SaM146 bled! - Take

The first SaM146
assembled!
july 2006 • special edition for Farnborough International airshow 2006
TVC
gives MiG-29M
new abilities
p.10
UAC:
100 days
after Decree
LRA exercise
in Ukrainka
Battle
for the Moon
Episode II
RRJ regional jet
new generation engine
tests started
on 5 July 2006
SaM146
testing began
p.6
www.npo-saturn.ru
www.snecma.com
Wings of the Baltic
p.34
July 2006
www.take-off.ru
Editor-in-Chief
Andrey Fomin
Deputy Editor-in-Chief
Andrey Yurgenson
Columnists
Alexander Velovich
Vladimir Shcherbakov
Special correspondents
Alexey Mikheyev, Victor Drushlyakov,
Yevgeny Yerokhin, Andrey Zinchuk, Valery Ageyev,
Alina Chernoivanova, Natalya Pechorina,
Sergey Popsuyevich, Piotr Butowski,
Alexander Mladenov, Miroslav Gyurosi
Design and pre-press
Grigory Butrin
Web support
Georgy Fedoseyev
Translation
Yevgeny Ozhogin, Egor Kokryashkin
Cover photo
Alexey Mikheyev
Publisher
Director General
Andrey Fomin
Deputy Director General
Nadezhda Kashirina
Marketing Director
George Smirnov
Executive Director
Yury Zheltonogin
Published with support from
Russian Knights foundation
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
© Aeromedia, 2006
P.O. Box 7, Moscow, 125475, Russia
Tel. +7 (495) 198-60-40, 798-81-19
Fax +7 (495) 198-60-40
E-mail: [email protected]
http://www.take-off.ru
Dear reader,
You are holding another special issue of the Take-Off magazine, an
addendum to Russian national aerospace monthly Vzlet. This issue
has been timed to another Farnborough air show that has always
been highly regarded by Russian aerospace companies as a major
aerospace event ranking second according to expert opinion. It is
Farnborough where Russia in 1988 unveiled its combat aircraft in the
form of the then-advanced MiG-29 fourth-generation fighter for the
very first time. Four years afterwards, in 1992, it was Farnborough
that hosted the debut of the Russian Generation 4+ fighters, the
MiG-29M and Su-35. In 1996, it was Farnborough where the Su-37
super-manoeuvrable vectored-thrust fighter (side number 711) won the
hearts of the public with its unrivalled flight performance, thus heavily
influencing the evolution of warplane in the class.
This time, the Russian aircraft industry is planning to treat
Farnborough’s participants and general public with its latest designs.
High on the flight demonstration agenda of the event is going to be the
MiG-29M-OVT, whose first-class aerobatics performed by MiG Corp.’s
senior test pilot Pavel Vlasov will never leave the public unimpressed. In
addition, Russia is to bring the third Yak-130 combat trainer prototype
that has just joined the official trials. This issue’s centerpiece is focused
on the Russian experience in introducing thrust vectoring to combat
aircraft and the prospect of the legendary MiG fighter family. The issue
also includes reports on the service of the Russian strategic and naval
aviation, establishment of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), a new
stage of the Moon exploration programme, etc.
As usual, Take-Off is offering a digest of key events in the Russian
aerospace industry over the past several months. I hope that the issue
will help you, the reader, to get a better grasp of the Russian displays
in Farnborough and be abreast of the latest developments in Russia’s
aerospace industry.
On behalf of Take-Off’s staff, I wish Farnborough 2006’s participants
and visitors interesting meetings, useful contacts and lucrative contracts
as well as enjoying unforgettable flight demonstration of planes and
helicopters from all over the world. I hope that Russian pilots who
became the stars of the Farnborough air shows in the late ‘80s and ‘90s
will not fail your expectations. See you all at future air shows!
Sincerely,
Andrey Fomin
Editor-in-Chief,
Take-Off magazine
contents
INDUSTRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
july 2006
www.take-off.ru
6
Irkut taking stock
Pre-production Su-80GP makes maiden flight
Ilyushin Finance ordered 6 more Il-96s from VASO
First SaM146 assembled
Agreement on Su-35’s engine signed
AL-31F-M1 in official trials
PS-90 production increased
Boeing 787’s heat exchangers are made in Russia
TVC. Thrust vector control provides MiG-29M
with totally new capabilities
10
The MiG-29M-OVT super-manoeuvrable multirole fighter prototype will be in the spotlight at the upcoming
Farnborough air show. RSK MiG’s Senior test pilot, Hero of Russia Pavel Vlasov will demonstrate a unique set of
aerobatics stunts in the MiG-29M-OVT during the demo flights. The aircraft is based on pre-production MiG-29M
fighter No 156 and is basically a flying testbed for testing and refining the RD-33 engine with a thrust vector control
nozzle – the so-called KLIVT system (the Klimov Vectoring Thrust), developed by the St. Petersburg-based Klimov
Plant – and studying the impact of the TVC on flight characteristics and combat capabilities of the fighter.
The aircraft, which made its maiden flight with a TVC nozzle in August 2003, was first demonstrated to the public
at the MAKS 2005 air show in Zhukovsky outside Moscow in August 2005. It made its first flight in European skies
over Berlin at the ILA 2006 air show in May 2006. Now Pavel Vlasov will dazzle participants and visitors of the
Farnborough air show with the unique aerobatics.
Those, who have seen Vlasov flying the MiG-29M-OVT, do not doubt that the new MiG fighter is even slightly
superior to the Su-30MKI super-manoeuvrable aircraft, the traditional star of demonstration flight, as far as their
manoeuvrability is concerned. However, unique aerobatics are not what matters most: according to RSK MiG Chief
Designer Nikolay Buntin, head of MiG-29K/KUB, MiG-29M/M2, and MiG-29M-OVT programmes, the thrust vector
control provides the new MiG with totally new capabilities in both the super-manoeuvrability and the conventional
flight modes. As is known, TVC engines will be mounted on production MiG-29M and MiG-29M2 fighters, which
may be designated MiG-35 in the future. This fact boosts the interest towards the new aircraft to be demonstrated
at the Farnborough air show even further. Andrey Fomin reviews Russia’s experience in TVC on combat aircraft
and its prospects for new MiG fighters
100 Days after decree. United Aircraft-Building Corporation
establishment on schedule
18
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the long-expected decree on establishing the United Aircraft-Building
Corporation (UAC) on 20 February 2006. On 1 June the decree marked 100 days since its publication, with the
first intermediate results traditionally summed up after this period of time. The results were discussed at the
recent Moscow conference with an ambitious name of “Russian aircraft industry and air transportation after UAC
establishment”. The conference, sponsored by the National Investments Council saw participation of about a
hundred heads of Russian and foreign companies, experts and high-ranking officials. Our correspondent Valery
Ageyev also attended the conference
ILA 2006 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
20
German-Russian ILA air show
Global AviaSpas presentation
MiG to convert Airbus A320s into cargo aircraft
Aquaglide’s debut
CONTRACTS AND DELIVERIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
23
2
take-off july 2006
First Tu-204 freighter built for China
Ka-32’s debut in Chile
L-15 kicks off trials
Sukhoi to deliver fighters for future Chinese aircraft carriers?
www.take-off.ru
contents
FINANCE AND INSURANCE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Russian Insurance Centre: Insurance guarantees for aerospace risks
26
The Russian space and aircraft industries are a priority for the Russian economic development, since companies
with cutting-edge technologies – the driving force behind technologic progress – operate in these fields. To
support these branches of industry, considerable financial and investment resources have to be available and
feature reliable financial protection, of which insurance is the most important element. The Russian Insurance
Centre places emphasis on insuring Russia’s defence industry, particularly its aerospace branch, and its foreign
military and technical cooperation system as well. Over the past 15 years, the company has been running
comprehensive insurance programmes in support of major aircraft and aero engine manufacturers. It is also the
leader of the Russian space insurance market. Its wealth of insurance experience and reliable reinsurance coverage
enable it to cover huge space and space-associated risks, including loss of or damage to launch vehicles and
spacecraft throughout their life cycles, third-party spacecraft launch liability, manufacturer and user liability for
failure to meet contractual obligations, etc. Dmitry Izvekov, Chairman of the Board of the Russian Insurance Centre,
tells about his company’s experience in aerospace insurance business
MILITARY AVIATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
29
30
RusAF got its first upgraded Tu-160
First production Mi-28N delivered to Defence Ministry
Yak-130’s official trials to complete in early 2007
Exercise of ‘Strategists’ from Ukrainka
This April, Lt.-Gen. Igor Khvorov, officer commanding the 37th Air Army (Long-Range Aviation), checked the
combat readiness of the 326th Heavy Bomber Air Division at Ukrainka Air Force Base in the Amur Region in
the Russian Far East. In so doing, he had the division conduct a command post exercise (CPX) simulating a
conventional-weapons live-fire air operation from 11 to 14 April. With the exercise in full swing, the 326th
Division’s ‘strategists’ were joined by their mates from Engels AFB in European Russia. The CPX culminated in
launching live ALCMs and dropping live bombs at firing ranges throughout the country.
Take-Off’s special correspondent Dmitry Pichugin visited Ukrainka AFB, with his visit resulting in his photo report
covering the strategic bomber fleet’s exercise
Wings of the Baltic.
In commemoration of the 90th anniversary
of the first victory of Russian naval pilots
34
On the 21 June 1916 (4 July 1916 in line with the Gregorian date), eight aeroplanes clashed in the skies over the
Baltic Sea, four German ones and four Russian hydroplanes designed by Dmitry Grigorovich and based on the
aircraft-carrying cruiser Orlitsa of the Russian Imperial Navy. During the battle, Lt. S.A. Petrov and his gunner WO
N.P. Korshunov downed a German plane whose crew had to force-land and was taken prisoner of war. Another
two German planes were damaged by 1st Lt. A.N. Izvekov and his gunner WO A.V. Nazarov and Petty Officer
G.G. Kartsev and his gunner WO Sychkin. The day of the first victory in an air battle has been celebrated as the
birthday of the Russian naval aviation ever since. This year marks its 90th anniversary.
The first hydroplanes appeared at the Baltic as far back as 1912, and 27 April 1918 is considered to be the official
birthday of the Baltic Fleet’s air arm, since the first Special Air Brigade was activated by the Fleet on that date.
The Black Sea, Pacific and Northern Fleets got their aviation as an independent branch in 1921, 1932 and 1936
respectively. Thus, the Baltic became the birthplace of the Russian naval aviation. Decades later, the Baltic Fleet
air branch comprises fighter, bomber, reconnaissance, helicopter and transport units operating up-to-date combat
and transport fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft
COSMONAUTICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
42
Long-awaited Resurs
Another Progress docked with ISS
KazSat lofted to geo-synchronous orbit
ISS Space Holding Company to emerge
Clipper is changing
Battle for the Moon. Episode II
46
www.take-off.ru
In April 2006 Russia and the entire world celebrated the 45th anniversary of the first space flight, carried out by
Soviet cosmonaut Yury Gagarin. The occasion became the reason for both recalling the past of the Russian space
exploration, and dipping into its future. However, despite all the efforts of the officials, everyone could not but
compare it with ambitious space exploration plans of the US. The 45-year old issue became the topic of the month:
who will be the first to land on the Moon in the XXI century? Alina Chernoivanova tries to find out why do Russians
and Americans rush to the Moon again and what is the possible result of the ‘Moon race’ second round could be
take-off july 2006
3
industry | in brief
Irkut taking stock
On 24 May, Oleg Demchenko,
president of the Irkut Corp., held
a news conference, during which
he summed up the company’s
performance in 2005 and outlined
principal tasks for this year. Irkut’s
main production programmes are
delivery of sets and assemblies
for the Su-30MKI fighter’s license
production in India (140 aircraft
are to be made), 18 Su-30MKM
multirole fighters to Malaysia and
28 Su-30MKA multirole fighters
to Algeria in 2007–09, 16 Yak-130
combat trainers and a simulator to
Algeria and seven Beriev Be-200ChS
to the Russian Emergencies Ministry
with an option for another eight.
Irkut’s current orderbook is
worth $5.1 billion and, Demchenko
stressed, is the largest one among
those of the Russian aircraft manufacturers.
Among the most significant results
in 2005, Irkut’s president cited the
delivery of the third Be-200ChS to the
Russian Emergencies Management
Ministry (EMERCOM), leasing
a Be-200 to Italy’s Civil Defence
Department for operational evaluation, delivery of eight Su-30MKI
production sets for license production by India, and preparing Irkut’s
production facilities for manufacturing the Su-30MKM for the Royal
Malaysian Air Force. In addition, the
Russian Air Force ordered a 12-ship
Yak-130 pilot batch last year. Irkut
and the UK’s LBS made a deal on
supplying software to fit the integrated logistics support system. The
Irkutsk Aircraft Plant was certificated to Airbus standard and preparation for making A320 components
began. An Irkut-EADS joint venture
was set up to promote and certificate
the Be-200, with EADS buying 10%
of Irkut’s stock.
A number of important events
took place as early as the beginning
of this year, including a contract for
28 Su-30MKA multirole fighters and
16 Yak-130 combat trainers for the
Algerian Air Force, delivery of five
production sets for license-producing Su-30MKIs in India and another
contract with Airbus for making A320
components. In addition, an EADS
representative got a seat on Irkut’s
board of directors, and work places
were set up to control the company’s
integrated logistics support system.
The third flying Yak-130 prototype in
the production configuration entered
the trials in April.
This year’s priorities are deliveries
of 13 Su-30MKI production sets to
India, two Be-200ChS amphibians
to the Russian EMERCOM and 12 of
the planned 18 Su-30MKI fighters to
India instead of the earlier delivered
Su-30Ks, leasing of Be-200s to Italy
and Portugal, getting RusAF’s preliminary report resultant from the
Yak-130’s official tests, launching
deliveries of components to fit A320
airliners, making the Su-30MKM and
Su-30MKA fighters to be shipped to
Malaysia and Algeria respectively in
2007, and signing a Russian-Indian
intergovernmental agreement on the
MTA medium transport aircraft programme.
According to Oleg Demchenko,
the company’s primary strategic
goals are stepping up the work
in support of Russian customers,
consolidating its positions and
penetrating new twin-seat multirole fighter and combat trainer
markets, diversifying its orderbook
of combat and commercial multirole platforms, integrating with the
international aviation community
and penetrating new aircraft market
sectors.
KnAAPO
Pre-production Su-80GP makes maiden flight
The first pre-production Su-80GP
30-seat multirole turboprop convertible passenger/transport aircraft (c/n 01-05) made its maiden flight at the KnAAPO airfield
in Komsomolsk-on-Amur at 10.08
Moscow time on 29 June 2006. The
61-minute long maiden flight was
carried out by Sukhoi Design Bureau
test pilots Yury Vashchuk and Alexey
Lilye. The ground control was exercised by Hero of Russia, Sukhoi
Design Bureau chief test pilot Igor
Votintsev and Chief Designer, Su-80
project manager Gennady Litvinov,
while Sukhoi Design Bureau
Designer General Mikhail Simonov
carried out the overall supervision of
4
take-off 2006 july
the tests. The flight was conducted
as scheduled, and the flight crew
emphasised good controllability of
the new aircraft.
As is known, the first Su-80
flight-test prototype (c/n 01-02,
registration number RA-82911)
has been undergoing flight tests
in Zhukovsky outside Moscow
since September 2001. Another
aircraft (c/n 01-01) underwent a
series of static bench tests at the
Siberian Aviation Research and
Development Institute (SibNIA),
and aircraft c/n 01-03 was submitted to the mock-up commission
for examination. The development
and the first stage of tests resulted
in a drastic modification of the
aircraft’s design. The fuselage in
front of the centre wing section
became 1.4 m longer, the tail unit
was modified, and a number of
improvements were introduced into
the aircraft control system and the
loading ramp. These modifications
were for the first time introduced
into prototype c/n 01-04, sent to the
SibNIA for another round of bench
tests in December 2004, as well
as follow-up flight-test prototypes,
manufactured by KnAAPO. Aircraft
c/n 01-05, which is also the second Su-80 flight-test prototype and
the first pre-production prototype,
became the first such aircraft.
KnAAPO has almost completed two more flight-test aircraft
as well (c/n 01-06 and 01-07).
The three aircraft will take part
in the Su-80GP certification tests,
expected to be completed in early
2008. After that series production
aircraft will be delivered to customers, under contracts signed.
The Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
airline, and such air carriers as the
Polyarnye Airlines, the Khabarovskie
Airlines, the Dalavia, the Vostok,
etc., may receive the new aircraft
in 2008–2010. A number of foreign
states, including China, Vietnam,
Thailand, and Malaysia, have also
expressed their interest in the
Su-80GP.
The first pre-production Su-80GP
made its second test flight, which
lasted for over two hours, on 30 June.
Short-term plans envision about two
dozen acceptance and refinement
test flights in Komsomolsk-on-Amur,
after which the pre-production
Su-80GP will be painted and transported to the Gromov Flight Research
Institute out of Moscow to undergo
certification tests.
www.take-off.ru
industry | in brief
www.take-off.ru
Ilyushin Finance signed a MoU
with Chinese airline Silk Route
Cargo on buying two Il-96-400T
freighter planes with an option
for three more. The contracts and
MoU, coupled with last year’s deals
made with Russia’s Volga-Dnepr
and Atlant-Soyuz carriers (both
ordered two Il-96-400T freighters
each), served the ground for the
company to make a deal with VASO
in early May for nine Il-96-family
aircraft – the first such deal this
year. Now, the leasing company is
ordering six planes more from the
plane maker in Voronezh.
The Il-96-400 is to become
more efficient in terms of specific
economic characteristics than
the Il-96-300 is. The Il-96-400M
airliner and Il-96-400T freighter
variants are offered at once. Both
variants have a two-seat cockpit
and cutting-edge avionics. The
Il-96-400 has been stretched by
9 m, compare to its predecessor.
This allows it to seat up to 370
passengers in the tourist cabin
configuration designed for charter flights or 335 passengers in
the two-class configuration, with
the seat pitch to measure 810 or
840 m in the economy class and
over 1,080 mm in the business
class. A three class configuration
has been developed as well.
The cargo variant features a
large left-side cargo door measuring 4.85 m in width and 2.875 m
in height. This allows the whole
range of cargo containers and
pallets to be loaded, with their
weight totalling up to 92 t. The
cargo floor has integral mechanization to move containers and
pallets along the cargo hold. In
addition to the main door, there
are two more cargo doors measuring 2.69x1.73 m and 2.69x1.84 m.
Since the Il-96-400 has gained
weight up to 270 t, it is to mount
more powerful 17,400 kgf
PS-90A1 engines.
“All of this turns the Il-96 into
a product featuring a drastically
higher quality”, believes Ilyushin
Finance’s
Director
General
Alexander Rubtsov. “Having substantial advantage in cost comparing to its foreign rivals it possesses a lucrative payload”.
VASO’s manufacture of six
new Il-96s under the 22 June
2006 contract will be paid for by
Ilyushin Finance using the money
gained from issuing additional
stock to its stockholders and from
bank loans and the customers’
advance payments.
“Now, a 10-ship batch is coming on stage, of which four are
to be made under the previous
order made in early May”, said
VASO Director General Mikhail
Shushpanov after signing the contract on 22 June. He also expects
Ilyushin Finance to “have prepared
an option for 10 more Il-96-family
planes until this year-end”. The
Il-96-300, -400T and -400M orderbook is 20 aircraft thick.
Thus the VASO re-enter Il-96
long-range airliners into series
production. According to existing
plans, in future VASO plant as a
part of the United Aircraft-building
Corporation will become a centre of composite details production for different aircraft and the
main facility for regional aircraft
assembling.
VASO
On 22 June, Ilyushin Finance
Co.’s Director General Alexander
Rubtsov and Voronezh VASO’s
Director
General
Mikhail
Shushpanov signed a contract for
six new aircraft of the Ilyushin
Il-96 family. Under the contract,
VASO plant shall make and deliver
them to IFC
between spring
2007 and late 2008. The deal’s
worth is estimated at $350 million (a brand-new Il-96-400 costs
about $60 million). According
to Mr. Rubtsov speaking at the
contract’s signature, one of the
new aircraft is to be operated
by the Rossiya state transportation company operating two
Il-96-300PU airliners in support of
the Russian president. According
to Mr. Shushpanov, Rossiya’s new
buy will be used both for backing
up the presidential plane and on
commercial services.
The rest five of the Ilyushin
Finance-ordered six Il-96s are
likely to be sold abroad. The contract was signed in Voronezh in
the presence of a high-ranking
Syrian delegation headed by
Syrian Transport Minister Yaarob
Suleiman Badr. The delegation included Nashaat Numeyer,
Director General of Syria’s leading
carrier Syrianair, pilots, engineers
and financial experts of the company, which expresses the Syrians’
serious intentions to order three
long-haul airliners of the latest Il-96-400 version and four
medium-haul Aviastar-produced
Tupolev Tu-204s. According to
Mr. Badr speaking in Voronezh,
a Russian aircraft maintenance
centre is being planned in Syria to
be used by other Middle Eastern
airlines as well.
The looming contract with Syria
is not Ilyushin Finance’s first
export deal. Late in last December
and early in March this year, the
company leased two Il-96-300s
to Cuban air carrier Cubana, after
which the parties clinched another
deal on 10 April 2006 for two more
Il-96-300s, two Tu-204-100s and a
Tu-204C. At about the same time,
VASO
Ilyushin Finance ordered 6 more Il-96s from VASO
take-off 2006 july
5
industry | in brief
NPO Saturn
The first SaM146 new-generation
engine prototype designed to power
the future RRJ from Sukhoi Civil
Aircraft Company was assembled
by NPO Saturn on 22 June 2006. Its
trials are to begin on 5 July after it
has been mounted on a test rig and
mated with test equipment comprising more than 2,000 sensors.
The SaM146 programme is
a graphic example of teamwork
between the Russian and EU
industries, providing for fair cooperation between Russia’s Saturn and
France’s Snecma (Safran group)
in developing, producing and marketing the advanced powerplant
intended for use on new-generation
regional aircraft.
To date, the SaM146’s co-developers have passed through stages from
a marketing study to the key phase
of the programme – launch of the
first engine’s tests. The high-pressure loop and fan had been tested
earlier. The first of the three test rigs
has been upgraded and accepted in
line with international regulations.
The rig was tested with the use
of a CFM56-7 engine to complete
integration of all control systems for
testing the first SaM146. In 2005,
Saturn bought and launched a most
capable supercomputer in Russia to
design the SaM146 and process data
resultant from its tests.
6
take-off 2006 july
Saturn’s workshops are being
prepared and fitted with up-to-date
production equipment to ensure
prototype manufacture and full-rate
production of the advanced engine.
Some of its parts are made by a
new Russo-French joint venture,
VolgAero, established in 2005.
Cutting-edge manufacturing processes maximise top-notch quality of
the products and reduce the production time.
The SaM146 is planned to be tested on the unique test complex comprising an open test bench and three
closed test benches. The complex is
being built in the Yaroslavl Region.
It is capable of holding the whole
range of certification and acceptance tests of the SaM146 and any
other commercial turbine engines
in line with the Russian, EU and US
standards
The SaM146 programme rests
upon the principle of strategic
partnership and risk-and-revenue
sharing. Saturn and Snecma have
divided responsibilities and have
been making necessary investments
along with doing the job. To ensure
a single SaM146 supplier and type
certificate holder, the two companies have set up the PowerJet joint
venture.
The SaM146 won Sukhoi’s Civil
Aircraft’s competition for a pow-
NPO Saturn
First SaM146 assembled
erplant to fit the RRJ aircraft family, held in April 2003. It is the
only integrated powerplant designed
specially for use on this new-generation regional jet. The SaM146
has an up-to-date design resultant
from the wealth of experience gained
from previous programmes (particularly, French gas generator DEM21)
and analysis of rival engines. The
SaM146 features high reliability, low
maintenance costs and fuel consumption and compliance with the
current and future ICAO environment-friendliness regulations.
The SaM146 has the twin-shaft
configuration with a single-stage
axial fan with three additional
low-pressure stages, a six-stage
high-pressure compressor, a cannular combustor, a single-stage
high-pressure turbine, a three-stage
low-pressure turbine and separate
jet nozzles for each of the ducts, with
the outer duct’s nozzle being controllable and fitted with a reverser.
The baseline SaM146 to power the
95-seat variant of the RRJ will develop 7,200 kgf in take-off (7,900 kgf
at contingency rating) and a specific
fuel consumption of 0.629 kg/kgf•hr
in cruising flight. The baseline model
is to spawn a whole range of derivatives with their thrust ranging from
6,400 to 8,000 kgf.
The engine is to be certificated in
accordance with the Russian, EU and
US aviation regulations, which will
enable the RRJ to be operated without any restrictions throughout the
world. Thus, it is going to be the first
Russian commercial engine holding
an international type certificate. The
SaM146 programme is focussed on
exporting the engine, because 70%
of RRJs are slated for export sales.
At the same time with kicking
off the first SaM146’s bench tests,
Saturn is assembling more engines
to carry on with further trials. The
SaM146 will begin its flight tests
on an Il-76 flying testbed in the
earlier 2007, with four such engines
to power an RRJ prototype on its
maiden flight in autumn 2007. The
engine and aircraft certification is to
have been completed by year-end of
2008 when deliveries of the RRJ to
launch customers are to start.
www.take-off.ru
industry | in brief
Agreement on Su-35’s engine signed
Alexey Mikheyev
The work on the ‘117S’ turbofan is under way in line with
a decision by the Air Force deputy chief for armament to boost
the characteristics of the engine
gradually to fit a new family of
Sukhoi aircraft. The programme is
going to be paid for with Sukhoi’s,
Saturn’s and UMPO’s own money
(40%, 30% and 30% of the R&D
costs respectively). Initially, the
experimental work preceding the
NPO Saturn
Mikhail Pogosyan, Yuri Lastochkin
and Alexander Artyukhov, heads of
the Sukhoi company, NPO Saturn
and UMPO JSC met in Moscow on
7 June and signed an agreement on
further funding of the R&D of the
‘117S’ engine to power, first of all, the
Su-35 fighter, a latest export variant of
the Flankers aircraft family. Under the
agreement, the efforts to ensure the
‘117S’ engine’s high performance are
to be funded further.
contract was funded by Saturn
and UMPO.
The ‘117S’ engine is a heavy
upgrade of the production Saturn
AL-31F designed to power advanced
versions of the Su-27 fighter family
and early prototypes of the PAK FA
fifth generation fighter. The engine
has a low-pressure compressor
whose diameter has grown from
905 mm to 932 mm, an enhanced
capacity turbine, a new combustor
and a digital control system. Owing
to advanced design solutions, thrust
has increased by 16% to 14,500 kgf
and service life hiked by more than
2.5 times to 4,000 hours. To date, a
five-engine prototype batch has been
made, with the engines having completed their bench and flight tests,
proving the characteristics declared.
The bench tests of the first ‘117’
prototype began in 2003, and the
Su-27M No 710 flying testbed completed a flight test programme with
such engines in 2004–05. The ‘117S’
will enter production at UMPO.
The partners decided that the
work on and rights for the ‘117S’
engine would be divided between
Saturn and UMPO fifty-fifty, with
part of the results produced under
the programme to be used in developing an advanced fifth-generation
engine to power the fifth-generation
fighter.
the company’s efforts to upgrade
the AL-31F and believed that once
the AL-31F-M1 completed its official
trials, it could be used in upgrading
the existing Su-27s to Su-27SM
standard. In addition, he deemed it
possible to mount the AL-31F-M1s
on the advanced Su-34 whose deliveries to the Russian Air Force are
slated for as early as this year.
The first 24 aircraft of the type,
which will have been fielded before
2010, are to be powered by production AL-31Fs, while in future
the Su-34s might be equipped with
Salut-upgraded engines featuring
enhanced thrust and an extended
service life.
The
AL-31F-M1
developed by MMPP Salut Moscow
Machine-building Plant to fit
advanced derivatives of the Su-27
aircraft family entered its official
trials on 26 May 2006. At the same
time, the engine entered flight trials as part of the powerplant of
the Russian Air Force Su-27SM
upgraded fighter that is undergoing
its official test programme at the
Defence Ministry’s State Flight Test
Centre in Akhtubinsk.
The engine has been developed
under Salut’s programme on phased
upgrade of the AL-31F it makes.
Although Salut has been upgrading the AL-31F on its own, the Air
Force is all for it. On 3 February this
year, the Air Force chief ordered a
commission established to put the
engine to official tests.
www.take-off.ru
The AL-31F-M1 (factory designation ‘Product 99M1’) differs from the
production AL-31F (‘Product 99V’) in
the advanced four-stage fan, whose
diameter has increased to 924 mm,
and automatic control system with
a digital integrated engine controller. This has resulted in an 8% hike
in thrust up to 13,500 kgf, with the
service life before the first overhaul
increasing up to 1,000 hours (specified life is up to 2,000 hours).
The AL-31F-M1 has been
flight-tested on LII’s Su-27P
No 37-11 flying testbed and now
it is being flight-tested on the Air
Force’s Su-27SM while the final
stage of its official bench tests
expected to be completed this year.
Visiting Salut on 15 June, RusAF’s
chief, Gen. Vladimir Mikhaylov,
stressed that he was satisfied with
Viktor Drushlyakov
AL-31F-M1 in official trials
take-off 2006 july
7
industry | in brief
The upgraded PS-90A2 engine
developed by the Perm-based
Aviadvigatel company assisted by
Pratt&Whitney is slated for certification in mid-2007. According to
the Perm Engine Company Director
General Alexander Inozemtsev speaking with Take-Off, two PS-90A2 turbofans were built and submitted for
testing in 2005. The second PS-90A2
prototype had logged 96 hours by
this summer, having completed 51
cycles, 213 starts and 106 varying
duties. The third engine of the type is
being completed to begin its trials.
Aviadvigatel plans to submit the
fourth and fifth PS-90A2 engines
for certification trials as part of the
powerplants of an Il-96-300 and a
Tu-214. The PS-90A2 deliveries are
to launch in 2008.
According
to
Alexander
Inozemtsev, the modified PS-90A2
will differ from its baseline model,
the PS-90A, in lower operating costs:
“The engine owning cost will grow by
about 20% while the life-cycle cost
will drop by 35%. Thus, air carriers’
hourly costs will diminish roughly
by 30%”.
In addition, Aviadvigatel derives
a more powerful engine from the
PS-90A2 – PS-90A3 to produce
17,600 kgf of thrust. A similar thrust
is to be produced by the modified
PS-90A1 as well, after it is derived
from the production PS-90A to
power the Il-96-400 airliners and
Il-96-400T freighters. “We have got
an order from Ilyushin Finance Co.
for a more powerful engine. We are
running a marketing research to this
end,” Alexander Inozemtsev said,
adding that the PS-90A3 would retain
its enhanced thrust across the whole
range of operating temperatures.
Speaking of the company’s production programme, Alexander
Perm Engine Company
PS-90 production increased
Company is to supply the leasing
company with 17 PS-90A and eight
PS-90A1 engines in 2006–07. All
of the engines bought by Ilyushin
Finance Co. are to fit Il-96s and
Tu-204s under the contracts with
the end users taking into account
acquisition of backup engines to set
up a spares pool at the customers’
premises.
Inozemtsev said that at least 27 new
PS-90A engines were planned to
be made this year, with a further
growth of the orderbook anticipated.
For instance, the board of directors
of Perm Engine Company on 12 April
approved the contract for 25 PS-90A
and PS-90A1 turbofans the company
had landed from Ilyushin Finance
Co. Under the contract, Perm Engine
Boeing 787’s heat exchangers are made in Russia
8
take-off 2006 july
built yet. The 787’s potential market
could exceed 500 aircraft. The first
prototype is planned to fly next
year, with customers to start taking
delivery of Dreamliners in 2008. The
designed production rate is eight
to nine airliners per month. Hence,
about 80 heat exchanger sets will
have to be supplied for 787s alone
annually starting from 2010.
To date, Hamilton Standard-Nauka
has made about 11,000 heat
exchangers, of which 90% have
been exported. They fit Boeing 747
and 777, A380, CRJ-200, ERJ-135,
ERJ-145, SAAB-200, Tu-334,
Tu-204, Tu-214, etc. The company’s turnover totalled $6.5 million
last year, with its sales planned to
account for $7.5 million in 2006.
Interestingly,
Hamilton
Standard-Nauka is the only company in the world, making the heat
exchangers to fit the air conditioning
systems on the A380 and Boeing
787 produced by the global airliner industry’s leaders. No doubt,
Hamilton Sundstrand that, in the
end, is responsible to the customers is taking risks vesting this work
in Russia. However, this means
that the western company trusts its
Russian subcontractor and strives
to cut prime costs, which is important for competing on the global
market.
Andrey Yurgenson
Nauka JSC. At first, the venture was
planned to specialise in making heat
exchangers for the Tupolev Tu-204
aircraft family, but the market for the
aircraft proved to be too small, and
Hamilton Standard-Nauka started
working in support of the Boeing
747. It set up a design bureau of
its own in 2002, which immediately started designing its own
products. A year later, the venture
landed an order for both making and
designing heat exchangers for the
Airbus A380. Production of the heat
exchangers kicked off in 2004, and
enough sets have been made to date
to fit as many as 20 airliners.
However, the most significant
event for the company was its winning a tender for developing a number of systems to fit the Boeing 787.
As a result, Hamilton Standard-Nauka
snagged an order for designing and
manufacturing heat exchangers for
Boeing’s new bird. According to
Sergey Kravchenko, 393 Boeing
787s had been sold by May 2006,
taking into account that even the
first prototype plane had not been
Andrey Yurgenson
Russian-US
joint
venture
Hamilton Standard-Nauka has made
and prepared for shipping the first
set of prototype heat exchangers
to fit the Boeing 787’s air conditioning system. The company’s
Director General showed the set to
the media on 23 May. The event
was attended by Richard Brody,
president of the Russian division
of United Technologies International
Operations (UTIO), and Sergey
Kravchenko, Boeing’s vice-president, Russia & CIS.
The prototype heat exchangers
were flown to the United States on
the same day for tests on an integrated aircraft systems test bench.
Then, Hamilton Standard-Nauka
will launch manufacture of a set to
fit the first Boeing 787 prototype,
with several heat exchanger sets to
be delivered before year-end. The
product is slated to enter full-rate
production in 2007.
The Hamilton Standard-Nauka
joint venture was set up in 1994 by
Hamilton Sundstrand, a division of
United Technologies, and Russian
www.take-off.ru
Alexey Mikheyev
industry | project
The MiG-29M-OVT super-manoeuvrable multi-role fighter prototype
will be in the spotlight at the upcoming Farnborough air show. Senior
RSK MiG test pilot, Hero of Russia Pavel Vlasov will demonstrate a
unique set of aerobatics stunts in the MiG-29M-OVT during the demonstration flights. The aircraft is based on pre-production MiG-29M
fighter No 156 and is basically a flying testbed for testing and refining the RD-33 engine with a thrust vector control (TVC) nozzle – the
so-called KLIVT system (the Klimov Vectoring Thrust), developed
by the St. Petersburg-based Klimov Plant – and studying the impact
of the TVC on flight characteristics and combat capabilities of the
fighter.
The aircraft, which made its maiden flight with a TVC nozzle in August 2003, was first demonstrated to the public at the
10
take-off july 2006
MAKS 2005 air show in Zhukovsky outside Moscow in August
2005. It made its first flight in European skies over Berlin at the
ILA 2006 air show in May 2006. Now Pavel Vlasov will dazzle participants and visitors of the Farnborough air show with the unique
aerobatics.
RSK MiG, the designer of the MiG-29M-OVT, associates many
things with the Farnborough air show. It was in Farnborough in
September 1988 that contemporary Russian fighters started the
triumphant tour of major international air shows, which has been
going on for 18 years. It was a pair of MiG-29s that were the
first Soviet aircraft to breach the old-time veil of secrecy around
Soviet combat aircraft. They arrived in Farnborough to astonish
seasoned aviation experts with their extraordinary flight character-
www.take-off.ru
industry | project
TVC
Thrust vector control
provides MiG-29M with
totally new capabilities
istics. The upgraded MiG-29M fighter made its international debut
in Farnborough four years later in September 1992. It is worth
mentioning that it was the very same MiG-29M No 156 that would
be converted into the present MiG-29M-OVT a decade later. It is
also worth mentioning that back then the aircraft was piloted by
the very same Pavel Vlasov, a young test pilot from the Mikoyan
Design Bureau (he had graduated from the Test Pilot School and
joined the Mikoyan Design Bureau only three years before, but
had already participated in a number of most complicated tests,
including the MiG-29K fighter tests aboard the Admiral Kuznetsov
aircraft carrier). At the present time Pavel Vlasov is the Hero of
Russia, an honoured test pilot, and senior test pilot/deputy Director
General of RSK MiG for flight tests.
www.take-off.ru
Those, who have seen Vlasov flying the MiG-29M-OVT, do not doubt
that the new MiG fighter is even slightly superior to the Su-30MKI
super-manoeuvrable aircraft, the traditional star of demonstration
flight, as far as their manoeuvrability is concerned. However, unique
aerobatics are not what matters most: according to RSK MiG Chief
Designer Nikolay Buntin, head of MiG-29K/KUB, MiG-29M/M2, and
MiG-29M-OVT programmes, the thrust vector control provides the
new MiG with totally new capabilities in both the super-manoeuvrability and the conventional flight modes. As is known, TVC engines
will be mounted on series-production MiG-29M and MiG-29M2 fighters, which may be designated MiG-35 in the future. This fact boosts
the interest towards the new aircraft to be demonstrated at the
Farnborough air show even further.
take-off july 2006
11
industry | project
12
take-off july 2006
Alexey Mikheyev
TVC history
T10M-11 (Su-37) No 711 prototype fighter fitted with experimental AF-31F TVC engines, 1996
Alexey Mikheyev
First experiments, aimed at realising the
TVC concept on jet aircraft, started almost
half a century ago, when British Hawker
Siddeley designers (now part of the British
Aerospace) embarked on developing the
P.1127 Kestrel vertical take-off and landing
(VTOL) turbojet aircraft, the prototype of
the world-famous Harrier, in 1957.
The first Soviet Yak-36 VTOL jet, submitted for tests in 1963, featured a vertical take-off and landing design, similar to
that of the Kestrel and the Harrier. The
Yak-36 remained a prototype, however, the
Yakovlev Design Bureau capitalised on the
Yak-36 development experience to design
the Yak-36M shipborne VTOL fighter in
1970. Later on the aircraft was launched
into series production and entered service
with the Soviet Navy under the designation
of Yak-38. The R27V-300 vectored-thrust
engine, mounted on the Yak-38, boasted two
nozzle extensions on both sides of the rear
fuselage, which deflected the thrust vector
from vertical to horizontal and back.
The Yak-41M supersonic fighter, submitted for tests in 1987, became the follow-on of the first Soviet series-production
VTOL aircraft. Just like the Yak-38, it had
a combined power plant, comprising two
vertical-lift engines and a vectored-thrust
engine. However, the R79V-300 afterburning turbofan had a single axisymmetric nozzle, quartered along the axis of the aircraft
between fuselage tailbeams and capable of
deflecting the horizontal thrust vector by
95 degrees downwards and even slightly
forward due to a unique three-sector layout.
For a number of reasons there were only
three Yak-41M prototypes, and the aircraft
had never been launched into series production. Nevertheless, it is common knowledge, that the TVC design, tested on the
Yak-41M, was later on exploited by the
US on the series-production version of the
future F-35B vertical take-off/short landing fighter to be fielded with the US Marine
Corps, the RAF, and the Royal Navy in the
near future.
Summing up the short description of the
history of thrust vector control, employed
on VTOL jets, it is worth mentioning that the
only objective of such TVC nozzles consisted
in deflecting the jet blast to create a vertical
lift for take-off and landing. Although, combat employment of Harrier fighters proved
that in-flight TVC (rather than just at takeoff, landing, and during hovering) resulted
in certain tactical advantages over enemy
aircraft in a dogfight. The conclusion may
be considered to have boosted the development of the thrust vector control concept
on fourth- and fifth-generation fighters in
Su-30MKI second prototype powered by a pair of AL-31FP TVC turbofans, 1998. In comparison with
Su-37 its powerplant provided thrust vector control not only in vertical but also in a lateral plane
the mid-1980s. Such new fighters do not
have to have the VTOL capability, but new
TVC systems promise crucial advantages in
a dogfight.
Sukhoi’s experience
The Soviet Union started working on
TVC engines for fighters' and improving
manoeuvrability almost simultaneously with
the US in the late 1980s. When developing the AL-41F fifth-generation afterburning turbofan with a thrust of 18–20 tons
for the Project 1.42 MFI multi-role fighter, designed by Mikoyan Design Bureau,
the Lyulka Saturn Scientific Production
Association designed a flat TVC nozzle. A
similar engine was developed for the Sukhoi
S-32 forward-swept wing fighter (later on
designated S-37, and now known as the
Su-47 Berkut). However, later on the traditional axisymmetric nozzle was preferred to
the flat one in the AL-41F design.
By that time the USSR had obtained the
first results in thrust vector control by deflecting the conventional axisymmetric nozzle of
the AL-31F engine, mounted on all Su-27
fighters, in the vertical plane. The Lyulka
Saturn, headed by Designer General Viktor
Chepkin, embarked on designing the first
single-hinged axisymmetric vectored-thrust
nozzle for the AL-31F engine, deflecting
the thrust vector in the vertical plane within
a sector of ±15°, as far back as 1986.
The production AL-31F engine with the
first TVC nozzle prototype was mounted
on the T10-26 aircraft (Su-27 No 07-02) in
1989. Test pilot Oleg Tsoy took the aircraft
for its maiden flight on 21 March 1989. The
tests of the AL-31F with a TVC nozzle prototype on the T10-26 resulted in a decision
to develop a series-production TVC engine
with servo drives, integrated into the aircraft
fly-by-wire control system. It was recommended that two such engines be mounted
on the Su-27M prototype, which was to be
employed for studying the impact of TVC
on the fighter’s manoeuvrability at beyond
stall angles (up to 90 degrees) and zero flight
speeds.
T10M-11 prototype No 711, also known
as Su-37 in 1996–2000, became the first
such modification. It made its maiden flight
www.take-off.ru
industry | project
Right: T10M-10 (Su-27M No 710) flying testbed
being used since 2004 to test radically upgraded
‘117’ engines for new Flanker versions as well as
PAK FA first prototypes. In future these engines
could be fitted with TVC nozzles
Right bottom: all-aspect TVC nozzle mock-up of
the AL-31F-M1 engine upgraded by MMPP Salut
on the LII’s Su-27P No 595 flying testbed, 2003
Andrey Fomin
Viktor Drushlyakov
Viktor Drushlyakov
Bottom: Su-27KUB ship-borne twinseat combat
trainer and multirole aircraft recently got engines
with TVC: its production AL-31F Series 3 turbofans
were fitted with the TVC nozzles used by AL-31FP
engines, 2005
on 2 April 1996 and was piloted by Evgeny
Frolov, a test pilot from the Sukhoi Design
Bureau, who later on conducted all tests
of the aircraft. During the very first flights
of the Su-37 Frolov started mastering new
aerobatics: rolls in the vertical plane without
changing the forward flight trajectory, afterburner minimum-radius turns, controlled
spins, etc. According to experts, in addition
to the purely demonstrational effect, the
super-manoeuvrability mode provided the
Su-37 with an unconditional superiority
in a dogfight over the enemy, lacking such
capabilities.
The Su-37, piloted by Frolov, was demonstrated to the international public for the
first time at the Farnborough air show exactly
a decade ago. Later on the Su-37 repeatedly
participated in various Russian and foreign
air shows, and everywhere spectators admired
unique capabilities of the Su-37 and the skills
of the pilot, displayed in the course of demonstration flight, carried out by Hero of Russia
Evgeny Frolov. The T10M-11 aircraft, powered by the AL-31F thrust vector control
engine, completed the tests in 2000.
www.take-off.ru
The series-production AL-31FP afterburning turbofan became the follow-on of
the AL-31F engine with a vectored-thrust
axisymmetric nozzle. The new engine was
designed for the Su-30MKI super-manoeuvrable multi-role fighter, developed under
a contract with the Indian Air Force. The
first Su-30MKI prototype, powered by two
AL-31FPs, made its maiden flight on 1
July 1997, with the flight tests conducted by
Vyacheslav Averyanov, a test pilot from the
Sukhoi Design Bureau.
The AL-31FP engine is also fitted with
a vectored-thrust nozzle, deflecting within
a sector of ±15°. However, unlike prototypes, the AL-31FP boasts a nozzle deflection axis deviated from the pitch plane by
32 degrees, which results in getting both
the vertical and the lateral thrust, given
a differential deflection of both nozzles.
Combined with the feasibility of the automatic differential throttling of both engines
(the so-called differential thrust control),
this feature allows the aircraft to be controlled in all planes at extremely low and
near-zero flight speeds, when usual aero-
dynamic controls are no longer efficient.
The AL-31FP has been launched into
production at the Ufa Engine Industrial
Association (UMPO).
The thrust vector control, an innovative
aerodynamic design, and an efficient control system have provided the Su-30MKI
with a unique manoeuvrability. Test pilot
Vyacheslav Averyanov mastered such aerobatics stunts in the Su-30MKI that were
beyond capabilities of any combat aircraft
at that time. He has been demonstrating the
dazzling aerobatics at various Russian and
foreign air shows since 1998.
Production Su-30MKIs started to be
delivered to India in 2002, and two years
later India embarked on licensed production of the fighter. Thus, the Su-30MKI has
become the world’s first manoeuvre unit
TVC combat aircraft. Similar aircraft will
soon enter the inventory of two other foreign
states: next year the Irkut Corporation is to
start exporting the Su-30MKM to Malaysia,
and the Su-30MKA to Algeria. The aircraft
will also be powered by the AL-31FP TVC
engines.
take-off july 2006
13
The Klimov Vectoring Thrust
The St. Petersburg-based Klimov Plant
embarked on developing its own version of
a TVC system for MiG-29-family aircraft in
14
take-off july 2006
Piotr Butowski
It is worth mentioning that Su-27/
Su-30-family aircraft, powered by TVC
engines, are not developed for foreign customers only. For instance, the Su-27KUB
shipborne combat trainer prototype was fitted with AL-31F Series 3 engines with vectored-thrust nozzles in summer 2003. The
TVC engines improved the manoeuvrability
and take-off/landing characteristics of the
shipborne fighter, which was confirmed in
the course of the Su-27KUB tests aboard
the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier in
the Barents Sea in November 2004.
As far as technology is concerned, retrofitting other Su-27-family aircraft in service with the Russian Air Force with TVC
engines should not pose any problems. For
instance, TVC engines may be mounted
on upgraded Su-27SM2 fighters (for the
Russian Air Force) and Su-35s (for export).
As is known, such aircraft will follow the
current Su-27SKs and Su-30MKs and will
become an intermediate step towards the
fifth-generation fighter, namely the Future
Tactical Aviation Aircraft (PAK FA), being
developed by the Sukhoi Design Bureau.
The Su-35 and the first fifth-generation aircraft prototypes will be powered by "117S"
engines, designed by the NPO Saturn,
which is a deep upgrade of the AL-31F
involving technologies for developing a
fifth-generation afterburning turbofan.
They will also feature a TVC capability due
to a deflecting axisymmetric nozzle.
The Moscow-based Salut Production
Plant, another manufacturer of the AL-31F,
has offered an alternative for retrofitting
manoeuvre unit Su-27-family aircraft
with new engines. AL-31F-M1 engines
(AL-31F-SM and AL-31F-M3 later on),
modernised by Salut, may be equipped with
fully vectored-thrust nozzles. The capability is achieved by a simultaneous turn
of the shutters, mounted on the supersonic part of the nozzle. Salut designed
this TVC system jointly with the Klimov
Plant, which has developed the KLIVT
TVC system (described below). Mock-ups
of the AL-31F with a full TVC capability, upgraded by Salut, were repeatedly
demonstrated at various international air
shows in 2004–2006, for instance, as part
of the power plant of Su-27P flying testbed No 31-11 (side number 595). At the
moment the AL-31F-M1 is undergoing
state tests aboard the upgraded Su-27SM
fighter, while its TVC modification is being
bench-tested.
Piotr Butowski
industry | project
the mid-1990s. In the late 1970s the Klimov
Plant developed the RD-33 fourth-generation afterburning turbofan, mounted on the
MiG-29, as well as its new modifications.
Since then the engine has seen a number of
improvements, aimed at increasing its reliability and service life, thus, even now it is
not inferior and with regards to a number of
characteristics is even superior to its foreign
counterparts. RD-33 engines are mounted
on the entire fleet of MiG-29s in service
with Russia, seven CIS member-states, and
more than two dozen foreign states.
In addition to increasing the thrust,
reducing the fuel consumption, and improving operational characteristics, the Klimov
Plant focused its efforts on developing a
TVC-capable modification of the RD-33.
After analysing the-then available foreign
and national experience, the Klimov Plant
arrived at a conclusion that the most expedient approach consisted in deflecting only
the supersonic part of the nozzle, rather
than the entire axisymmetric nozzle. As
compared with turning the entire nozzle
(for instance, like that of the AL-31FP
engine), this approach allowed designers to
reduce the weight of the structure, make it
simple and easy to manufacture, increase
the operating speed of the nozzle deflection
mechanism, and, finally, deflect the thrust
vector in any direction.
www.take-off.ru
Alexey Mikheyev
industry | project
Top left: KLIVT nozzle for RD-33 engine first
shown at Engines ’98 exhibition in Moscow, 1998
Top and bottom: a pair of RD-33 turbofans
with KLIVT nozzles with all-aspect TVC
were mounted on the MiG-29M No 156
pre-production fighter in 2001. The pictures
show the first appearance of the aircraft
at MAKS-2001
Alexey Mikheyev
Left: RD-33 engine with KLIVT nozzle for
prospective MiG-29 versions shown at the
Engines 2004 exhibition, Moscow, 2004
The Klimov Plant had designed and manufactured the first nozzle prototype with
a deflecting supersonic part by early 1997.
In the course of engine bench tests, which
lasted 50 hours, the nozzle was deflected
about 1,000 times in all modes of operation, including afterburning. The maximum
thrust vector deflection angle amounted to
±15° in any direction, and the deflection
speed totalled 30°/second (later on it was
increased up to 60°/second).
The design of the nozzle envisions a
simultaneous deflection of all supersonic
shutters at an angle specified, facilitated by
control rods from a common control ring,
actuated by three hydraulic drives, which
www.take-off.ru
are connected to a fixed afterburner power
belt. Three hydraulic drive rods define the
exact position of the control ring in space,
and thus, the direction of the thrust vector.
Some of the afterburner elements had to be
reinforced due to additional axial and lateral
forces, impacting the nozzle and the engine
body.
Simultaneously with introducing the TVC
nozzle, designers planned to introduce a
number of modifications into the engine
design as well. Such modifications were
aimed at increasing the thrust from 8,300
to 9,000 kgf in the afterburning mode, and
from 5,040 to 5,600 kgf in the maximum
mode. The engine was also expected to be
fitted with a new digital monitoring system.
The new engine was designated RD-133 and
demonstrated at the Engines '98 show in
Moscow in spring 1998, and the MAKS '99
air show in summer 1999. However, later on
a designation of the RD-133 meant a usual
production RD-33, equipped with the TVC
system, mentioned above. At the present
time the Klimov Plant does not use this designation any longer, and the TVC modification is simply called ‘RD-33 with TVC’.
In the late 1990s the Klimov Plant sought
to fit more powerful versions of the RD-33
with a thrust of up to 10–12 t with a
similar TVC nozzle. They were displayed
as RD-333, RD-33-10M, VKS-10M, etc.
at various shows. The Klimov Plant must
still be pursuing the idea, with designations of new modifications of the widespread
afterburning turbofan being the only thing
changing.
The MiG-29 flying testbed was to have
started flight tests of the RD-33 TVC engine
in late 1997. However, there was no money
at that time. Nevertheless, two TVC engines
were mounted on MiG-29M prototype
No 156 in 2001. The aircraft had participated in the MiG-29M (Type 9-15) flight
tests until 1993 and was demonstrated on
the ground at the MAKS 2001 air show
under a designation of MiG-29OVT. Two
years later the aircraft was prepared for flight
tests, and in August 2003 RSK MiG test
pilot Pavel Vlasov carried out the first flight
with a TVC capability. The fighter, fitted
with the TVC system prototype, had logged
insufficient flying time by the outset of the
MAKS 2003 air show, thus, MiG-29M No
156 (MiG-29OVT), painted red and white,
was not allowed to carry out demonstration
flights and was displayed on the ground only.
Back then the authorities said that similar
TVC engines were expected to be mounted on future production MiG-29M and
MiG-29M2 fighters, and the information
board next to MiG-29M No 156 stated that
the power plant of the MiG-29M/M2 would
comprise two RD-33MK TVC engines with
a thrust of 9000 kgf in the afterburning
mode.
Given the fact that MiG-29M No 156
was powered by TVC engines, it was also
fitted with the improved SDU-915.01 analogue/digital fly-by-wire control system,
which increased stability and controllability, and controlled the TVC nozzle via the
control stick and foot controls, providing
aircraft balance at angle of attack of up to 60
degrees, and evolutions at angles of attack of
over 60 degrees.
By August 2005 RSK MiG pilots Pavel
Vlasov and Mikhail Belyaev had conducted over 50 TVC-capable flights in
take-off july 2006
15
MiG-29M-OVT flying laboratory No 156.
They refined the TVC system and its controls,
and its integration with the fly-by-wire control system, which allowed them to embark
on preparing for demonstration flights at the
MAKS 2005 air show. The results, demonstrated during the tests, meet requirements
of the customers, and according to RSK
MiG Chief Designer Nikolay Buntin, the
TVC engine may be launched into series production to be mounted on future MiG-29M
and MiG-29M2 fighters. At the moment
there are five RD-33 TVC engines (two of
them have undergone bench tests, two more
are mounted on MiG-29M-OVT No 156,
and one is used as a reserve engine at flight
tests).
When researching the TVC problem, the
Klimov Plant has arrived at a conclusion that
the nozzle with a fully deflecting supersonic
part developed may both be employed on
RD-33-family afterburning turbofans, and
adapted for other types of engines, including
foreign ones. The standardised TVC system
technology was named KLIVT, which stands
for the Klimov Vectoring Thrust.
Alexey Mikheyev
industry | project
16
take-off july 2006
Alexey Mikheyev
TVC on MiGs: employment prospects
According to the RSK MiG management, the MiG-29M and the MiG-29M2
are next-generation modifications of the
famous MiG-29 fighter. A total of about
1,600 MiG-29s have been produced as of
the present time. While the MiG-29SMT is
considered to be the major upgrade of the
MiG-29, the MiG-29M and the MiG-29M2
will be totally new aircraft, expected to be
launched into production in the near future,
given corresponding contracts. The feasibility
of such contracts is very high. As is known, the
MiG-29M and the MiG-29M2 will take part
in the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft
(MMRCA) tender to be announced by the
Indian Air Force, which envisions procurement and licensed production of 126 future
multi-role fighters to replace third-generation
MiG-23MF fighters and augment the fleet of
existing MiG-29s and Mirage 2000Hs. Under
the RSK MiG re-branding programme, the
MiG-29M and the MiG-29M2, which are
basically new-generation modifications of the
MiG-29, are to be designated MiG-35.
The MiG-29M single-seater (9-61) and
the MiG-29M2 twin-seater (9-67) are standardised in design, equipment, and armament
to the maximum extent. They even have the
same nose fuselage and cockpit canopy. The
only difference is that instead of a seat and a
cockpit management system for the second
pilot, the single-seat modification is fitted
with an additional fuel tank. Besides, future
MiG-35s will be standardised with MiG-33
shipborne fighters with regards to their design,
MiG-29M-OVT in demo flights, August 2005
equipment, and armament. The designation of
the MiG-33 will be given to MiG-29K (9-41)
and MiG-29KUB (9-47) aircraft, being built
under a contract with the Indian Navy, within
the framework of the same re-branding programme. The MiG-29KUB prototype is to
make its maiden flight in summer 2006. It will
be followed by the MiG-29K single-seater.
Under the contract, signed on 20 January
2004, the delivery of 12 MiG-29Ks and four
MiG-29KUBs to India is to start in 2007
and be completed in 2009, with an option
envisioning production of 30 more aircraft of
this type.
The MiG-35 and the MiG-33 will also be
standardised with the upgraded MiG-29SMT,
as far as their avionics and armament are
concerned. As a result, most of flight tests
conducted by MiG-29SMTs and MiG-29Ks
may hold true for the MiG-35, thus, the
development and production of the latter
may take a short time.
The following nine aircraft are now taking part in modified MiG-29 tests: three
MiG-29SMTs, two MiG-29UBs, two
MiG-29K prototypes (No 311 and 312,
converted from previous 9-31 prototypes),
MiG-29M2 No 154 (converted from the
www.take-off.ru
industry | project
MiG-29M-OVT basic specifications
Length, m
17.37
Wingspan, m
11.36
Height, m
4.73
Take-off weight, kg
16,100
Fuel load:
- internal fuel tanks, kg
4,400
- external fuel tanks, litres
1 x 1,500
2 x 1,150
Maximum flight speed, km/h:
- at high altitude
2,300
- near ground
1,500
Maximum Mach number
Service ceiling, m
2.2
17,500
Maximum G-load
9
3,000
Alexey Mikheyev
Alexey Mikheyev
Viktor Drushlyakov
Ferry range, km
MiG-29M fourth Type 9-15 prototype), and
MiG-29M-OVT No 156 (converted from the
last pre-production MiG-29M Type 9-15).
MiG-29M2 No 154 has already tested the
design and aerodynamics of the new standardised nose fuselage of the MiG-35 and the
MiG-33, as well as relevant onboard systems
and shortwave radio communications means.
Three MiG-29SMTs and two MiG-29UBs
are completing flight tests of standardised
avionics and armament. MiG-29M-OVT
No 156 is used as a flying testbed for refining TVC engines, since the RD-33MK TVC
engine (or its follow-ons) will constitute the
www.take-off.ru
backbone of the power plant to be mounted
on future series-production MiG-35s.
The full TVC capability will allow the
fighter both to be controlled during manoeuvres (including the super-manoeuvrability mode at critical angles of attack and
near-zero flight speeds), and to be fully stabilised during a usual flight, reducing efforts
aimed at maintaining the aircraft balance,
and thus, minimising fuel consumption. The
TVC capability provides the fighter with a
greater roll rate and an efficient directional
control at great angles of attack, when traditional aerodynamic controls are not longer
efficient, as well as a considerably greater
pitch rate.
Generally, the full TVC capability makes
controlling the MiG-29M/M2 more precise,
stable, and agile regardless of the angle of
attack both in the super-manoeuvrability
mode and during a usual flight. It will both
provide the MiG-35 with additional advantages in a dogfight, and reduce the workload
on the pilot, enabling him to focus his attention on his combat mission. The MiG-29M
will demonstrate its TVC capabilities in the
skies over Farnborough. There is no doubt
that spectators are in for a pleasant surprise!
take-off july 2006
17
industry | trend
As was mentioned earlier, Russian
President Vladimir Putin signed the
long-expected decree on establishing
the
United
Aircraf t-Building
Corporation (UAC) on 20 February
2006. On 1 June the decree marked
100 days since its publication, with the
first intermediate results traditionally
summed up after this period of time.
The results were discussed at the
recent Moscow conference with an
ambitious name of “Russian aircraft
industry and air transportation
after UAC establishment”. The
conference, sponsored by the
National Investments Council (NIC),
saw participation of about a hundred
heads of Russian and foreign air
carriers, experts, and high-ranking
officials.
Our
correspondent
Valery Ageyev also attended the
conference.
100 DAYS
AFTER
DECREE
United Aircraft-Building Corporation:
Valery AGEYEV
establishment on schedule
Address of Valery Bezverkhny, President of
the United Aircraft-Building Consortium, a
non-commercial partnership company, established as an intermediate step towards the UAC
establishment, was one of the major speeches
delivered at the conference. Mr. Bezverkhny, who
is also Vice President of the Irkut Corporation,
pointed out that a total of 19 legal entities,
including aircraft plants, enterprises, and design
bureaux, employing about 120,000 workers,
were being merged within the framework of the
United Aircraft-Building Corporation.
The UAC Holding Company is expected
to be established in October–November 2006,
after the ongoing business evaluation has
been completed. As a result, the new holding
company is expected to feature about 25% of
private capital at the initial stage. A meeting of
shareholders will be convened to appoint head
of the company. RSK MiG Director General/
Designer General Alexey Fedorov is known
to have been proposed for the post (President
18
take-off july 2006
Putin has already approved his candidacy), but
de jure he or anyone else will be assumed office
only in autumn 2006.
The second stage of the UAC establishment
envisions a new share issue, and in March–May
2007 the UAC will be joined by RSK MiG
and the Gorbunov Kazan Aircraft Production
Association (KAPO), being converted into
joint-stock companies. At the same time,
consultations with a large group of private shareholders prove that they are ready to convert they
shares into those of UAC enterprises and the
UAC proper. Thus, the next establishment stage
envisions increasing the share of private capital
up to 40%.
Thus, a full-fledge company, boasting all
necessary assets, will be established in May–
June 2007. Separate companies will simultaneously consolidate their businesses, for instance,
RSK MiG and the Sukhoi Aircraft Holding
Company will gradually merge to form a single
combat aircraft manufacturer. The military airlift
aviation will establish a managing company,
comprising necessary assets, first and foremost,
aircraft plants in Voronezh and Ulyanovsk,
which will become the basis for a single military
air transport manufacturer.
The civil sector of the national aircraft industry encounters the greatest problems and is still
looking for a way to establishing a single civil
aircraft manufacturer. One of the approaches
envisions creating an engineering centre in
compliance with totally new principles. A
managing company will be established afterwards. Companies will start merging in late
2006, with the process to be completed by
2010. Production facilities will be restructured
in the process. According to national experts,
the civil aircraft industry will have to halve the
number of its employees, now amounting to
100,000. Thus, it faces quite a complicated
task of converting its production facilities and
providing its employees with conversion training. The industry is discussing the problem with
www.take-off.ru
Andrey Fomin
Sergey Skrynnikov
industry | trend
the Russian Ministry of Education and Science
in order to ensure state support for the process.
Private capital, including that of a number of
foreign companies, is expected to be attracted at
the second stage in 2007.
In addition to that, the Sukhoi Aircraft
Holding Company and the Italian Alenia
Aeronautica, which is part of the Finmeccanica
Group, have signed a memorandum of understanding on Alenia’s procuring 20% + 1 shares
of the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company. Alenia
Aeronautica will obviously consider the feasibility of converting its shares into the UAC stock.
www.take-off.ru
The same holds true for EADS, which has
bought 10% of Irkut shares and now aims to
increase its stock in the UAC up to 10% as well.
Commenting on the range of UAC products in the sphere of military airlift aviation,
Mr. Bezverkhny emphasised that Russia still
enjoyed 27% of the international market and
should retain the military airlift aviation niche.
Thus, military airlift aviation should become
one of the priorities in the aircraft industry
development strategy. Mr. Bezverkhny stressed
that Russia would certainly get involved in joint
ventures as far as military air transport development was concerned. For instance, an intergovernmental commission is already discussing
a joint development of the MTA multi-role
transport aircraft, involving the UAC and India.
In fact, the new aircraft will replace the An-12.
It is the first real joint venture in the field of
military airlift aviation, launched by Russia.
The programme may be joined by Western
companies as well. For instance, Alenia and the
Spanish EADS division have already expressed
their interest in the project.
As far as civil aircraft industry is concerned,
the priority has been assigned to the controversial
Sukhoi Russian Regional Jet (RRJ) programme.
Nevertheless, Mr. Bezverkhny confirmed the
support for the project, and stated that a number
of specific organisational changes would be introduced in the near future. “We stand for conducting the final assembly in European Russia,
meaning the Voronezh-based VASO Company
rather than the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft
Production Association (KnAAPO). Many
experts have also said that RRJ flight characteristics should be increased by employing
composite materials, which would make it
competitive in the market. We are negotiating
production of regional aircraft and establishment of their after-sale services network with
Alenia Aeronautica, Boeing, EADS, and ATR,
a joint venture of EADS and Alenia Aeronautica.
I hope that the RRJ corporate project management system will have been modified by the
turn of the year, and all RRJ sales will be carried
out by the Ilyushin Finance Company. Thus,
despite all the criticism of the project, we enjoy
quite a strong support of the state, which has
earmarked US $300 million for the programme,
and we will do our utmost for the UAC to be
duly represented in the regional aircraft market
niche,” Mr. Bezverkhny concluded.
At the same time he stressed that the RRJ
issue was very complicated as the aircraft was
expected to make its appearance in the market
five years after a similar Embraer airliner and
later than the Ukrainian An-148. “Thus, the
fate of the project is clearly complicated”,
Mr. Bezverkhny pointed out once again. It is
obvious that the RRJ will not remain a 70-seat
airliner – it already has a seating capacity of
95 passengers, and the follow-up modifica-
tion will have a seating capacity of 110. “It
will become clear whether the programme is
a success or not in 2009–2010, when the first
RRJ batches will be delivered to the market”,
Mr. Bezverkhny said.
As far as long- and medium-range airliners
are concerned, production of the Il-96, as an
intermediate aircraft, is the primary problem.
However, major efforts will be focused on the
Il-96 cargo version, designed for flagship national
air carriers, such as the Volga-Dnepr Group. At
the same time, according to Mr. Bezverkhny,
further fate of long-range aircraft is not yet
clear – the UAC has yet to decide whether to
operate independently in this area or team up
with Airbus or Boeing. “At first, Airbus proposed
that the UAC participates in the A350 program
on a risk-sharing basis. However, later on we
switched to manufacturing parts and components, as we had not managed to take part in
designing the aircraft”, Mr. Bezverkhny said.
As far as short/medium-range airliners development and in particular the MS-21
programme, considered to be the cornerstone
in this sector, are concerned, Russian Minister
of Industry and Energy Victor Khristenko
ordered the UAC to determine by the turn of
the year whether it was capable of coping with
the MS-21 programme on its own. With this end
in view much has been done to determine risks
and solutions, inherent in project, and select
major components, as the Russian industry does
not manufacture the necessary power plant. “We
will have decided by the turn of the year whether
we will pursue the programme on our own or
team up with our rivals, Airbus and Boeing.
I would like to point out that we have made
much progress in negotiations with Airbus,
which offers a 10–15% risk-sharing participation in the A320 modernisation programme to
be announced in 2008–2009. At the present
time Airbus is forming a pool of participants
in the programme. In other words, by the turn
of the year the UAC has to decide whether it
joins the project. The issue is quite complicated.
In a nutshell, the analysis has shown that it
will take about US $5 billion to finance the
project. We believe that the risk consists in finding the necessary human resources within the
timeframe specified (the aircraft is to enter the
market in 2012–2013), rather than allocating
the money. We would certainly like to demonstrate national ambitions, but we will try to be
realistic”, Bezverkhny noted.
All speakers, addressing the conference,
shared the same situation assessment: the task
facing the UAC consists in integrating state
investments with private capital, eliminating
internal rivalry, and establishing an efficient
management system for manufacturing competitive national aircraft. The next couple of years
will show whether the task will be discharged
and, if it will – how quickly.
take-off july 2006
19
ILA 2006 | in brief
German-Russian ILA air show
20
take-off july 2006
more than ILA 2006, and twice as
many as MAKS 2005) from more
than 50 foreign states. ILA 2006
and Farnborough 2004 were visited by an approximately equal
number of people (Farnborough
2004 was visited by 243,000 people), though, ILA 2006 was slightly
behind with regards to the number
of experts involved (133,000 – for
Farnborough), but slightly ahead
as far as the number of spectators was concerned (110,000 – for
Farnborough). However, ILA 2006
displayed thrice as many aircraft as
Farnborough 2004, which demonstrated only 113 aircraft.
ILA 2006 became a true
German-Russian air show: Russia
enjoyed the status of a partner nation
and was for the first time provided
with its own separate huge hall.
The number of aircraft the Russian
side brought to Berlin has become
unprecedented for Russia’s participation in international air shows
in the past few years. Russia displayed four innovative aircraft,
demonstrated abroad for the first
time, alone, including the upgraded
Il-76TD-90VD cargo aircraft belonging to the Volga-Dnepr company,
the new Tu-204-300 passenger airliner owned by the Vladivostok-Avia
air carrier (which, by the way, flew
part of the official Russian delegation to ILA 2006), the MiG-29M-OVT
super-manoeuvrable fighter, and the
ATTK Aquaglide-5 airfoil boat. In addition to that, the Russian Emergencies
Management Ministry brought three
more aircraft to Berlin, including the
Be-200ChS amphibious aircraft, the
Il-76TD transport, and the Bo105
search-and-rescue helicopter.
Daily MiG-29M-OVT demonstration flights, conducted by RSK MiG
chief pilot Pavel Vlasov, dazzled
both experts and the German public.
Sponsors of the air show admitted
that MiG-29M-OVT demonstration
flights had become the hit of the
ILA 2006 demonstration flights programme. Vlasov’s stunning aerobatics in the sky over Schoenefeld were
often accompanied by exclamations
“Das ist fantastisch!”, and spectators
met his every landing with applause.
Neither the A380, also demonstrated in Berlin for the first time, nor
Luftwaffe’s Eurofighter, which also
displayed an outstanding demonstration flights programme, as admitted
by Vlasov, merited such a reaction.
Reforms, embraced by the Russian
aircraft industry, were reflected in
the way the Russian exhibition was
organised. Exhibition stands of a
number of Russian companies spotted a modest inscription of ‘UAC
member’ below the name of the company. Thus, flagship Russian companies displayed products, they will
manufacture within the framework
of the United Aircraft Corporation.
Helicopter manufacturers presented
a common exhibition under the auspices of the Oboronprom Company.
Russian space industry contractors
also demonstrated their products in
Berlin under the Vneshaviakosmos’
auspices.
Despite rumours that ILA 2006
might be the last Berlin air show
as the Schoenefeld airfield
would be shut down and the new
Berlin-Brandenburg International
(BBI) airport would be constructed
next to it, ILA 2006 organisers made
an official statement that the next ILA
air show would be held at the same
place two years later from 27 May
until 1 June, 2008, as planned. The
ILA will be transferred to the other
side of runway, which now hosts
Schoenefeld passenger terminals,
only in 2012. The BBI International
is expected to become operational
in 2011 and have an annual traffic
flow of 20 million people, which will
then be increased up to 40 million. At
the present time three Berlin-based
airports combined have a traffic
flow of 17.2 million passengers, but
the Tempelhoff airport is to be shut
down next year, and Tegel in 2011.
When the BBI International opens,
Schoenefeld will no longer be needed, and the new ILA air show infrastructure will have been constructed
on its premises by 2012.
www.ila-berlin.com
The ILA (Internationale Luft- und
RaumfahrtAusstellung) is the world’s
oldest air show. It celebrates its
97th anniversary this year. The
first German ILA air show was
held in Frankfurt from 10 July until
17 October 1909. The famous Paris
air show was also conducted for the
first time that year, though, it started
slightly later on 25 September. In
1913 the German air show was held
in Berlin, and the following Berlin air
show, conducted in October 1928,
saw participation of 150 aircraft and
19 countries. Since 1957 the air show
had been conducted in Hanover, first
as part of the Hanover Trade Fair and
as an independent event. In 1978 it
got its name “ILA” back. The air show
was held in Hanover for the last time
in 1990, and when the Berlin Wall
fell and Germany reunited, the ILA
air show was transferred to Berlin’s
Schoenefeld airport. It has been held
there once every two years since
1992.
The ILA 2006 air show was held
on 16–21 May. This year it saw participation of 1,014 companies from
42 countries, demonstrating 340 aircraft both on the ground and in the
air. It is quite interesting to compare
the ILA air show with the Russian
MAKS air show, which enjoy old-term
partnership. As far as the number of
participating countries is concerned,
both air shows are approximately on
a par (MAKS 2005 involved 40 foreign states). The ILA holds the lead
in the number of exhibits and aircraft
demonstrated (MAKS 2005 displayed
products of 654 companies and 221
aircraft), but the Moscow air show
is an unconditional leader, insofar
the number of spectators is concerned: in 2005 it was visited by a
total of 512,000 people, including
in excess of 122,000 experts and
almost 390,000 spectators, while ILA
2006 boasted 250,000, 115,000, and
135,000 people respectively (i.e. it
was visited by half as many people
as MAKS 2005). It is also interesting to compare the Berlin air show
with the upcoming Farnborough air
show, which in 2004 saw participation of 1,360 companies (i.e. a third
www.take-off.ru
ILA 2006 | in brief
MiG to convert Airbus A320s
into cargo aircraft
The ILA 2006 show has become
the first international air show to
see demonstration flights of the
MiG-29M-OVT
super-manoeuvrable thrust vector control (TVC)
fighter prototype. However, RSK
MiG did not limit its participation
in the ILA 2006 to demonstrating
the super-manoeuvrable fighter.
RSK MiG officials conducted a series
of negotiations with potential customers and foreign counterparts.
They signed an agreement with the
European Airbus Consortium and the
German Elbe Flugzeugwerke GmbH
(EFW) on establishing a joint venture
to be based at RSK MiG production facilities in Lukhovitsy and the
Irkut Corporation in Irkut. The joint
venture will convert Airbus A320
www.take-off.ru
passenger airliners into cargo aircraft. Starting in 2011 Russia will
be able to convert at least 20 A320s
and A321s a year, while the overall contracts portfolio on converting narrow-fuselage Airbus airliners
into cargo aircraft may total 400.
A corresponding memorandum of
understanding (MoU) was signed by
RSK MiG Director General/Designer
General Alexey Fedorov, Irkut
President Oleg Demchenko, Airbus
CEO Gustav Humbert, and EFW head
Horst Emker. “The agreement will
bring cooperation between Airbus
and the Russian aircraft industry,
which has already made much
progress, to a new level, based
on long-term partnership”, Gustav
Humbert emphasised.
Lazio 2006 exercise, to be held in Italy
this October, will demonstrate capabilities of the international aviation
SAR system.
At the ILA 2006 the Russian
EMERCOM simulated a SAR operation, aimed at rescuing two people
with the help of the Bo105 helicopter,
and a fire-fighting operation, involving
the Be-200ChS amphibian.
At the present time the aircraft fleet
of the Russian EMERCOM incorporates
16 aircraft and 30 helicopters. It expects
to beef up its aircraft fleet up to 60
fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft by 2010.
At the present time the Ministry’s aircraft are based in Moscow, Krasnodar,
Krasnoyarsk, and Khabarovsk, but
another regional centre is expected
to be established in southern Russia
in the future. The Russian EMERCOM
procures new Be-200ChS amphibious
aircraft (three of them have already been
fielded, and two more are to be delivered
this year), An-3 light multi-role aircraft,
and Ka-226 helicopters.
The primary task, facing aircraft in
service with the Russian EMERCOM,
consists in delivering rescue teams
and special hardware to places, hit
by large-scale man-caused and natural disasters, as well as putting out
fires. As far as the latter task is concerned, the Il-76TD transport can be
fitted with the VAP-2 aircraft spray
tank, capable of spraying 42 tons of
extinguishing agent on the seat of
fire. The Be-200 amphibian drops
12 tons of water on the seat of fire
within one to two seconds, while
Mi-8 and Ka-32 helicopters are
capable of carrying the 5,000-litre
VSU-5 externally mounted water discharging device.
Aquaglide’s debut
The Arctic Trade and Transportation
Company (ATTK), which participated in
the ILA 2006 show for the first time, demonstrated its new five-seat Aquaglide-5
airfoil boat, manufactured at the Nizhny
Novgorod plant, in Berlin. According to
ATTK officials, a total of six such boats
had been manufactured by the outset
of the show.
The Aquaglide-5 airfoil boat has a
weight of 2,400 kg, a length of 10.7 m,
and a width of 5.9 m. It is capable of
flying at up to 35 cm high waves. The
boat can span a range of up to 400 km at
a speed of 170 km/h. The Aquaglide-5’s
power plant comprises the German
Mercedes Benz 326 hp V-shaped M-119
motorcar engine, which spins two propellers via a power train.
The ATTK is now developing larger
airfoil boats. The company’s posters
showed some of its new projects, including Aquaglide-20, -40, -60, and -200
passenger and transport versions.
Andrey Fomin
Pakistan, etc., have clearly demonstrated the importance of launching
SAR operations as soon as possible.
With this end in view, the Russian
EMERCOM proposes establishing an
international organisation, and that
a number of European states join
the Global AviaSpas. For instance,
Germany might allocate its A310MRT
medevac aircraft, which will be ready
to take-off for any corner of the compass hit by a natural disaster on a three
hours’ notice. The joint Russian-NATO
Piotr Butowski
The Russian Emergencies Management
Ministry (EMERCOM) presented the Global
AviaSpas aviation search-and-rescue (SAR)
system at the ILA 2006 air show. An aviation detachment, comprising an Il-76TD
heavy transport, a Be-200ChS amphibious
aircraft, and a Bo105 helicopter, arrived in
Germany to this end. Russia Emergencies
Management Minister Sergey Shoygu
attended the show as well.
Recent large-scale natural disasters, for instance, tsunami in South
East Asia, earthquakes in Iran and
Piotr Butowski
Global AviaSpas presentation
take-off july 2006
21
contracts and deliveries | in brief
A white-and-blue Russian-made
helicopter, the Ka-32A11BC, made its
debut at the FIDAE 2006 international
show in Chile in late March and early
April this year. Two such machines
have been used by Chile since January
this year to thwart forest fires under
the contract between Chilean company Forestal Mininco S.A. and Spain’s
Helicopteros del Sureste S.A. that
owns them. The Spanish company
bought four brand-new Ka-32A11BCs
from Kamov-Holding in 2004–05,
ordering in November 2005 four more,
of which two are to be delivered some
time this year.
Annually, tens of thousand hectares of woods and forest reserves
are burnt out during the fire season. Fires encroaching on cities and
destroying towns and villages pose a
real danger to people.
“The Ka-32A11BC is the first
Russian-made helicopter used for
fighting fires in this country,” noted
Forestal’s representatives satisfied with the early results of the
machines’ operation in Chile.
22
take-off july 2006
Piotr Butowski
Ka-32’s debut in Chile
The Ka-32A multirole helicopter has been type-certificated by
the Russian, Canadian, Swiss,
Taiwanese, South Korean and
Mexican aviation authorities. It
is used heavily in fire-fighting,
search-and-rescue, construction
and logging operations, for hauling in-cabin and externally-slung
cargo, etc. The Ka-32A11BC export
derivative was ordered by Canada
(hence BC designation standing for
British Columbia). Over the past
eight years, it has proven to be
a dependable effective means for
complicated aerial operations. The
machine has earned similar praise
from Switzerland, Spain and other
countries.
www.sinodefence.com
using imperial measures. It is the
first Russian aircraft featuring an
automatic air-to-ground datalink
downlinking the information on the
state of the systems and engines to
ground controllers. An extra cargo
container in the tail section has
increased the useful volume of the
cargo compartment up to 98%.
The Tu-204-120CE was certificated in Russia by the Aviation Registry
of the Interstate Aviation Committee
(IAC) on 30 January 2004 (Certificate
CT233-Tu-204-120CE). The customer is slated to take delivery of its first
plane in September this year.
Nikolay Soloviev
The Aviastar-SP aircraft factory in
Ulyanovsk has completed the first
of the five Tupolev Tu-204-120CE
freighters under construction for the
People’s Republic of China (PRC).
On 14 April, the plane was ferried to the company’s flight test
centre for certification flight tests,
including certification in line with the
EU’s JAR-25 standard with Western
European test pilots participation.
The Tu-204-120CE is an improved
cargo derivative of the Tu-204-100.
It is powered by 19,300 kgf
Rolls-Royce RB211-535E4B engines
and Anglicised cockpit displays
L-15 kicks off trials
13 March 2006 saw the maiden flight of a Chinese twin-seat
advanced trainer, the L-15,
that is being developed by the
Nanchang-based Hongdu Aviation
Industry Group (HAIG), a division
of AVIC II, with the assistance
of the Russia's Yakovlev Design
Bureau. The aircraft features a
supersonic speed of Mach 1.4
and is to be powered by two
AI-222K-25F afterburning engines
Ukraine’s Ivchenko-Progress has
been deriving from the AI-222-25
under a contract with China. The
AI-222-25 powers Russian combat
trainer Yak-130. The L-15’s first
prototype is fitted for now with the
Slovak-made DV-2 developed by
Ivchenko-Progress and produced
under a licence in Slovakia to equip
modified Czech trainers L-39MS
and L-59. The DV-2S (RD-35)
derivative of that engine fitted the
Yak-130D technology demonstrator – the first Yak-130 prototype –
in 1996.
The L-15 has a quadruple-redundant fly-by-wire control system, a ‘glass’ cockpit and HOTAS.
Its normal take-off weight stands
at 6,500 kg, with its max take-off
weight equalling 9,500 kg.
The full-scale L-15 mockup was
unveiled during the Zhuhai air
show in November 2004. The prototype was completed in Nanchang
in 2005 and rolled out in last
September. Following a series of
ground tests and taxiing that took
almost six months to complete,
the aircraft was ready for its flight
trials in early March.
The aircraft is under development
both for the PLA’s Air Force (PLAAF)
and for export. Interestingly,
it is rivalled in China by the JL-9
(FTC-2000) supersonic trainer developed by Guizhou Aircraft Industry
Co. (GAIC), an outfit of Chinese aircraft maker AVIC I that is AVIC II’s
competitor. The JL-9 had kicked
off its tests two years before the
L-15 did – on 13 December 2003.
Which aircraft is to enter service
with the PLAAF is going to be clear
soon. If the L-15 is preferred, its
production version may have been
completed by 2008–10, the developer maintains.
www.sinodefence.com
First Tu-204 freighter
built for China
www.take-off.ru
contracts and deliveries | in brief
Sukhoi to deliver fighters for future Chinese aircraft carriers?
It is when the Chinese Navy plans
to commission its first full-fledged
aircraft carrier with ski-jump take-off
and arrested landing, which is being
derived at the shipyard in Dalian
from the Varyag carrier bought from
Ukraine in 1999. Following a protracted cruise from the Black Sea to
the shores of China, the Varyag was
towed to the naval base in Dalian
(northeast China) in March 2002
and moved to the nearby shipyard
in July last year. What is going on
onboard the Varyag, which failed to
become the second Russian carrier,
is not known. However, many experts
believe that the Chinese assisted by
Russian specialists have been turning it into a more or less full-fledged
warship capable of receiving supersonic jets. The Varyag could be followed into China’s naval inventory
by new Chinese-built carriers that are
the Chinese Navy’s and Air Force’s
Su-30MKK and Su-30MK2 are fitted
with. This is to give the Su-33K a
multirole capability.
In addition to the Su-33K, China
might start taking deliveries of cutting-edge two-seat carrierborne combat trainers and multirole fighter to be
derived from the Su-27KUB prototype
aircraft that has been undergoing tests
since 1999. The Chinese’s keen interest in the Su-27KUB is highlighted by
the fact that the only such aircraft had
to interrupt its trials at Saki airbase in
the Crimea last year and be rushed to
Zhukovsky for demonstration before
ranking Chinese officers attending the
MAKS ’05 air show.
Soon afterwards, in September the
same year, the Sukhoi Design Bureau
convened the mockup commission
to review the improved Su-27KUB
whose trainer and then, possibly,
www.take-off.ru
combat trainer and multirole derivatives may be ordered by the Russian
Navy in the near future. Sukhoi has
been poring over a new fuselage nose
section to fit the Su-27KUB, with the
cockpit to be redesigned heavily to
allow crew to enter through the single
rearwards-hinged canopy, rather
than via the nose wheel well. The
view from the cockpit is to improve,
the crew will get an advanced cockpit management system and the
right-seat pilot will finally got a complete set of controls (actually, the
Su-27KUB’s right-seater is unable to
control the engine now). In addition,
the Su-27KUB could in the future
be equipped with the double-folding
wing, which will enable it to have its
size further reduced when deployed
on a carrier. The Su-27KUB’s avionics will have to be commonised with
those of the Su-35 multirole fighter
that is under development now.
Therefore, Phazotron-NIIR’s advanced
Sokol (Zhuk-MSFE) phased-array
radar being tested on the Su-27KUB
since 2003 is, in all probability, to be
replaced with the Tikhomirov-NIIP
Irbis passive PAR in development
now to fit the Su-35.
Should the deal with China be
closed, this would both let KnAAPO,
which is in a difficult economic situation due to the completion of the
fighter deliveries to China, land a
lucrative order and spur the work
on the Su-27KUB’s Russian variant
that has long been awaited by the
Russian Navy.
The aircraft has been covered by
the governmental armament programme for the period until 2015,
with relevant papers to be signed in
the near future. This done, the work
on the first Su-27KUB experimental
aircraft is to resume (having resumed
flying, Sukhoi’s test pilot Sergey
Melnikov was appointed chief test
pilot under the Su-27KUB programme
last autumn), and then KnAAPO will
be able to launch construction of
more aircraft of the type.
In all probability, finer points of the
future deal were discussed by Russian
Defence Minister Sergey Ivanov and
his Chinese opposite number Cao
Gang-chuan during the conference of
the defence ministers of the Shanghai
Cooperation Organisation’s member
states (SCO) in Beijing. Although the
conference took place behind closed
doors and Sergey Ivanov told the
media after it that the two countries
would continue their military and
technical cooperation, the Finmarket
news agency and Kommersant daily
reported that the two defence ministers discussed new Russian deliveries
for the Chinese Navy. In particular,
Finmarket said that Sergey Ivanov and
Cao Gang-chuan considered details
of future contracts for up to 40 Ka-29
utility helicopters, 20 Ka-31 airborne
early warning (AEW) helicopters
and 15 Be-200 patrol amphibians
mounting the Sea Dragon search/targeting system. The contracts could
be finalised as early as the coming
autumn.
Andrey Fomin
rumoured to have been under development for several years now.
The Su-33K (the designation is
tentative) multirole carrierborne singleseat fighter is likely to be a derivative of the production Su-33. 26 such
aircraft were built by KnAAPO in
1992–95, with most of them being
flown by the 279th Independent
Carrierborne Fighter Air Regiment of
the Russian Navy’s Northern Fleet.
The fighters are deployed on board
the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier.
Unlike its Russian forebear, however,
the Chinese variant is likely to mount
the avionics and weapons suites
www.sinodefence.com
According to Chinese web sites,
the talks on Sukhoi’s carrierborne
fighters to be supplied for service
as part of carrier air groups (CAG)
on future Chinese aircraft carriers
are close to finalising, and a first
deal might be struck as early as
this summer. According to expert
opinion, the Chinese Navy may need
up to a hundred shipborne multirole
fighters, including up to 60 Su-33K
singleseaters and up to 40 Su-27KUB
twinseaters, within the coming five
to ten years. Deliveries of the former
may began well in advance of 2010 to
last for five or more years.
take-off july 2006
23
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www.take-off.ru
TAKE-OFF270x400_SUPERJET.indd 1
7/7/06 14:55:51
finance and insurance | company
The Russian space and aircraft industries
are a priority for the Russian economic development, since companies with cutting-edge
technologies – the driving force behind technologic progress – operate in these fields.
To support these branches of industry, considerable financial and investment resources
have to be available and feature reliable financial protection, of which insurance is the most
important element.
The Russian Insurance Centre (RIC) places
emphasis on insuring Russia’s defence industry, particularly its aerospace branch, and its
foreign military and technical cooperation
system as well. Over the past 15 years, the
company has been running comprehensive
insurance programmes in support of major aircraft and aero engine manufacturers, including
Oboronprom Corp., Sukhoi company, Irkut
Corp., MiG Corp., Yakovlev Design Bureau,
Beriev company, Ilyushin, MMP Chernyshev,
just to name a few.
The Russian Insurance Centre is the leader
of the Russian space insurance market. Its
wealth of insurance experience and reliable
reinsurance coverage enable it to cover huge
space and space-associated risks, including
loss of or damage to launch vehicles and spacecraft throughout their life cycles, third-party
spacecraft launch liability (including that in
RIC:
INSURANCE GUARANTEES
FOR AEROSPACE RISKS
Dmitry IZVEKOV
Chairman of the Board
Russian Insurance Centre
LV stages drop areas), manufacturer and user
liability for failure to meet contractual obligations, etc.
RIC has repeatedly furnished its insurance
services to players in the space exploration
field, including the Federal Space Agency,
Russian Space Force and Strategic Missile
Force. The Russian Insurance Centre’s partners and customers are major spacecraft
manufacturers and users, e.g. the Centre for
26
take-off july 2006
Ground-Based Space Infrastructure Facilities’
Operation (TsENKI), Khrunichev space centre, Reshetnev NPO PM, TsSKB-Progerss,
NPO Energomash, Korolev RKK Energia,
Lavochkin, NPOMash scientific production
associations and many other Russian space
companies.
As an insurer, RIC participated in
space programmes run by Loral (Sirius-1,
2 and 3), Hughes (PanAmSat, ICO),
AsiaSat (AsiaSat-3), Lockheed Martin
Telecommunications (Nimiq, LMI-1,
Echostar), Astrium (Astra), SES Americom
(AMC-9, AMC-12, AMC-15, AMC-23), just
to name a few. The company provided insurance coverage of several Russian and foreign
spacecraft launched, e.g. seven Iridium comsats, W3A, Intelsat-10, Amazonas, TelStar-6,
Meteor, Ekran, Parus, Strela, GLONASS,
Universitetsky, DirecTV 8, Photon-M,
www.take-off.ru
finance and insurance | company
Russian Insurance Centre Chairman of the
Board Dmitry Izvekov, Russia’s President’s
advisor for military and technical policy and
defence industry development Alexander
Burutin, head of the Roscosmos Federal Space
Agency Anatoly Perminov (from left to right)
inspecting a mock-up of the Kourou French
Guiana Space Center
at Le Bourget 2005 airshow
Galaxy-14, Monitor-E, OICETS, INDEX,
Anik F1R, Venus-Express, Gonets-1M,
Galileo, Arabsat-4A, etc.
Under comprehensive risk evaluation and
management programmes of major holding companies and individual players of the
Russian aircraft industry, we insure a host
of fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, particularly, such cutting-edge designs from
Russian aircraft makers, as the Su-27, Su-30
(Su-30MKI, Su-30MKK), various MiG-29
derivatives (MiG-29M2, vectored-thrust
MiG-29OVT, carrier-borne MiG-29K,
MiG-29UB, MiG-AT), Yak-130 combat
trainer, freighter and passenger versions of the
www.take-off.ru
Il-76, Il-62, Il-96 and Il-103 aircraft, Mi-17,
Mi-26 and Mi-38 helicopters, etc.
For its insurance programme to succeed,
the Russian Insurance Centre has done a huge
job on international markets to ensure relevant
rock-solid quality coverage. As a result, it has
got from Lloyd’s syndicates the exclusive rights
for aircraft CASCO reinsurance in Russia,
which allowed it to offer the most competitive
prices on the Russian market.
RIC’s combat aircraft insurance programme
features a flexible pricing policy characterised
by reasonable, affordable insurance prices and
the feasibility of payment by instalment. At
present, the company insures aircraft engine
operating risks, particularly those of engine
failure due to foreign object damage (FOD).
The Russian Insurance Centre has been
proactive in pursuing innovative insurance
programmes within the framework of Russian
aerospace companies’ military and technical cooperation and international show
participation. Providing insurance support
to military and technical cooperation programmes and contracts, the Centre, coupled
with Rosoboronexport, has repeatedly insured
export aircraft deliveries, particularly, those of
Su-30MKK fighters to China, Su-30MK2 to
Vietnam and Su-30MKI to India. Now, RIC’s
experts are devising an insurance programme
on delivering and test-flying aircraft under
Rosoboronexport’s contracts on exporting
various Russian aircraft to Malaysia, Algeria,
India, Venezuela, etc.
The Russian Insurance Centre and the Irkut
Corporation have been cooperating hand in
glove in aircraft risk insurance, with many
test and demonstration flights of Irkut’s latest
aircraft having been insured by the Russian
Insurance Centre. Thus, all test missions under
the Yak-130 combat trainer programme run by
the Yakovlev Design Bureau (a division of
Irkut) have been covered by RIC’s insurance.
This year, the Yak-130, which Yakovlev
is going to unveil at the Farnborough
International Airshow, has been insured by
the Centre again, with the insurance covering
all demo flights of the excellent aircraft during
the show.
RIC is stepping up its cooperation with
Taganrog-based Beriev company, the maker
of hydroplanes that are quite competitive on
the global market. As part of Beriev’s foreign
contracts, we ensure the Be-200ChS multirole
amphibian operated by European countries
for fire-fighting during the summer. In particular, the Be-200ChS slated to put out fires
in Portugal until late August has been insured
by RIC this year.
As far as international cooperation is concerned, the Centre has been proactively promoting insurance coverage for joint aircraft
programmes run by Russian and European
aircraft manufacturers (EADS, Sagem, Thales,
MBDA, Snecma, BAE Systems). Plans for
joint upgrade of the aircraft in service with
Central and Eastern European air forces are
being considered with some of them. In this
case, interacting with foreign insurers and
reinsurers, RIC envisions new objectives to
ensure risks emanating from Russian defence
manufacturers’ cooperation with major
European corporations.
With its considerable experience in ensuring
combat aircraft operational risks, the company
has stepped up its cooperation with commercial aircraft and aircraft engine makers. The
Russian Insurance Centre’s Aircraft Insurance
Department has more than doubled the revenue in 2005.
The Centre’s good business reputation and
stable financial standing have been proven by
its reliable reinsurance protection. Obligatory
contracts placed among Lloyd’s major syndicates and unique for the Russian insurance
market guarantee its partners a timely compensation of their losses up to $500 million
depending on the nature of the tasks at hand.
By the way, our company has become more
recognizable on foreign markets, with Fitch
Ratings assigning it an international Insurer
Financial Strength (IFS) rating of ‘B’, and
a national rating of ‘BBB-(rus)’ early in July
this year.
No doubt, the good international rating is to
enable us to boost our work in the main fields,
in which the company has enjoyed stable leadership, e.g. insurance support of Russia’s military and technical cooperation system as well
as defence and space contractors. On the other
hand, we are planning to bolster our standing in cooperating with the global insurance
and reinsurance market and individual foreign
insurers the Centre cooperates with, including
major insurers of Russia’s partners in military
and technical cooperation and space exploration. These include, first and foremost, China,
India and Uzbekistan where RIC maintains
its representative offices, as well as Brazil,
Malaysia, the UAE, Kazakhstan, etc.
Financial protection provided to the
airspace industry facilitates the nation’s
steady economic growth, defence capability improvement and consolidation of its
position on the global market. RIC’s efforts
to cover aerospace risks are important to
both the company itself and the Russian
and foreign markets. The re-emergence and
progress of the Russian aircraft industry
making competitive fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft as well as further bolstering
of Russia’s standing in space exploration are
to enhance the authority of the domestic
aerospace industry on the global market and
enable Russia to remain a major space and
air power.
take-off july 2006
27
military aviation | in brief
honour of its chief designer) and
side number 19, being the third
series-production aircraft, manufactured by KAPO in mid-‘80s
(it made its maiden flight on
15 August 1986) became the first
to undergo upgrade. The aircraft
has never been on combat duty
earlier, but has been employed for
various tests throughout the two
decades. It arrived at KAPO last
June to be upgraded. Its flight tests
Dmitry Pichugin
The first upgraded Tu-160 strategic bomber rolled off the assembly
lines of the Gorbunov Kazan Aircraft
Production Association (KAPO) on
29 April was officially handed over
to the Russian Air Force on 5 July.
As was reported earlier, the Tu-160
finally officially entered the inventory of the Russian Air Force on
30 December 2005 after almost
two decades of service with the
Soviet and the Russian Long-Range
Aviation. One of the reasons consisted in the fact that upgraded
avionics and new armament, to be
mounted on all Russian Tu-160s,
had undergone most of the tests.
Tu-160 No. 202, now got its
own name ‘Valentin Bliznyuk’ (in
Dmitry Pichugin
RusAF got its first upgraded Tu-160
started in Kazan in May, and on
5 July an official ceremony of its
handing over to RusAF took place
in Kazan in presence of the Russia’s
Defence minister Sergey Ivanov. At
the same day upgraded Tu-160 ferried to Engels, the home base of
all Russian Blackjacks. All RusAF’s
Tu-160s, deployed at the Engels
airbase, will gradually be upgraded
in Kazan.
Commander of the 37th Air Army
Lt.-Gen. Igor Khvorov stressed
that the Russian Air Force wanted
to field two upgraded Tu-160s
in 2006. The second upgraded
Tu-160 will feature greater modifications, demanding that flight
crews undertake conversion training, and could be received by
RusAF by the year end.
First production Mi-28N delivered to Defence Ministry
28
take-off july 2006
ons, as far back as last summer.
Recently two Mi-28N helicopters,
including just handed over to the
Russian Defence Ministry Mi-28N
No 32, participated in the common exercise of the Russian and
Belorussian armed forces “Union
Shield” which took place in the
middle of June proving their high
capabilities in particular in firing
cannon and rockets.
Meanwhile, the Rostvertol
Company is finishing the assembly
of the second production Mi-28N,
which will be submitted for factory
flight tests in July and will then be
delivered to the Russian Defence
Ministry for participation in the joint
state tests.
When another round of tests
was completed in March 2006,
the
state
commission,
chaired by Russian Air Force
Commander-in-Chief General of
the Army Vladimir Mikhaylov,
issued a preliminary conclusion
on manufacturing a pilot batch of
Mi-28Ns, which would allow the
joint state tests to be completed
by the turn of 2006. In this case,
the first production Mi-28Ns will
enter the inventory of manoeuvre
units as early as 2007.
Rostvertol
The first production Mi-28N helicopter (c/n 01-01, side number 32),
manufactured by the Rostvertol
Company, was handed over to the
Russian Defence Ministry on 29
May, after it had successfully completed the whole round of factory
flight tests, started on 27 December
2005. It will join the first two Mi-28N
prototypes (No. 014 and 024),
undergoing joint state tests. In the
course of the joint state tests the
new helicopter will have to confirm
its flight characteristics and finish
fine-tuning new avionics and armament. It is worth mentioning that
the second Mi-28N prototype carried out the first test flights, aimed
at refining gun and rocket weap-
www.take-off.ru
military aviation | in brief
Alexey Mikheyev
Yak-130’s official trials to complete in early 2007
Construction of both was paid for
by the Yakovlev Design Bureau, now
being a part of Irkut Corp., with the
third aircraft funded by the Defence
Ministry under the materiel procurement programme. The first Yak-130
prototype kicked off its official tests
in May 2005 and the second one
joined it in October last year. The
Yak-130 (side number 03) completed
its maiden flight in Nizhny Novgorod
on 27 March this year.
In all, four Yak-130s are slated
for the official test programme. The
first aircraft is to join the tests
Alexey Mikheyev
The third example of the Yak-130
combat trainer, which began its trials this spring and has just got its
new paintjob, is to be unveiled at
the coming air show in Farnborough
being presented by Irkut Corp. Along
with the first two pre-production
Yak-130s, the aircraft is undergoing the official tests. The first flying
production-configured prototype
(side number 01) built by the Sokol
aircraft factory in Nizhny Novgorod
first flew on 30 April 2004. The
second one (side number 02)
entered the testing on 5 April 2005.
Alexey Mikheyev
in early 2007 for mostly looking
into combat employment issues. A
preliminary report on the Yak-130’s
performance under official test programme is due as early as this year,
which will allow a LRIP batch to be
made. As is known, the Russian
Air Force has ordered 12 aircraft
whose deliveries may begin in 2007
when the whole set of tests is complete and the official tests report is
issued, thus enabling the Air Force
to field the aircraft. According to
the Air Force chief, Gen. Vladimir
Mikhaylov, his service is planning
to order as many as 300 Yak-130s.
The first Yak-130 combat trainer export deal has been clinched
earlier this year. In 2008–09, the
Algerian Air Force is to take delivery
of 16 aircraft to be made jointly by
Irkut and Sokol.
www.take-off.ru
take-off july 2006
29
military aviation | report
EXERCISE
OF "STRATEGISTS"
FROM UKRAINKA
Dmitry PICHUGIN
Photos by the author
30
take-off july 2006
www.take-off.ru
military aviation | report
This April, Lt.-Gen. Igor Khvorov, officer commanding the 37th Strategic
Air Army (RusAF’s Long Range Aviation), checked the combat readiness
of the 326th Heavy Bomber Air Division at Ukrainka Air Force Base in the
Amur Region in the Russian Far East. In so doing, he had the division
conduct a command post exercise (CPX) simulating a conventional-weapons
live-fire air operation from 11 to 14 April. With the exercise in full swing, the
326th Division’s ‘strategists’ were joined by their mates from Engels AFB
in European Russia. The CPX culminated in launching live ALCMs and
dropping live bombs at firing ranges throughout the country.
Take-Off’s special correspondent Dmitry Pichugin visited Ukrainka AFB, with
his visit resulting in this photo report covering the strategic bomber fleet’s
exercise.
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Once the division was put on high alert
on 11 April, four Tu-95MS aircraft redeployed from Ukrainka AFB to an airbase
vic. the Arctic city of Anadyr. They flew in
adverse weather over the neutral waters in
the Pacific, flying past the Aleuthian Islands
and the coast of Alaska. The bombers were
flown by young crew leaders holding the job
for 1–2 years and participating in a CPX for
the first time.
On the same day, two Tu-95MS bombers
with the 79th Heavy Bomber Air Regiment
and two Tu-22M3s with the 444th Heavy
Bomber Air Regiment flew a training mission
over the Sea of Japan and the Pacific.
Crossing the neutral waters vic. Japan, the
Bears had been accompanied by Japanese
Air Force aircraft for two hours. The Bears’
crews practiced long-distance flight over
the ocean far away from the coast and use of
air-launched cruise missiles.
In the dead of the night on 14 April 2006,
the four Tu-95MS bombers took off from
Anadyr AFB, flew along the Alaskan and
Canadian coastline over the Beaufort Sea’s
neutral waters, fired off their cruise missiles
and landed at Ukrainka AFB.
On the same day, six Tu-22M3s with the
200th Guards Reg’t dropped live 500 kg
bombs at a bombing range in the Irkutsk
Region, producing excellent results, while
four Tu-22M3s with the 444th Reg’t used
live FAB-250 bombs to wipe out targets at a
bombing range in the Primorsky Region.
Early in the morning on 14 April, four
Tu-95MS bombers left Ukrainka airbase for
an Arctic bombing range vic. the city of
Vorkuta in the Republic of Komi. Once there,
they launched two ALCMs. At the same
time, two Tu-160 and two Tu-95MS aircraft
with the 22nd Guards Heavy Bomber Air
Division left Engels AFB for the Arctic bombing range where they linked up with the 326th
Division’s aircraft after an hours-long flight
and launched two ALCMs.
The strategic bombers flew to their maximum range. In line with the Long-Range
Aviation’s tradition, when they returned to
base, they were met by their units in formation under their banners.
In all, 53 sorties were flown with four
practice ALCMs and 32 other live missiles
launched and 10 practice bombing runs
conducted. The practice launches were
supported by an A-50 AWACS aircraft, an
Il-22 airborne command post, Su-27 and
MiG-31 interceptors, an Il-78 tanker plane
and An-12 support transports.
During the CPX, the Long-Range
Aviation’s aircraft spent quite a few flying
hours over the larger part of the Russian
Federation and neutral waters of the Pacific
and Arctic Oceans.
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Top: the officer in charge of the CPX –
Lt.-Gen. Igor Khvorov, OC, 37th Air Army
Bottom: the Il-78 tanker plane arriving
at Ukrainka AFB
Right: Tu-134UBL combat trainers are used by the Long-Range Aviation’s Tu-22M3 and Tu-160
crews to hone their combat skills
Down: an ALCM is being attached to a Tu-95MS
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The crews are being welcomed to Ukrainka AFB following their long hop to
the bombing range
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On the 21 June 1916 (4 July
1916 in line with the Gregorian
date), eight aeroplanes clashed
in the skies over the Baltic Sea,
four German ones and four
Russian hydroplanes designed
by Dmitry Grigorovich and
based on the aircraft-carrying
cruiser Orlitsa of the Russian
Imperial Navy. During the battle,
Lt. S.A. Petrov and his gunner
WO N.P. Korshunov downed a
German plane whose crew had
to force-land and was taken
prisoner of war. Another two
German planes were damaged
by 1st Lt. A.N. Izvekov and his
gunner WO A.V. Nazarov and
Petty Officer G.G. Kartsev and
his gunner WO Sychkin. The
day of the first victory in an air
battle has been celebrated as
the birthday of the Russian naval
aviation ever since. This year
marks its 90th anniversary.
The
first
hydroplanes
appeared at the Baltic as far
back as 1912, and 27 April
1918 is considered to be the
official birthday of the Baltic
Fleet’s air arm, since the
first Special Air Brigade was
activated by the Fleet on that
date. The Black Sea, Pacific
and Northern Fleets got their
aviation as an independent
branch in 1921, 1932 and
1936 respectively. Thus, the
Baltic became the birthplace
of the Russian naval aviation.
Decades later, the Baltic Fleet
air branch comprises fighter,
bomber,
reconnaissance,
helicopter and transport units
operating up-to-date combat
and transport fixed-wing and
rotary-wing aircraft.
Red Stars over the Baltic
Barely a year passed after the first victory
of Russian military pilots over the Baltic,
and the revolution erupted. The young
Soviet Republic started establishing new
armed forces on the ruins of the Russian
military relying on the expertise, infrastructure and even traditions of the regime levelled to the ground. Grigorovich-developed
flying boats got red stars on their wings.
The Baltic Sea Fleet’s air arm grew
stronger between the two world wars, especially in the late ‘30s and early ‘40s. During
WWII, the Fleet’s pilots made an invaluable contribution to beating Nazi Germany.
By 9 May 1945, the air arm of the Baltic
Fleet numbered 17 air regiments, of which
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14 were organised with four air divisions (a
mine/torpedo one and three attack ones)
and two independent air squadrons and
independent naval flight as well.
After WWII, the Baltic Fleet’s aviation was trimmed heavily of its excessive
materiel and personnel, but the remaining
forces experienced a qualitative hike. The
fighter units began to convert to jet fighters
in 1946, followed by mine/torpedo ones in
1952. 1957 saw the Baltic Fleet to have its
first unit operating Tu-16K missile-carrying jets. At the same time, many airbases
operated by the Baltic Fleet were fitted
with concrete runways, then-advanced
communications, radar and airfield support gear.
The second sharp reduction in the Fleet’s air
arm fell on the verge of the ‘50s and ‘60s. The
Fleet retained only four regiments and three
independent squadrons at the time. However,
the ‘60s and ‘70s again saw the air arm’s
qualitative and quantitative growth, including
a surge of missile-carrying and antisubmarine
warfare (ASW) aircraft. The current ground
infrastructure dates back to the time. The later
‘80s were the heyday of the Baltic Fleet’s air
branch.
Another turning point was in the ‘90s following the dissolution of the Soviet Union
and emergence of the armed forces of the
Russian Federation when another sharp force
reduction, including that of the Baltic Fleet’s
air branch, took place. At the same time, the
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WINGS OF THE BALTIC
In commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the first victory of Russian naval pilots
Sergey ZHVANSKY
Photos by the author
Kaliningrad Region became a Special Defence
Area in 1994, with the Baltic Fleet integrating
all units there into its structure. In particular,
the Fleet’s air arm took over the 689th Guards
Fighter Regiment from 6th Independent Air
Defence Army and the 288th Independent
Helicopter Regiment from the 11th Guards
Army. Air defence units incorporated into the
Russian Air Force in 1998–99, the Russian
Navy experienced a similar change soon. In
2002, the united air arm of the Baltic Fleet
was re-designated as the Baltic Fleet’s air and
air defence forces. At the same time, the 150th
Aircraft Repair Plant in Lyublino-Novoye,
which had belonged to the Fleet for many
years, was taken over by the Air Force and
manned by civilian employees.
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From 1945 to 1991, the Baltic Fleet’s
air units were stationed in the Leningrad,
Pskov and Kaliningrad Regions, Lithuania,
Latvia, Estonia and Belorussia and operated
far beyond the immediate surroundings of
their airbases. At present, the Fleet’s air and
air defence infrastructure is concentrated in
the small Kaliningrad Region isolated from
mainland Russia by Poland in the south,
Lithuania in the north and east and the
Baltic Sea in the west. The isolation predetermines the lack of the rear area as such,
unavoidable increase in support costs and
a number of other unfavourable circumstances. However, history has never seen
final solutions and has tended to evolve in a
spiral-like manner.
NATO in the Neighbourhood
Lithuania denied its airspace for Russian
military transit flights in 2002 even before it
joined NATO. Requests for passage are usually denied on flimsy grounds (exceptions
are truly exceptional) even if all of its formal
requirements are met. Hence, the Baltic
Fleet’s aviators conduct virtually all routine
flights and hops to mainland Russia above
the Baltic, leaving Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia
and their territorial waters away from their
route running south to north via virtually the
whole of Baltic. On the northern leg of the
route at the entrance to the Gulf of Finland,
aircraft have to pass via a narrow corridor
of neutral waters, with Estonia and Finland
getting rather nervous every time. It is only
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en route to St. Petersburg that one can fly
towards the destination within the Russian
borders. Thus, a flight, say, to the Moscow
Region or vice versa is about twice as long as
direct one across Lithuania and Belorussia.
Planes operated by air units in mainland
Russia face the same problem when heading
to the Kaliningrad Region.
Another factor of the fluid situation –
the alert duty pulled by four NATO fighters at Zokniai airbase in Lithuania on
the rotational basis since 29 March 2004
(the day the Baltic countries joined the
North-Atlantic alliance) – has quickly
stopped serving a cause of tension. At
first, flights of the Belgian F-16s (the
Belgian were the first to come) along the
Russian-Lithuanian border on provocative
routes seemed to be aimed at grating on
the Russian nerves, but stopped being such
a thorn in the side pretty soon. To date,
two of the NATO fighters have always been
on alert duty ready to scramble, while the
other two have been patrolling the border, performing routine flights and practicing redeployment to other airfields in the
Baltic countries. The only exception was
the USAF shift numbering five F-16s with
the 52nd Fighter Air Wing from October to
December 2005. On the whole, there have
been no bitter confrontation in the skies
over the Baltic for many years, and NATO
planes’ duty in Lithuania has not caused
the situation to deteriorate yet.
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Surveillance and reconnaissance have
a greater impact. The Baltic states’ airspace surveillance system, BaltNet, with the
regional centre in Karmelava (Lithuania)
has been part of NATO’s Integrated Air
Defence System in Europe (IADS) since
7 April 2004. The Karmelava centre gathers data on the airspace of the Baltic states
and Kaliningrad Region from radars and
feeds them to NATO’s joint air operations
centre in Germany. A large-scale expansion
of the ground-based radar network that is
integral to the IADS has been underway
in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland.
The radars’ operating range – up to 450 km
– enables them to keep an eye on all flights
over the Kaliningrad Region and parts of
Russia and Belorussia adjacent to it.
An E-3A AWACS aircraft from German
airbase Geilenkirchen for the first time
passed along the border of the Kaliningrad
Region on 24 February 2004, having landed
at Zokniai airbase in Lithuania. On the next
day, it worked in tandem with another E-3A
that took off in Poland.
Russian A-50 AWACS planes arriving to
the Russian exclave from time to time and
their operation from the Baltic Fleet’s airfields have been Russia’s response to the
increase in NATO recce operations near
the border of the Kaliningrad Region. The
first A-50 was ordered there by RusAF’s
commander-in-chief, General Vladimir
Mikhailov, on 26 February 2004. The gen-
eral highlighted the reciprocal nature of
the Russian aerial recce mission that lasted
three days. However, neither A-50, nor other
specialist recce aircraft are stationed in the
Kaliningrad Region permanently or are part
of the Baltic Fleet’s air arm.
ORBAT
At present, the air arm of the Baltic fleet
comprises two air regiments and three independent air squadrons reporting to the Air
Force/Air Defence HQ in Kaliningrad (the
command element of the air arm was moved
to Kaliningrad from Palanga, Lithuania,
as far back as 25 February 1946). Lt.-Gen.
Alexander Kulakov is chief of the Baltic
Fleet’s air/air defence component and Baltic
Fleet deputy commander for aviation.
The Baltic Fleet’s air branch had operated
six airbases by the mid-‘90s, those being
Chkalovsk, Chernyakhovsk, Nivenskoye,
Khrabrovo, Kosa and Donskoye. Kosa air
base was closed down in late 1995 after
the 49th Independent ASW Air Squadron
had been redeployed to Khrabrovo airbase.
Disbanding the 15th Independent Recce Air
Squadron and 846th Guards Independent
Attack Air Squadron in 1998 resulted in
the virtual shutdown of Chkalovsk airbase (it handled a handful of flights mostly
under factory test programmes run by the
150th Aircraft Repair Plant). However, the
689th Guards Reg’t and 125th Independent
Squadron were redeployed to Chkalovsk in
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2002 from Nivenskoye airbase closed down
in that year too. At the time, Chkalovsk was
supposed to become a joint airbase to be
used by all of the Baltic Fleet’s aircraft, but
the plan has not been accomplished and,
probably, has been scrapped. The runway
and some other infrastructure of Khrabrovo
airbase were handed over to Russian Ministry
of Transport, with the airbase retaining its
status of joint basing airfield since it has
cohabitated with a commercial airport since
1962 and with Kaliningrad’s international
airport since 1989. Khrabrovo’s runway was
repaired in 2005. The Ministry of Transport
paid for that.
As of early 2006, there were the Chkalovsk
airfield featuring a 3,000x60 m runway and
able to receive aircraft with their max takeoff weight exceeding 200 t, Chernyakhovsk,
Khrabrovo and Donskoye airfields.
4th Guards Independent
Naval Attack Air Regiment
The unit was activated in Smolensk in
April 1938 as the 31st High-Speed Bomber
Air Regiment fielded with Tupolev SB
bombers. The regiment fought in the 1939–
40 Soviet-Finnish war. It was deployed in
Latvia when WWII broke out and had converted to the Petlyakov Pe-2 by September
1941, having been re-designated as 31st Dive
Bomber Reg’t. The unit was re-designated as
the 4th Guards Dive Bomber Air Regiment
“for the gallantry and heroism displayed by
the personnel in action”. The end of the war
caught the regiment in East Prussia. By the
time, it had been awarded the honorary title
Novgorodsky (Russian for ‘of Novgorod’)
and nine of its pilots had earned the title of
Hero of the Soviet Union accompanied with
the top Soviet decoration – the Golden Star.
The regiment has been stationed vic. the
town of Chernyakhovsk in the Kaliningrad
Region since 1945. It converted to the Il-28
jet bomber in 1951 and to the Yak-28 in the
mid-‘60s.
In 1979, the 4th Guards Reg’t was the
first combat unit of the Soviet Air Force to
convert to the advanced Su-24 supersonic
tactical bomber and started converting to
its upgrade, the Su-24M, within another
five years. On 1 December 1989, the 132nd
Bomber Air Division, to which the 4th Reg’t
reported, was relinquished by the Air Force’s
15 Air Army to the Baltic Fleet’s air arm and
turned into a naval attack division. Naturally,
the 4th Guards was re-designated as the
4th Guards Naval Attack Air Regiment.
Its aircraft fleet was beefed up heavily with
Su-24Ms and Su-24MRs shed by the units
affected by the force reduction campaign.
Many aircraft were taken over from two disbanded naval attack regiments of the 132nd
Naval Attack Air Division – the 170th Reg’t
at Suurkul airbase and the 240th Reg’t at
Ostrov airbase. The division itself was disbanded too, with the Chernyakhovsk-based
4th Guards becoming an independent air
regiment. In January 1998, the 4th Guards
merged with the 846th Guards Naval Attack
Air Squadron that had been a regiment but
had to be downsized. The squadron, however, retained its honorary titles ‘of Klaipeda’,
‘Red Banner Winner’ and ‘named after
I.I. Borzov’, which were inherited by the
4th Guards Reg’t. The regiment received
its Su-24MRs from the disbanded 15th
Independent Recce Air Squadron that had
been downsized from the 15th Independent
Recce Air Regiment. According to the foreign press, the 4th Guards had operated
up to 45 Su-24s in various versions by the
early 21st century. At about the same time,
the regiment handed some of the baseline
Su-24s, which were growing obsolete, over
to the 43rd Independent Naval Attack Air
Squadron of the Russian Black Sea Fleet at
Gvardeyskoye airbase.
Now, the 4th Guards Independent Naval
Attack Air Regiment is the mainstay of the
Baltic Fleet’s air arm’s strike power and is
on continuous alert duty. It is tasked with
reconnoitring airspace and the surface of
the sea, providing surface target designation
to the Fleet’s assets and eliminating threats
by itself. Col. Sergei Dyagilev has been the
officer commanding since 2005.
689th Guards Fighter Air Regiment
The unit was activated in the city of
Kirovograd in September 1939 as the
55th Fighter Air Regiment. It operated
Top: a 689th Gds. Reg’t Su-27UB is rolling (March 2003). Flying combat trainers with an IP is both the
first step towards aerobatics and a must for even seasoned pilots in mastering new combat skills
Left: the primary strike power of the Fleet’s air arm: Su-24M bombers used by the 4th Gds. Nav.
Attack Reg’t named after Air Marshal Ivan Borzov (Chernyakhovsk). The picture shows a Su-24M in
Chkalovsk for demonstration to a Swiss military delegation in May 2003
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20 Polikarpov I-15bis fighters, four UTI-4
trainers and four I-16 fighters. The regiment was among the first Soviet Air Force
units to be fielded with the then advanced
MiG-3 fighter. When WWII began, the 55th
Reg’t was stationed at Semyonovka airbase
in the Odessa Region and comprised three
squadrons on MiG-3s, I-16s and I-153.
7 March 1942 saw the unit re-designated
as the 16th Guards Fighter Air Regiment
“for the gallantry, endurance, fortitude, discipline, good organisation and heroism in
fighting for the Motherland”. The regiment converted to the US P-39 Aerocobra
fighter in August 1942. In spring 1943 when
fighting for Kuban in what proved to be a
virtually non-stop two-month-long air battle, the 16th Guards Reg’t led by Alexander
Pokryshkin made an invaluable contribution to gaining air superiority. With the
war nearing the end, the 16th Guards was
awarded the honorary title ‘Sandomirsky’
(Russian for ‘of Sandomir’) and the Order
of Alexander Nevsky. 22 of its pilots earned
the title of Hero of the Soviet Union during the war, with three of them awarded
it twice and Alexander Pokryshkin thrice.
With the war over, the regiment had been
stationed in airbases throughout Germany,
Austria and Hungary until October 1952.
The 16th Guards was re-designated as the
689th Guards Reg’t on 10 January 1949
and began to convert to the MiG-15bis in
March 1951.
In October 1952, the 689th Guards was
redeployed to Nivenskoye airbase in the
Kaliningrad Region where it was soon incorporated into the air arm of the Baltic Fleet.
It converted to the MiG-17 and MiG-17P
in 1953 and to the MiG-19 in 1956, having
mastered the MiG-19S, MiG-19PG and
MiG-19SV variants. The 689th Guards Reg’t
was transferred to the Baltic Air Defence
Division in April 1960. It was on mission in
Czechoslovakia in August through October
1968. The regiment started converting to
the MiG-23M in 1977 and converted to the
Su-27 fourth-generation fighter in 1989. The
689th Guards was named after Air Marshal
Alexander Pokryshkin on 26 June 1989.
The 689th Reg’t that had been part of the
national air defence has been reporting to
the naval air command of the Baltic Fleet
since 1 December 1994. It was slated for
shrinking into a squadron (143rd Fighter Air
Squadron) in 2001 but this did not happen,
fortunately. The regiment redeployed from
Nivenskoye airbase to Chkalovsk airbase in
summer 2002. It received all of its Su-27s
in 1989–90 and has had not new fighters
delivered since then. Several planes had been
handed over to the 61st Fighter Air Regiment
stationed in Belorussia right before the
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Soviet Union collapsed. According to the
press, the regiment had operated 28 Su-27P
fighters and Su-27UB combat trainers by the
beginning of the new millennium.
Now, the 689th Guards Fighter Air
Regiment is the backbone of the aircraft
element of the air defence of the Baltic Fleet
and Kaliningrad Special Defence Area as
a whole. The unit is the only land-based
regiment of the Russian Navy’s air branch,
operating Su-27 fighters. Col. Vladimir
Talabirchuk has been the officer commanding since 2003.
125th Independent Helicopter Squadron
20 December 1976 is the date of activating
the 288th Independent Helicopter Regiment
in the city of Vladimir (Moscow Military
District). The regiment mastered various
Mi-24 versions in 1977 and redeployed to
Nivenskoye airbase in 1978, joining the land
forces of the Baltic Military District. From
1980 to 1989, the unit fought in Afghanistan
where it lost 18 personnel, with four officers decorated with the top national award.
Personnel of the 288th Reg’t participated in
the disaster relief operation at the Chernobyl
nuclear power station in 1986. According
to the foreign press, the regiment operated 48 Mi-24 and 20 Mi-8 helicopters as
of 1990.
The 288th Reg’t was relinquished by the
11th Guards Army, which was being disbanded at the time, to the air command of the
Baltic Fleet in 1997 and, in 2002, reorganised into the 125th Independent Helicopter
Squadron. The squadron was redeployed
to Chkalovsk airbase in the same year. At
present, it operates Mi-24VPs and Mi-8s.
The 125th Sqn operates in support of the
Fleet with its supporting Army units, ready
to provide fire support and do its share of air
defence of the Kaliningrad Special Defence
Area. The unit is the only one in the Russian
Navy to fly Mi-24 helicopters.
Top: illuminated by the low winter sun, a
Mi-24VP with the 125th Sqn is hovering
prior to landing following a training mission
at a firing range (Chkalovsk, February 2004)
Right: one can spot the St. Andrews flag
on Mi-24s only in the Kaliningrad Region.
The picture shows a Mi-24VP with the
288th Independent Heli Reg’t that was
reorganised into the 125th Independent
Heli Sqn afterwards (April 2001)
Right bottom: a Mi-8MT troop carrier with
the 125th Independent Heli Sqn is leaving
for the training area (Chkalovsk, April 2005)
Bottom: a Mi-8T is being stripped of its
396th Independent Shipborne ASW
Helicopter Squadron
The ASW helicopter squadron dates back
to 30 June 1955 when the Baltic Fleet activated the 509th Independent Helicopter
Squadron. For several subsequent years,
the unit was repeatedly expanded to a regiment and reduced back to a squadron. On 4
October 1961, the squadron was reorganised
into the 745th Independent ASW Helicopter
Regiment and went down to history of the
Fleet’s ASW branch under that designation.
The unit has been stationed at Donskoye airbase since the early ‘60s as the sole ‘master’
of the base.
Once activated, the unit was fielded with
Mi-4M helicopters that had remained in
cargo door prior to airdropping paratroops.
This machine with side number 94 owes
its original camouflage paintjob to the
125th Sqn’s techies who painted it all by
themselves (April 2005)
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inventory until 1975. The regiment also
received Ka-15 helicopters in 1961, with
heavy cargo hauled by Mi-6s. The regimental aircraft fleet incorporated Mi-8s in
1970 and shipborne Ka-25s a year later. The
745th Reg’t had flown Mi-14 amphibian
helicopters from 1975 to 1994. Interestingly,
Polish, East German, Bulgarian and Yugoslav
military pilots had undergone conversion to
that machine from 1979 to 1984.
The Ka-27 ASW and Ka-27PS SAR helicopters were fielded with the unit in 1986, with
the Ka-29 combat/transport helicopters following suit in the ‘90s. The regiment, however,
was soon reformed into the 396th Independent
Shipborne ASW Squadron retaining only its
Ka-27s and Ka-29s. According to the foreign
press, the unit took delivery of a total of 12
Ka-27s and several Ka-29s.
Now, the squadron’s purpose remains
antisubmarine warfare, search-and-rescue
operations and support of the marines’
amphibious operations, including providing them with fire support. The crews and
machines are deployed on the Nastoichivy
and Bespokoiny destroyers (the former is the
flagship of the Baltic Sea) and Neustrashimy
frigate. The 396th Sqn has been a regular in
the BALTOPS annual international exercises since 1996.
398th Independent Transport Air
Squadron
The 1st Composite Air Squadron of the
Baltic Fleet’s air arm was activated at Gory
Valdai airbase vic. Leningrad on 10 July
1944. Its primary purpose was support of
the advancing Soviet forces with ammunition, rations, etc. including the units
deployed at islands, as well as liaison and
casevac. The 1st Sqn was furnished with
20 aircraft, including C-47, Il-4, Li-2,
UT-2, Po-2, etc. With WWII over, the
squadron was reorganised repeatedly.
From 1956 to 1995, it had been designated
as the 263rd Independent Transport Air
Regiment. After WWII, the unit operated
mostly the Li-2, Il-14, An-2, An-12, An-24
and An-26. Many carried special equipment for ELINT, air defence and antimissile defence of the Fleet’s ships, etc. The
unit had been stationed at Dewau airfield
within the limits of Kaliningrad since 1946
until it redeployed to Khrabrovo airbase in
1971. The unit inherited the honorary title
and decorations of the 51st Mine/Torpedo
Regiment, which fought with distinction
over the Baltic, when it was reorganised
into the 316th Independent Air Regiment
in 1996. The 316th Reg’t was reduced to the
398th Independent Transport Air Squadron
in 1998 and has flown only An-26s since
then.
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Andrey Zinchuk
military aviation | review
Top: Ka-27 ASW helicopter, the main rotorcraft
type in service with the 396th separate
helicopter ASW squadron,
Donskoye airfield, 2006
Left: Ka-29 combat/transport helicopter armed
with S-8 rocket pods and unified
helicopter gun-pods
Andrey Zinchuk
Bottom: Ka-27PS search-and-rescue
helicopters from the 396th squadron are being
widely used for different purposes of Russia’s
Andrey Zinchuk
Baltic Fleet
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At present, the squadron airlifts personnel and materiel, airdrops marines, supports
the strike forces of the Fleet and flies SAR
missions under command of Col. Nikolay
Dubrovsky who has been OC since 1997.
Outlook
The current optimised aircraft element
of the Baltic Fleet’s air and air defence
command comprises a single fighter type, a
single tactical bomber/recce plane type, four
helicopter types and a single airlifter type. A
further reduction in the number of the types
as well as the number of air units and bases
seems to be unlikely and unreasonable, given
the planned force build-up in the neighbouring NATO member states and the isolation
of the Kaliningrad Special Defence Area.
The same problem and its geopolitical context necessitate a gradual relevant strengthening the Baltic Fleet’s aviation and air
defence units. The task could be fulfilled in
two ways – by fixing as many organic planes
and helicopters as possible and by fielding
the units with latest or upgraded aircraft.
The interest in the cutting-edge strike
aircraft Su-34 shown by the Russian Navy
is indicative that the Kaliningrad Region
might be the first to receive such naval aircraft that could gradually oust the current
Su-24Ms and Su-24MRs. However, taking
into account the Air Force’s priority in
getting such warplanes, the Baltic Fleet is
unlikely to have got the Su-34 until the middle of next decade. If the Su-27KUB is to be
selected as the common naval strike aircraft
and funding is sufficient, a limited number
of such aircraft could crop up in the Baltic
as early as the early 2010s.
As far as cutting the costs of the regional
air defence until a fifth-generation fighter
has entered inventory, it makes sense to ponder a partial or complete replacement of the
Su-27s with upgraded MiG-29s featuring
shorter legs but lower operating costs as well.
On the other hand, the Kaliningrad Special
Defence Area is a natural outpost that could
be turned into a true first line of defence for
the country as a whole. Hence, retaining the
heavy fighters with a longer combat radius
there seems to be more expedient. In the
near term, it would make sense to replace
the current Su-27s with upgraded Su-27SMs
and their further variants that also could
shoulder some of the strike tasks handled by
the Su-24M bombers at present.
The Baltic Fleet’s air arm could operate
its current Su-24Ms and Su-27s until the
mid-2010s in case they are overhauled on
in a timely manner. However, providing an
acceptable level of combat readiness of the
Fleet’s aircraft against the backdrop of the
EU’s quick rearmament is feasible only in
www.take-off.ru
Top: a Tu-134AK "commander's" aircraft is taking off (August 2005). The Minsk Aircraft Repair
Plant overhauls such aircraft on order by the Russian Air Force
Bottom: an An-26 airlifter with the 398th Independent Transport Sqn of the Baltic Fleet is several
seconds away from touching down at Chkalovsk (August 2004). The logo of the unit is on the right
side of its fuselage nose section
case of complementing the aircraft’s overhaul
with upgrade of their weapon and avionics
suites. First and foremost, this concerns the
strike aircraft, and delivery of Su-24M2s to
the Baltic Fleet seems to be rather reasonable
and feasible in the near future.
The helicopter elements of the Fleet’s
air command comprises machines of late
models, whose operating capabilities can
be maintained for a long time by means
of timely overhaul and gradual avionics
upgrade. At the same time, in addition to
the Ka-27 ASW helicopters, several patrol/
recce planes should be stationed in the
Kaliningrad Region. These might be the
up-to-date Il-114’s recce derivatives that
could both serve a sizeable component of
the Fleet’s ASW capability and handle dedicated missions. The above Il-114 derivative
remains, however, under development and,
hence, is unlikely to enter inventory of the
Baltic Fleet’s air command.
Paradoxically, the most urgent problem the
naval aviation can run into may be the physical ageing of the An-26 airlifters and lack of
aircraft in the An-12 class. A solution to the
service life expiry of both naval and Air Force
An-26s has had no obvious solution, because
mass production of the Il-112V tactical airlifter is likely to begin well after the An-26s start
being written off en masse. As far as a medium
airlifter to replace the An-12 is concerned (and
the last An-12 is to be written off even before
the An-26 does), there have been no decision
made on even what type it is going to be.
Nonetheless, when the 100th anniversary
of the first victory of the Russian naval aviation is celebrated in 2016, the Baltic Fleet’s
air command must be at a radically higher
level to meet new challenges of the volatile
world. Having passed the point of its absolute
minimum in the early 2000, the Baltic Fleet’s
air arm is gradually growing and facing, one
might say, a run and take-off.
Baltic Fleet’s Air Command
4th Gds. Independent Attack Reg’t
689th Gds. Fighter Reg’t
125th Independent Heli Sqn
396th Independent ASW Sqn
398th Independent Transport Sqn
Chernyakhovsk
Chkalovsk
Chkalovsk
Donskoye
Khrabrovo
Su-24M, Su-24MR
Su-27P, Su-27UB
Mi-24VP, Mi-8
Ka-27, Ka-27PS, Ka-29
An-26, Tu-134AK
take-off july 2006
41
cosmonautics | in brief
TsSKB-Progress
With the Russian Space Agency
finally orbiting the long-awaited
Resurs-DK, the Russian satellite
constellation has been beefed up
with the second remote sensing
satellite.
The Russian Space Agency
ordered development of the remote
sensing satellite intended for governmental and commercial users
as far back as in the mid-‘90s.
TsSKB-Progress in Samara responded with developing the Resurs-DK
derived from its optronic reconnaissance satellite. The project’s
strength boiled down to using a
new datalink to downlink data right
to users down on the Earth instead
of doing so via a relay satellite – the
way the military series of satellites
does. It became known in 1999
that the Resurs-DK was virtually
complete and scheduled for launch
soon. The launch, however, had
kept on being put off until preparations of a launch vehicle and the
satellite itself for orbiting began,
finally, in March 2006.
The Soyuz-U LV mounting the
Resurs-DK1 blasted off the 5th
launcher of Launch Pad 1 at the
Baikonur space launch centre at
12.00 Moscow time on 15 June.
8 min later, the LV inserted its payload in a 200–360 km non-synchronous orbit with the 70 deg. inclination. The satellite circles the Earth
in 89.8 min. Tests of the onboard
hardware revealed a malfunction
of communications gear, but the
Flight Control Centre (TsUP) in the
Moscow Region soon reported that
“stable communication have been
established, the spacecraft’s systems are all green and the satellite’s
working programme has been initiated on order from the Earth”.
On 18 June, the Resurs-DK1’s
powerplant performed a two-burn
manoeuvre to move the satellite to
the 390–610 km 70.4 deg. 94.2 min
working orbit. The Resurs-DK1 is to
conduct remote sensing of the planet for at least three years. According
to its developer, the satellite can
cover up to 700,000 sq.km of the
Earth’s surface a day and downlink
the data in the near-real-time mode.
The specialist equipment on board
the Resurs-DK1 provides a resolution of at least 1 m.
“As far as output characteristics are concerned, it is on a par
with the best foreign remote sensing satellites, surpassing them in
some respects”, TsSKB-Progress
maintains. In any case, Russia
has had no satellites boasting so
high resolution until now. The only
Roskosmos
Long-awaited Resurs
other remote sensing satellite of
the current Russian constellation –
Khrunichev Monitor-E lofted in orbit
in summer 2005 – has a resolution
of only 8 m. Truth be told, comparing the Resurs-DK with other similar
satellites, including foreign ones,
does not make sense, because its
use in support of commercial customers is very restricted despite its
characteristics.
The governmental resolution
dated 15 June 2005 entitled the
Defence Ministry, law enforcers
and federal and regional authorities to have priority in using the
data supplied by the Resurs-DK and
other similar satellites. Domestic
and foreign commercial users have
to put with only 15% of the satellite’s capabilities, and, according to
experts, the sensing planning and
requesting procedure hampers the
Resurs-DK’s competitiveness on the
world remote sensing market considerably, to boot.
However, the satellite is not
going to restrict itself to sensing
the Earth only but to conduct piggyback research and applied experiments as well. It mounts Italian
research payload Pamela designed
for researching into the primary
space radiation’s nuclear and electron/positron antiparticles. The
Resurs-DK also carries Russian
research gear Arina designed to
register high-energy electrons and
protons, identify them and pinpoint
high-energy particle outbursts, forerunners of earthquakes.
The Geoton-1 optronic system
and Sangur-1 data receiver and
converter system carried by the
Resurs-DK were tested with success on 22 June 2006.
Another Progress docked with ISS
42
take-off july 2006
brought about 2.6 t of cargo, such
as fuel, water, bottled oxygen and
air, equipment, linen for the crew,
medicine, shaving kit and rations.
This Progress will have to
assume a bit unusual function in the future. While ISS
crews used the spacecraft of
the type as a sort of dumpster,
the Progress M-57 will become
an additional warehouse for the
gear to be brought to the ISS by
US space shuttle Discovery due
in early July.
www.nasa.gov
Another cargo spacecraft,
Progress M-57, blasted off towards
the International Space Station
(ISS) from the 5th launcher of the
1st launch pad of the Baikonur
space launch centre on 24 June.
The craft made two burns over
the two-day flight and, while circling the planet for the 34th time,
docked with the docking node of
the Russian-made Zvezda service
module on 26 June. It will have
remained there until mid-September this year. The ‘space truck’ has
www.take-off.ru
cosmonautics | in brief
www.take-off.ru
Roskosmos
loft a military satellite to a geostationary orbit at first. Khrunichev faced
a problem with obtaining a launch
vehicle. Four options were on the
table: launching the KazSat along with
a military satellite, a satellite under
the Federal Space Programme, a
commercial spacecraft or all alone.
Nobody wanted to risk his satellite
piggybacking it on the virtually experimental launch of the Proton-M, while
Kazakhstan was not about waiting, of
which it had repeatedly reminded the
Russian Space Agency.
As a result, April 2006
saw Russia’s Information and
Communications Ministry and
Kazakhstan’s Informatisation and
Communications Agency made
an agreement on Russia lending
Kazakhstan the 103 deg. E. slot
and coordinated orbital frequency
resource for the duration of the satellite’s active life in orbit but not longer
Roskosmos
In addition, who it would be orbited had been not clear for along time.
At first, Khrunichev planned launching the KazSat on a Proton-M launch
vehicle with a Breeze-M booster as
a piggyback payload. The thing is
that the market price of launching
a Proton-M totals about $35 million, while the whole work on the
KazSat from designing to orbiting
had cost Kazakhstan only $65 million. The piggyback payload would
enable Khrunichev to have some
of its expenditures under the programme to be compensated.
The Express-AM3 communications
satellite was considered to be the main
payload for the two-payload launch.
However, the Space Communication
federal company had its satellite
launched as early as summer 2005 on
a cheaper rocket, the Proton-K, with
the launch costing about $30 million.
The Proton-K had been planned to
Khrunichev
A Proton-K launch vehicle with
the DM-3 booster and first Kazakh
satellite KazSat blasted off launcher 39 at Launch Pad 200 at the
Baikonur space launch centre at
02.44 Moscow time on 18 June
2006. In about 10 min after the
launch, the LV orbited the spacecraft
and DM-3 about 200 km above the
Earth, with the satellite completing
two burns of the DM-3 booster to
reach a geostationary orbit almost
36,000 km above the planet by
09.22 Moscow time. Another 10 min
later, the KazSat jettisoned its DM-3
booster, and in the afternoon the
control centre in Akkola (100 km
away from Astana, the capital city
of Kazakhstan) received a signal
that the satellite’s relay system had
deployed its antennas.
KazSat faces two-month-long
flight tests to be followed by
Kazakhstan accepting it from the
manufacturer, the Khrunichev state
space scientific and production centre. However, Kazakhstan is so far
pleased with the launch being a
success. The contract for developing the KazSat system was signed
during the meeting of the Russian
and Kazakh presidents – Vladimir
Putin and Nursultan Nazarbayev – in
Astana in January 2004. Khrunichev
had to develop the satellite really fast,
fitting a rather small satellite with
12 Ku-band transponders requested
by the customer – eight for fixed
satellite communications and data
transmission and four for TV broadcasting. Kazakhstan expected to get
a satellite of its own in orbit not later
than 31 March 2006, or in late 2005
if possible.
Khrunichev was unable, however,
to orbit the satellite on schedule.
The Russian Space Agency planned
to launch the KazSat in December
2005 for a long time, but it became
obvious in the autumn that the date
was not realistic. Following protracted bumpy tests of Khrunichev’s
Monitor-E, from which the KazSat
was derived, a Russian Space
Agency commission ordered additional ground tests and checks of the
Kazakh satellite.
Roskosmos
KazSat lofted to geo-synchronous orbit
than 15 years. At the same time, the
Russian Defence Ministry agreed to
‘sacrifice’ a Proton-K for the sake of
Kazakhstan, and, finally, the launch
took place in June, with Nazarbayev
and Putin attending it. According to
the Russian space Agency’s spokesman Igor Panarin, the two presidents
“expressed their satisfaction with
what they had seen”.
He was echoed by Almas
Kosunov, spokesman for the aerospace committee of Kazakhstan’s
Education and Science Ministry, who
said that Kazakhstan was counting
on having two more satellites to
be built and orbited with Russia’s
assistance. In particular, the Kazakh
Informatisation and Communications
Agency is about to send requests for
proposals (RfP) for developing the
second Kazakh communications and
broadcasting satellite, KazSat-2, and
the country is going to invite only
Russian companies, namely RKK
Energia, Khrunichev and NPO PM.
The KazSat-2 is slated for launch in
2008, with Kazakhstan intent on having as many as four communications
satellites of its own as well as four
remote sensing satellites to be used
together with Russia.
take-off july 2006
43
cosmonautics | in brief
ISS Space Holding Company to emerge
Establishing a new space holding company uniting 10 Russian
telecommunications and navigation
satellite developers and manufacturers commenced in June with
the Reshetnev NPO PM Applied
Mechanics Association as the
basis.
According to NPO PM’s spokesperson, the merger was decreed by
President Vladimir Putin on 9 June
2006. The presidential decree
approved the government’s decision on the transformation of the
NPO PM federal unitary company
in Zheleznogorsk (Krasnoyarsk
Region) into the Information Satellite
Systems (ISS) joint-stock company
comprising NPO PM’s subcontractors and former subsidiaries, e.g.
Polyus (Tomsk), Kvant (Moscow),
Siberian Instruments & Systems
(Omsk) and Geofizika-Cosmos
(Moscow). These companies owned
by the government lock, stock and
barrel are soon to be reorganised
into joint-stock companies. In addition, space instrument maker Kvant
in Rostov-on-Don, Siberian Institute
for Designing Machinebuilding
Plants (SIPPM in Zheleznogorsk),
PM-Razvitiye, PM-Maloye KB and
ITTs-NPO PM are to join the new
holding company.
The president ordered the holding company to have been set up
within nine months. Having turned
into joint-stock companies, the constituent enterprises will continue
to operate on their own, however,
doing so as part of a single integrated organisation. Once privatised,
they are to become subsidiaries of
ISS whose stock will all be owned by
the government. The new company
will focus on “developing, upgrading, manufacturing, operating and
overhauling space-based information and positioning systems and
military, commercial and dual-use
spacecraft”. The Russian Space
Agency believes that pooling the
bunch of subcontractors into a holding company will boost their products’ competitiveness by slashing
their prime cost.
Holding companies have been
cropping up in the space industry over the past several years.
Khrunichev and TsSKB Progress
were the first to get consolidated,
in 2004 setting up a military-in-
dustrial corporation kicked off at
NPOMash (Reutov) and the Russian
Corporation of Rocket & Space
Instrumentation & Information
Systems was set up on the basis of
RNIIKP (Russian Research Institute
of Space Instrumentation) in 2006.
A rocket engine corporation is
being established with the NPO
Energomash as its core. In all, the
Russian Space Agency plans to set
up 11 integrated organisations in
the course of the space industry’s
reform to unite about 70 companies
and organisations out of more than
a hundred ones reporting to the
agency.
The presidential decree has been
followed by the news of a new leader of NPO PM would be in charge
of setting up the holding company.
Albert Kozlov, Director General and
Designer General since 1996, has
been relieved of both his duties by
the Russian Space Agency’s chief
Anatoly Perminov on 23 June 2006
due to the expiry of Mr. Kozlov’s
contract. Kozlov is to keep on working for NPO PM as a deputy chairman of the company’s scientific and
technical council, according to a
NPO PM spokesperson. Meanwhile,
Kozlov had known that his contract
was not to be extended owing to
the 29 March failure of NPO PM’s
Express-AM11 satellite. He appointed Victor Khartov, 45, first deputy
Director General – the post he introduced soon after investigation had
been launched into the failure – and
earmarked him as his successor.
However, the Russian Space
Agency appointed the chief of the
PM-Razvitiye JSC, 56-year-old
Nikolay Testoyedov, acting chief of
NPO PM. He is supposed to get the
job after the official election of the
company’s chief in August this year.
Addressing the staff, Testoyedov
stressed that the company was facing difficult times: “Four problems
have cropped up at the same time –
the presidential order to expedite
the federal space programme,
presidential decree on setting up
the Information Satellite Systems
company, upcoming competition
for the job of NPO PM’s Director
General/Designer General and a
major reorganisation of NPO PM”.
It looks like he is intent on tackling
these problems personally.
Clipper is changing
44
take-off july 2006
protection system is being improved
to meet recent requirements and
enhance the spacecraft’s deorbiting
and landing safety. The shape of its
nose section has been altered, with
the spacecraft becoming a mid-wing
monoplane.
The Soyuz-2-3 is being eyed
as the principal launch vehicle for
Clipper. According to the Clipper’s
programme engineer Vladimir
Daneyev, the maiden launch of the
advanced spacecraft could take
place until 2015 if the funding is
right, and as many as five Clippers
could be made for orbital missions. However, an atmospheric
analogue of the Clipper – a prototype for so-called level flight
tests propelled by a turbojet powerplant – has to be made and tried
first. Such a prototype can be
developed in three to four years,
if the situation as for a competition for developing the future
reusable spacecraft is clarified
in the near future (i.e. this summer) and sufficient funds are
allocated.
Andrey Fomin
Andrey Fomin
As was announced during the
recent ILA 2006 air show in Berlin, the
initial design of the Clipper manned
reusable spacecraft under joint development by RKK Energia and Sukhoi is
undergoing a number of considerable
modifications. The Clipper’s thermal
www.take-off.ru
cosmonautics | prospect
NASA
Alina CHERNOIVANOVA
BATTLE FOR THE MOON
Industry in space!
In April 1961, just eight days after Yury
Gagarin’s spaceflight, US President John
Kennedy asked Vice President Lyndon Johnson
if the US had any chance of beating the
USSR in landing a man on the Moon. NASA
responded with Neil Armstrong’s successful
expedition eight years later. However, the US
nevertheless terminated the Apollo programme
some time later. The Soviet moon exploration
programme had sunk into oblivion even earlier,
after it had become clear that it would only be
second-best.
Over three decades passed since then. US
scientists and engineers, just like their Russian
counterparts, grew tired of ‘sitting’ in near-earth
orbits. The difference was that NASA enjoyed
billions’ worth budgets, while Russia had numerous projects, existing only on paper, and scanty
expenditures on space exploration. In 2003 US
President George Bush announced a new space
exploration programme, envisioning a landing
on the Moon and a spaceflight to Mars. In its
turn Russia realised that it was now capable of
launching a spaceflight to the Moon, but did
not have the money. And it will not have enough
money, at least until 2015. When the Federal
Space Exploration Programme for 2006–2015
46
take-off july 2006
was adopted, it became clear that Russia was not
about to enter another Moon race.
However, the Russian space industry did not
agree with the approach, embraced by the state.
On the eve of the Space Exploration Day the
Korolev Energia Rocket and Space Corporation
(RKK Energia), Russia’s flagship manned and
unmanned spacecraft designer, published its
own manned astronautics development concept
until 2025. The main objective is to explore the
Solar system in the interests of the industry.
“Today we are talking about a transition to a
new stage of manned astronautics development, which envisions establishing industrial
facilities in near-earth orbits and on the Moon”,
RKK Energia head Nikolay Sevastyanov said.
Thus, RKK Energia management is positive
that private investors can and should finance
space exploration.
Eternal ISS
Mr. Sevastyanov noted that the concept envisioned four workstreams. The first one consists in industrial exploration of near-earth
space, meaning a larger-scale employment
of the International Space Station (ISS).
Mr. Sevastyanov became the first Russian space
industry official to comment on the future of
the ISS after 2015: “If overhauled and repaired,
the ISS will last forever.” While NASA is considering its participation in the project, Russian
engineers are totally ready to preserve the ISS,
rather than deorbit and sink it like the Mir space
station. According to Mr. Sevastyanov, the ISS
will still be used for fundamental and applied
scientific experiments (for instance, crystals and
stem cells may be grown in a zero-gravity environment). The space station will be used for
training astronauts for long-term expeditions,
but will also become an industrial platform
for assembling interplanetary spacecraft and an
international spaceport.
The second workstream consist in developing
the Clipper shuttle. The project is well-known,
especially given the fact that the Russian Space
Agency is an active advocate of the Clipper programme, thus, there is no point in describing it
again. Although, even Mr. Sevastyanov decided
against dwelling on the Clipper’s advantages
again. The Russian Space Agency, which issued
a tender on developing a shuttle spacecraft
in January 2006, has yet to name the winner.
“We are investigating a feasibility of attracting
extra-budgetary funds, though, participation
of the state is a guarantee for an investor”,
Mr. Sevastyanov pointed out. According to him,
www.take-off.ru
cosmonautics | prospect
US ISS sector
Russian ISS sector
RKK Energia
In April 2006 Russia and the
entire world celebrated the 45th
anniversary of the first space flight,
carried out by Soviet cosmonaut
Yury Gagarin. The occasion became
the reason for both recalling the past
of the Russian space exploration,
and dipping into its future. However,
despite all the efforts of the officials,
everyone could not but compare
it with ambitious space exploration
plans of the US. The 45-year old
issue became the topic of the month:
who will be the first to land on the
Moon in the XXI century?
Clipper manned
spacecraft
Parom interorbital
tow spacecraft
Cargo container
EPISODE II
it will cost US $1.5 billion to develop the Clipper
and build five such shuttles.
To the Moon!
Finally, the third workstream of RKK
Energia’s concept is one of the most labour-intensive and expensive projects. It envisions
industrial exploration of the Moon. It is worth
mentioning that Mr. Sevastyanov presented a
project of a commercial spaceflight around the
Moon as far back as summer 2005. The expedition is expected to last 12 days and involve three
persons, two space tourists and the mission
commander. They are to reach the ISS aboard
the Soyuz spacecraft. Meanwhile, a launch
vehicle with a booster is to be launched from
the Earth. On the sixth day the Soyuz spacecraft
is to undock from the ISS and dock with the
booster, which is to provide the spacecraft with
a sufficient pulse to fly around the Moon. The
flight around the Moon proper is to take place
on the ninth day, after which the tourists are
to return to the Earth. Each tourist is to pay
US $100 million for the spaceflight.
Mr. Sevastyanov stressed that a spaceflight
around the Moon was just the first step toward
realising the Russian Moon exploration programme. “Space tourism is not the ultimate
www.take-off.ru
RKK Energia
A future layout of the ISS (top) and a diagram of a commercial spaceflight
to the Moon, according to RKK Energia (bottom)
objective. It will only allow us to gain experience
for industrial exploration of the Moon”, he
emphasised. The spaceflight around the Moon
will be followed by a landing on the Moon,
and then the establishment of a Moon base.
Mr. Sevastyanov stressed that landing on the
Moon was now an economic necessity, rather
than a political goal. There is a limited amount
of energy resources left on the Earth, and the
Moon, boasting vast deposits of helium III,
can be considered a new source of power for
the humankind. Although, scientists are yet to
decide on the way to recover helium III. It is
necessary to process 20 square kilometres of
three-metre deep regolith at a temperature of
over 300°C to recover a tonne of helium III.
However, Mr. Sevastyanov said he was sure the
Kurchatov Nuclear Centre would be able to
solve the problem.
According to Mr. Sevastyanov, the manned
Clipper shuttle and the Parom interorbital
tow spacecraft, designed by RKK Energia,
will facilitate the industrial exploration of the
Moon. They will constitute a single reusable
cargo transportation space system, which will
replace the current Soyuz manned spacecraft
and the Progress cargo spacecraft. As far as
the money is concerned, according to RKK
Energia, it will cost US $40–200 billion to
establish a lunar industrial base for recovering
and delivering to the Earth up to ten tons of
helium III on an annual basis. Given the fact
Hunt for helium
Experts call helium III environmentally safe and extremely powerful fuel for thermonuclear fusion.
However, there is almost no helium III on Earth. It forms in the Sun and solar wind spreads it in space.
However helium III does not reach planets with powerful magnetic fields and atmospheres. At the same
time, the Moon has been attacked by the solar wind for billions of years. According to scientists, the
lunar regolith has concentrated about 500 million tons of helium III, which will last the humankind for
several thousand years, given an active recovery of these deposits. US and Chinese experts consider
researching the feasibility of recovering helium III to be one of objectives of the Moon exploration
programme.
take-off july 2006
47
Andrey Fomin
cosmonautics | prospect
The Clipper manned shuttle – RKK Energia pins its hopes of industrial exploration of the Moon on
the Clipper. The photo shows a 2005-vintage mock-up of the Clipper, displayed at the MAKS 2005
air show
that 10–15 tons of helium III a year totally
cover Russia’s energy needs, Mr. Sevastyanov
does not doubt that the project is a promising
one. He also added that environmentally hazardous industries and production, requiring
low gravity, might be transferred to the Moon
in the future.
Finally, the Moon is considered a platform
for space launches to Mars, which constitutes
the fourth workstream of the RKK Energia
concept. According to Mr. Sevastyanov,
Russian experts expect the Martian space system to be similar to an orbital space station. It
will comprise an orbital spacecraft (the service
module), a power plant with large solar batteries, and a take-off-landing module. According
to RKK Energia’s engineers, Russia is capable
of launching a spaceflight to Mars without a
landing by 2030, and after that it will be able
to land a party on Mars.
Dreams and facts
Talking about Moon exploration plans at a
news conference, Mr. Sevastyanov hinted that
investors had already expressed their interest
in RKK Energia’s proposals. Moreover, they
are now considering the financial aspect of the
project (Mr. Sevastyanov must have meant the
commercial spaceflight around the Moon).
However, RRK Energia’s chief scientific consultant Boris Chertok, one of the closest
co-workers of chief designer Sergey Korolev,
is quite sceptical about projects, advocated by his apprentice Nikolay Sevastyanov.
According to him, Russia considerably undermined its economic and technological potential in the post-Soviet period. “The current
Russian economy will not allow the interesting projects, mentioned by Sevastyanov, to be
fulfilled”, Chertok said.
Head of the Russian Federal Space Agency
Anatoly Perminov, who had repeatedly had to
comment on US plans to land on the Moon
again, was even more original this time. He
told the Interfax News Agency that Russia
did not have a Moon exploration programme,
as it had gone that way three decades before,
and it was not expedient to do it all over again.
However, Russia may well assist China, which
plans to send its astronauts to the Moon in
2017. Moreover, according to Perminov, the
Russian Federal Space Agency intends to
cooperate with the EU and the US, as far
as their Moon exploration programmes are
concerned. Although, it is doubtful whether
a Russian will ever be able to land on the
Moon as a full-fledged master due to such
cooperation.
While Russia and China are thinking over their respective Moon exploration
programmes, the US has already embarked on its feasibility study. Director
of the US Space Policy Institute Dr. John Logsdon has given certain details
on NASA’s work at the recent meeting of the Moscow Space Club.
According to him, the new transportation system, being developed by US
engineers, will comprise the following five components: two types of launch
vehicles (a launch vehicle for a manned spacecraft and a heavy launch vehicle
similar to the Saturn-5, which will be able to deliver 105–125 tons of cargo
to low orbits, and 55 tons of cargo to the lunar transfer orbit), a manned
spacecraft (a reusable capsule with a seating capacity of four astronauts for
lunar expeditions, and six astronauts for spaceflights to the ISS), a separate
upper stage with a crew rescue vehicle, and, finally, the lunar module.
The launch vehicle with the lunar module will be the first to be launched
into space. It will be followed by the capsule with the crew. They will
rendezvous in the orbit and dock. The spacecraft will then head for the Moon
and reach its orbit in three days. There the entire crew of four astronauts
will transfer to the lunar module and land on the Moon. NASA expects the
lunar module to be able to land anywhere on the Moon, rather than just at
the equator. Astronauts will be able to work on the Moon for four to seven
days, after which the module will dock with the capsule, return to the Earth,
and parachute down.
The new transportation system is expected to start spaceflights to the
Moon twice a year in 2018. The spacecraft will carry out test orbital flights
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NASA
Meanwhile,
overseas…
before that. According to NASA, it will carry out its first flight to the ISS in
2012, two years after the Space Shuttle programme has been terminated.
From then on the spacecraft will carry out six spaceflights to the ISS a year.
In summer 2005 NASA summed up the results of the first stage of the
tender on developing the new transportation system and selected Lockheed
Martin and Northrop Grumman Systems. In early 2006 NASA specified the
requirements to be met by the lunar system. According to Dr. Logsdon, both
companies submitted their refined proposals on 20 March 2006, and NASA
is to name the winner by the turn of 2006. The US is expected to spend in
excess of US $100 billion on its Moon exploration programme over the next
12 years. It is worth mentioning that the US proper does not yet know the
reason for returning to the Moon. Dr. Logsdon admitted that George Bush
had accepted the programme without any specific goals and objectives,
which will be considered only this year.
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