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AIR FORCE
• Russian Air Force procurement in 2006 • Tu-160 officially fielded at last • Su-34’s deliveries to start in 2007 • MiG-31BM kicked off trials • Air Force to decide on upgrading its MiG-29s • Plans to upgrade Military Transport Aviation fleet • Ka-52 back from firing range • Mi-28N’s official trials • Russian Knights got the World Cup! • First Russian satellite-guided bomb tested • More details on Irbis radar to fit Su-35 fighter Russia upgrading NATO fighters. Slovak MiG-29s being converted to meet NATO and ICAO standards Upgraded under the RSK MiG contract, in early December last year two Slovak Air Force MiG-29s found their way home, the 1st Airbase in Sliac in central Slovakia. These were the first in the batch of ten single-seat MiG-29s and two MiG-29UB twin-seaters to be enhanced under the Russian-Slovak deal signed on 24 November 2004. Acting as the project integrator, RSK MiG teamed up with Rockwell Collins and BAE Systems as suppliers of new aircraft equipment, and the LOT aircraft repair plant in the western Slovak city of Trencin, a place where the aircraft will be upgraded. The project is unique, as it is the first time that a Russian company is involved in NATO aircraft modernisation. Miroslav Gyurosi and Andrey Fomin tell about MiG-29 fighters in service with Slovak Air Force and their upgrade programme Poland boosting its fleet of MiGs. Luftwaffe fighters to join Polish Air Force Last year the Polish Air Force saw a number of MiG-29 fighters enter service. The aircraft are a gift from its NATO counterpart, the German Luftwaffe, which inherited 24 of them from the East German Air Force after the 1990 reunification of Germany. The fighters have been extensively operated by Luftwaffe and have often taken part in NATO exercises for over the decade. However, Germany decided to get rid of this WARPAC inheritance early in the XXI century, and in 2002 it sold all of its 23 MiG-29s to Poland at a symbolic price of 1 euro. Once in Poland, the aircraft headed for the Bydgoszcz aircraft repair plant. After a slight refurbishment the first ex-Luftwaffe MiGs arrived at the Malbork airbase last summer. The first MiGs to undergo a major overhaul that extended their service life until 2018 came to Malbork from Bydgoszcz in December 2005. As soon as the rest aircraft arrive at Malbork, the Polish Air Force will have the largest MiG-29 fleet of 36 aircraft in Eastern Europe, except CIS countries. Piotr Butowski reviews the history and prospects of Polish MiG-29 fleet AIRSHOWS • Sukhoi fighters as symbol of “Victory Eagle” in China CONTRACTS AND DELIVERIES • New record in Russian arms export • President Putin brings $7.5 billion from Algeria • India receiving upgraded Il-38SDs • India to upgrade first Su-30MKIs and sell Su-30Ks • SAAB to deliver avionics for Su-30MKMs • RSK MiG sums up foreign trade results • Be-103 to appear in China soon • Ukraine delivers four An-32Ps to Libya • UUAZ delivers more helicopters to Asia • Five Ansat helicopters operate in South Korea • Venezuela mastering Mi-17V-5s • Ka-226 to be assembled in Jordan? Russian AL-55I engine for Indian trainers On 18 March 2006 the NPO Saturn Association embarked on bench tests of the first AL-55I turbofan prototype, designed to be mounted on the Indian HJT-36 training aircraft. In fact, it is the first time the national aircraft engine-building industry has developed a new power plant especially for a foreign customer. However, AL-55I designers are not going to stop at that. They plan to design a whole family of AL-55 engines with a thrust of 1,700–3,500 kgf, which may be mounted on a wide range of trainers, combat trainers, and light combat aircraft. The tests of the first AL-55I are timed with the 90th anniversary of the NPO Saturn and the 60th anniversary of the Lyulka Scientific Centre, Saturn's Moscow affiliate office. Andrey Fomin describes the AL-55I project and programme status INDUSTRY • Decree on United Aircraft Corporation signed • Maiden flight of third Yak-130 • An-70 gets its first certificate • Kamov gearing up for certification in Europe Alexander Novikov: “New engine-making association is needed” Commercialisation of the Klimov RD-33MK turbofan engine to fit the Mikoyan MiG-29K (MiG-33) carrierborne fighter under development for the Indian Navy and development of the first examples of the Klimov TV7-117ST turboprops to power the future Ilyushin Il-112V airlifter are high on the Russian aircraft engine industry’s priority list. The modified RD-33MK has begun its long-time endurance tests. A TV7-117ST mockup has been approved and the trials of its gas generator have kicked off. The Chernyshev Moscow Machine-Building Enterprise, which is about to celebrate its 75th anniversary, is productionising these engines. Chernyshev’s Director General Alexander Novikov was kind enough to talk with Take-Off’s Andrey Yurgenson on the status of the programmes and other advanced efforts pursued by the plant Salut arms Chinese Air Force Last November Rosoboronexport signed a $550 million contract on delivering 180 AL-31F engines to be mounted on Sukhoi Su-27SK and Su-30MKK aircraft to China. The contract was awarded to the Salut Moscow Machine-building Production Plant (MMPP Salut), the traditional exporter of AL-31F engines to China. The new contract allowed Salut to reach the all-time high production rate in the past 15 years: the 2006 production plan envisions manufacturing about $600 million's worth of products, which amounts to about 90% of Salut's production output in 1991. At the present time MMPP Salut derives 83% of its profits from exports, but its management is positive that sooner or later the trend will be reversed and upgraded AL-31Fs, developed and manufactured by Salut, will be fitted on the Russian Air Force fighters. Take-off's correspondents Piotr Butowski and Viktor Drushlyakov have recently visited MMPP Salut and examined priority programmes of the enterprise COMMERCIAL AVIATION • Russian civil aviation in 2005 • RRJ receives first firm orders • Su-80GP gearing up for maiden flight • Aviakor to deliver three An-140s to Yakutiya • First M-101T delivered to Dexter • IFC’s export breakthrough PS-90 gives IL-76 a new life Ilyushin Il-76 transports started to be fitted with new power plants a year ago. At that time the first Il-76TD-90VD was being equipped with new PS-90A-76 engines under a contract with the Volga-Dnepr Group in Tashkent, and the modified D-30KP-3 Burlak engine was undergoing bench tests in Rybinsk. The programme of retrofitting Il-76s with new power plants has made much progress over the past year: the Il-76TD-90VD has undergone most flight tests and has recently been certified by the Aviation Register of the Interstate Aviation Committee with regards to noise-abatement requirements; Il-76TD-90s have been fitted with PS-90A-76 engines under a contract with an Azerbaijani air carrier; and the flagship Il-76MD-90 in service with the Russian Air Force has been re-engined with PS-90A-76 turbofans and submitted for flight tests in Voronezh. Viktor Osipov tells about the progress made in retrofitting Il-76s with new power plants in the past year COSMONAUTICS • New ISS crew to celebrate 45th anniversary of Gagarin’s spaceflight • Giants to tender for Clipper • President, Defence minister to give boost to GLONASS • A space suit or a satellite? Riding MiG to orbit Ishim programme A novelty unveiled by Kazakhstan’s Kazcosmos company at the Asian Aerospace 2006 show in Singapore late in February was a project of the Ishim air-launched space rocket system designed to quickly orbit small spacecraft by means of a LV launched from the Mikoyan MiG-31I aircraft. The Ishim is a joint Russian-Kazakh programme pursued by Kazcosmos in cooperation with Russia’s RSK MiG Corp. and MIT Moscow-based Institute of Heat Technology. Andrey Fomin and Igor Afanasyev review the project and its prospects AIRSHOWS • Ambitious reconstruction plans for MAKS venue |
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