF’s Gong Kedak air base in the Kelantan province, on the coast of the South China Sea, 300 km north of the national capital, Kuala Lumpur. Four more Su-30MKMs joined them in August. The Subang air base vic. Kuala Lumpur hosted the ceremony of the Su-30MKM’s RMAF service entry on 10 August. The importance of the event was highlighted by the presence of Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Tun Haji Abdul Razak and Malaysian Chief of Defence Forces General (Army) Tan Sri Dato Paduka Seri Abdul Aziz Hj Zainal. By then, the fighters had been used by the first group of RMAF pilots for conversion to the aircraft of a type new to them, with Russian test pilots of the Sukhoi design bureau acting as instructor pilots. Already on 31 August, three Su-30MKMs flown by Malaysian pilots participated in the air parade dedicated to the 50th anniversary of Malaysia’s independence. The international debut of the advanced Malaysian fighters is slated for LIMA 2007 air show. Andrey Fomin tells about Su-30MKM main features

Tikhomirov’s radars for Sukhoi fighters
A principal component of the high combat capabilities of the Su-30MKM fighters, whose export to Malaysia has kicked off this year, and other aircraft of the Sukhoi Su-27 family is a sophisticated fire control system wrapped around advanced airborne radar. The Tikhomirov Scientific Research Institute of Instrument Design (NIIP) has developed the fire control systems and the radars they are based on for virtually all versions of Su-27 fighters. With the evolution of the Su-27 family aircraft, scratch-new radars and upgraded derivatives have been developed for them, characterised with the progress of such radar specifications, as range, simultaneous tracking and engagement capabilities, reliability, and their weight and size have been diminishing and weapons suites have been expanded. Cassegrain twin-reflector, slotted-array and passive phased-array radars would supersede one another on board fighters of the Su-27 family. It is the Bars PAR that fits the fighter’s latest versions Su-30MKI, Su-30MKM and Su-30MKA being fielded with the Indian, Malaysian and Algerian air forces.
Tikhomirov NIIP’s efforts have resulted in the unique cutting-edge phased-array radar, the Irbis-E, designed to equip the latest derivative, the Su-35, which made its debut during the MAKS 2007 air show. However, the company is not about rest on its laurels. In line with the global airborne radar trends, it is developing a radically novel type of radar – with active electronically scanned array (AESA) – for use on Sukhoi’s fifth-generation fighter now under development. The first demonstration of prototype X- and L-band AESA components took place at MAKS 2007 in August as well. Victor Andreyev reviews the main trends of Tikhomirov radars development

GRPZ: making phased-array radars
The Ryazan State Instrument Plant (GRPZ) runs full-rate production of the Tikhomirov NIIP Bars airborne phased-array radar fitting Sukhoi Su-30MKM fighters being delivered to the Royal Malaysian Air Force, Su-30MKIs for the Indian Air Force and Su-30MKAs for the Algerian Air Force. GRPZ, which relies on cutting-edge technologies, is a recognised leader in phased-array radar (PAR) manufacture. However, the company does not rest on its laurels; rather, it is productionising the advanced Irbis-E PAR to fit the Su-35 fighter and has launched work on future active electronically scanned arrays (AESA). Take-off’s Yevgeny Yerokhin visited the factory and met Director General Yevgeny Barankin who was kind enough to answer his questions

MILITARY AVIATION
• Su-34 fielded with Air Force
• Growing number of upgraded Su-27SMs
• RusAF Chief tries Yak-130 out

CIVIL AVIATION
• Two more Il-96s built
• New aircraft for Russian carriers
• Tu-204 acquires Red Wings

“The time has come”
First airworthy Sukhoi SuperJet 100 rolled out in Komsomolsk-on-Amur
‘The time has come’ was the motto of the long-awaited event – the rollout of the first flying prototype of the advanced Russian regional airliner, the Sukhoi SuperJet 100, conducted by the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft company on the premises of the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Production Association (KnAAPO) on 26 September. The first SuperJet 100 rolled out of the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft hangar in a well-rehearsed top-class ceremony attended by First Vice-Premier Sergey Ivanov and leaders of Russian and foreign companies involved in the Sukhoi SuperJet 100 programme, airlines and a thousand other guests and media people. The ceremony marked another stepping-stone to developing the advanced Russian regional jet. The first flying SuperJet serialled 95001 now enters ground tests in the run-up to flight trials. According to Sukhoi Director General Mikhail Pogosyan, the maiden flight is slated before year-end. Andrey Fomin reports from the Komsomolsk-on-Amur

COSMONAUTICS
• FSA Chief on prospects of Russian space exploration
• Latest space rocket designs at MAKS 2007
• Aspects of GLONASS development

ISS now run by female
The first Malaysian astronaut’s orbital trip
There has been a change of the crew of the ISS. In October, a woman, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, headed a long-term orbital expedition for the first time in history of space exploration. She and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko were accompanied to the ISS by the first Malaysian cosmonaut Sheikh Muszafar Shukor. He spent 11 days in orbit and came back to the Earth together with the ISS-15 crew – cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Fyodor Yurchikhin. Alina Chernoivanova tells about the current mission to the ISS

AIRSHOW
• MAKS 2007 sets records