AIRSHOW
• MAKS 2007 sets records

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

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)

CONTRACTS AND DELIVERIES
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

• 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
• Ilyushin Finance Co. to deliver planes to Cuba and Iran
• Ka-32 exports on the rise

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

Skat: unmanned future of combat aircraft?
The Skat low-observable jet-powered combat unmanned aerial vehicle (UCAV) under development by MiG Corp. became a most interesting and unexpected novelty of the MAKS 2007 air show. Unveiling the Skat’s full-scale mockup to the media in a MiG Corp. hangar at LII’s airfield in Zhukovsky on the third day of the show made quite a stir, because no details on MiG Corp.’s UCAV development had been available and the Skat’s demonstration at MAKS 2007, albeit planned by the developer, had not been advertised at all. Permission to unveil the Skat UCAV was given by Russian President Vladimir Putin on 21 August. As a result, a full-size Skat mockup was displayed in a hangar of MiG Corp. at Gromov LII’s airfield, rather than at the display ground, and few media people were invited, among which Take-off editor was lucky to be.

COSMONAUTICS
ISS now run by female.
Another replacement in position in orbit
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

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