Mig-29 - Take-off Magazine

New mission 

to the ISS 

[p. 42] 

Sukhoi Superjet 100 

rolled-out! [p. 8] 

november 2007 • special edition for Dubai Airshow 2007 

MiG-29 

MAKS 2007 airshow news and novelties 

under upgrade 

[p. 20] 

Skat UCAV – 

a future of combat 

aviation? 

[p. 36]

NEW-GEN TECHNOLOGIES 

TO SAFEGUARD YOUR SKIES 

Russian Aircraft Corporation “MiG” has 

supplied over 1600 MiG-29 fi ghters to guard 

the skies of dozens countries in Europe, 

Asia, Africa and America. By combining 

the operational experience with the latest 

technological achievements RAC “MiG” 

has developed the new family of multirole 

combat aircraft. The MiGs’ superiority 

is secured by the newest AESA Radar, 

state-of-the-art optronic systems, up-todate 

onboard self-defense suite, gravitydefying 

supermaneuverability and other 

innovations. 

Russian Aircraft Corporation “MiG” 

Bld. 7, 1st Botkinsky proyezd, Moscow, 

125284, Russia 

Phone: +7 (495) 252-80-10 

Fax: +7 (495) 250-19-48 

www.rskmig.com

November 2007 

Editor-in-Chief 

Andrey Fomin 

Deputy Editor-in-Chief 

Vladimir Shcherbakov 

Editors 

Yevgeny Yerokhin 

Andrey Yurgenson 

Columnist 

Alexander Velovich 

Special correspondents 

Vladimir Karnozov, Alexey Mikheyev, 

Victor Drushlyakov, Andrey Zinchuk, Valery Ageyev, 

Alina Chernoivanova, Natalya Pechorina, 

Dmirty Pichugin, Sergey Krivchikov, 

Sergey Popsuyevich, Piotr Butowski, 

Alexander Mladenov, Miroslav Gyurosi 

Design and pre-press 

Grigory Butrin 

Web support 

Georgy Fedoseyev 

Translation 

Yevgeny Ozhogin 

Cover picture 

Piotr Butowski 

Publisher 

Director General 

Andrey Fomin 

Deputy Director General 

Nadezhda Kashirina 

Marketing Director 

George Smirnov 

Executive Director 

Yury Zheltonogin 

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 

Print-run: 5600 copies 

© Aeromedia, 2007 

P.O. Box 7, Moscow, 125475, Russia 

Tel. +7 (495) 644-17-33, 798-81-19 

Fax +7 (495) 644-17-33 

E-mail: info@take-off.ru 

http://www.take-off.ru 

Dear reader, 

You are holding a fresh copy of the Take-off magazine timed with the 

Dubai air show that has been among the major respectable international 

aerospace exhibitions. Russian participants’ interest in it is owing, inter 

alia, to the Middle East returning as a leader in importing Russian-made 

aircraft and cooperating with this country in the aerospace field. 

Just about two months before this Dubai airshow, the town of 

Zhukovsky in the Moscow Region saw the completion of the 8th 

International Aviation and Space Salon MAKS 2007 – the aviationrelated 

event of the year in Russia. According to numerous MAKS 2007 

exhibitors and visitors, the show became far more impressive, with the 

number of exhibitors growing noticeably, number of foreign delegations 

increasing and infrastructure of the show improving. The status of 

MAKS as a business event and a place to conduct scientific fora and 

conferences has been bolstered. 

For the first time, Russian aircraft makers exhibited their projects 

in Zhukovsky under the aegis of the United Aircraft Corporation and 

helicopter makers did that under the auspices of the Helicopters 

of Russia holding company. Actually, the tendency for aerospace 

developers and manufacturers to merge both in Russia and abroad has 

been highlighted at MAKS 2007. 

This year’s air show was a kind of parade of aerospace novelties that 

were aplenty in Zhukovsky – both combat aircraft and missile weapons, 

on the one hand, and civil planes, on the other. This is a good sign of 

positive dynamics emerging in the Russian aircraft industry, the other 

proof being a series of key contracts and agreements made in the 

course of MAKS 2007. 

In this issue, we have focused on the novelties and events of the 

MAKS 2007 show we deem the most important and interesting ones, 

as well as on other news of Russian aviation and space industry of 

recent months, with preference given to those of them that could be of 

special interest to the current and potential users of Russian aircraft in 

the Middle East and North Africa. 

I wish you fruitful work at the Dubai air show, useful contacts and 

lucrative contracts! 

Sincerely, 

Andrey Fomin, 

Editor-in-Chief, 

Take-off magazine

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4 

8 

16 

20 

November 2007 

AIRSHOW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 

MAKS 2007 sets records 

CIVIL AVIATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 

Two more Il-96s built 

New aircraft for Russian carriers 

Tu-204 acquires Red Wings 

“The time has come”. 

First airworthy Sukhoi SuperJet 100 

rolled out in Komsomolsk-on-Amur 

‘The time has come’ was the motto of the long-awaited event – the rollout of the 

first flying prototype of the advanced Russian regional airliner, the Sukhoi SuperJet 

100, conducted by the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft company on the premises of the 

Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Production Association (KnAAPO) on 26 September. 

The first SuperJet 100 rolled out of the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft hangar in a 

well-rehearsed top-class ceremony attended by First Vice-Premier Sergey Ivanov 

and leaders of Russian and foreign companies involved in the Sukhoi SuperJet 100 

programme, airlines and a thousand other guests and media people. The ceremony 

marked another stepping-stone to developing the advanced Russian regional jet. The 

first flying SuperJet serialled 95001 now enters ground tests in the run-up to flight 

trials. According to Sukhoi Director General Mikhail Pogosyan, the maiden flight is 

slated before year-end. Andrey Fomin reports from the Komsomolsk-on-Amur 

INDUSTRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 

UAC and Aviation of Ukraine to work together 

Line of helicopter models to be optimised 

Su-35’s debut 

Details on MiG-35’s new exterior 

Tikhomirov-NIIP unveils AESA developments 

Kamov’s new programmes 

Second Ka-60 has flown! 

Tactical Missiles Corp. unveils new weapons 

Novator air-launched premiers 

Back to origins (La-225 UAV) 

BARUK, younger brother of Dan 

Squadron of new unmanned aircraft (ENIKS UAVs) 

CONTRACTS AND DELIVERIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 

MiG-29 catches its second wind 

Over 800 MiG-29 fighters have been exported since the aircraft entered production, 

with many of them still being in service with the air forces of almost 30 countries. 

Many of them were delivered from 1986 to 1995 and are now in the middle of their 

service life, which makes the users keen on having them upgraded. 

Therefore, along with designing and productionising new variants, such as the 

MiG-29K/KUB, MiG-29M/M2 and MiG-35, MiG Corp. has been pursuing several 

MiG-29 upgrade programmes to meet requirements of various customers. At the 

same time with introducing advanced avionics and weapons, the upgrade may 

include overhaul, conversion to on-condition maintenance and service life extension. 

Depending on tasks and the depth of the pockets of the customers, the upgrade may 

take-off november 2007 www.take-off.ru

www.take-off.ru 

20 

30 

36 

42 

be either deep or ‘lite’. The former option results in the MiG-29SMT featuring the 

highest combat capabilities for earlier built aircraft of the type. Such fighters have 

already been supplied to countries in the Middle East and North Africa. 

The MiG-29SD and MiG-29SM offer less expensive upgrade packages, with their 

avionics not being subject to such drastic updating. Nonetheless, these versions 

acquire a number of advanced capabilities in using latest weapons systems. 

In addition to modernising operational MiG-29s, MiG Corp.’s work is in full swing 

on developing a heavily upgraded derivative of the Fulcrum, the MiG-35, that will 

hit the market after 2009–10. The MiG-35’s advanced technical solutions also are 

to be embodied in the MiG-29M/M2 intermediate derivative carrying less expensive 

avionics and weapons suites commonised with the MiG-29SMT. Andrey Fomin 

reviews MiG-29 upgrade programmes 

Irkut makes first Su-30MKA jets for Algeria 

Venezuelan Su-30 deliveries on schedule 

MMRCA tender kicks off at last 

Indonesia to get more Sukhoi fighters 

Ilyushin Finance Co. to deliver planes to Cuba and Iran 

Ka-32 exports on the rise 

MILITARY AVIATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 

Su-34 fielded with Air Force 

Growing number of upgraded Su-27SMs 

RusAF Chief tries Yak-130 out 

Skat: unmanned future of combat aircraft? 

The Skat low-observable jet-powered combat unmanned aerial vehicle (UCAV) under 

development by MiG Corp. became a most interesting and unexpected novelty of the 

MAKS 2007 air show. Unveiling the Skat’s full-scale mockup to the media in a MiG 

Corp. hangar at LII’s airfield in Zhukovsky on the third day of the show made quite 

a stir, because no details on MiG Corp.’s UCAV development had been available and 

the Skat’s demonstration at MAKS 2007, albeit planned by the developer, had not 

been advertised at all. Permission to unveil the Skat UCAV was given by Russian 

President Vladimir Putin on 21 August. As a result, a full-size Skat mockup was 

displayed in a hangar of MiG Corp. at Gromov LII’s airfield, rather than at the display 

ground, and few media people were invited, among which Take-off editor was lucky 

to be 

COSMONAUTICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 

ISS now run by female. 

Another replacement in position in orbit 

There has been a change of the crew of the ISS. In October, a woman, NASA 

astronaut Peggy Whitson, headed a long-term orbital expedition for the first time in 

history of space exploration. She and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko were 

accompanied to the ISS by the first Malaysian cosmonaut Sheikh Muszafar Shukor. 

He spent 11 days in orbit and came back to the Earth together with the ISS-15 

crew – cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Fyodor Yurchikhin. Alina Chernoivanova tells 

about the current mission to the ISS 

FSA Chief on prospects of Russian space exploration 

Latest space rocket designs at MAKS 2007 

Aspects of GLONASS development 

take-off november 2007 

3

AIRSHOW | MAKS-2007 

MAKS 2007 sets records 

Held on Gromov LII’s premises from 

21 to 26 August, the 8th International 

Aviation and Space Salon MAKS 2007 

exceeded previous events in terms of the 

number of participants and became a 

world leading air show. 787 companies, 

including 540 from Russia and 247 foreign 

ones from 39 countries, took part 

in the show, which is 133 companies, 

or over 20 per cent, more than last 

time. 279 civil and military aircraft were 

displayed – a 58-aircraft (26-per cent) 

increase over MAKS 2005, with 55 aircraft 

exhibited by foreign participants. 

The world’s major aircraft manufacturers 

took part in the air show. 

The exposition of space-related products 

grew by more than 30 per cent, 

occupying pavilions, which area totalled 

more than 32,000 sq.m. Chalets for 

negotiations numbered 76. 

Foreign participation increased considerably 

too. 247 foreign companies 

attended – an 84-per cent increase over 

MAKS 2005, with 79 of them being 

newcomers. The number of national 

expositions grew too. The public and 

experts had an opportunity to see the 

expositions of Germany (25 companies), 

France (22), United States (13), China 

(14), Belgium (17), Ukraine (15) and the 

Czech Republic (8). 

A key feature of MAKS 2007, setting 

it apart from the previous and foreign air 

shows, was the conduct of international 

scientific conferences, seminars and 

roundtables, in which leading Russian 

and foreign scientists, designers and 

engineers spoke on latest trends in aircraft 

development and manufacture. 

The flight demonstration of aircraft at 

MAKS 2007 routinely one-upped demonstration 

programmes of other international 

aerospace shows. 62 aircraft of 

4 

different types and in different versions 

flew 328 sorties at MAKS 2007. The 

world-renowned display teams Russian 

Knights, Swifts and Patrouille de France 

attracted a lot of spectators, as did the 

MAKS 2007’s position among major international air shows in 2006-2007 

Le Bourget 

2007 

Farnborough 

2006 

ILA 

2006 

MAKS 

2007 

Participant companies 2000 1480 1014 787 

Participant countries 42 35 42 39 

Aircraft demonstrated 140 145 340 279 

Total visitors 314,000 270,000 250,000 725,000 

Business visitors 154,000 140,000 115,000 127,000 

Public 160,000 130,000 135,000 598,000 

Russian Falcons military display team 

from Lipetsk, who debuted this year with 

a mock dogfight staged by four Su-27 

and Su-30 fighters. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin 

attended the opening ceremony of 

MAKS 2007, saying that the show could 

potentially turn into the major forum 

of business partnership in aviation and 

space exploration. 

The first three days of the air show 

were dedicated to business, with over 

300 business meetings conducted, 

including signatures of contracts, agreements 

and MoU. The total worth of the 

agreements signed exceeded $3 billion. 

The key international deals clinched 

in the course of the show include 

the memorandum on the contract for 

six Sukhoi Su-27SKM and Su-30MK2 

fighters for Indonesia coming into 

force, the agreements on delivery by 

the Ilyushin Finance leasing company 

of five Tupolev Tu-204s to Iran and two 

Tu-204s and three Antonov An-148s to 

Cuba, the signature of the memoran- 

dum of understanding and cooperation 

by Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation 

(UAC) and Aviation of Ukraine state 

aircraft-making concern, MiG Corp.’s 

contracts with Kazakhstan and Poland 

on MRO and support of earlier-delivered 

aircraft, etc. During the air show, 

several major deals were made on 

making and delivering Tu-204, Il-96 and 

An-148 aircraft and engines to power 

them to Russian carriers. 

In all, MAKS 2007 was attended by 

725,000 people – more than 40 per cent 

increase over the previous show and the 

record for all international air shows! 

The event prompted unheard-of interest 

of the media, with 3,644 reporters from 

713 media covering MAKS 2007 from 

46 countries. 

take-off november 2007 www.take-off.ru 

Sergey Sergeyev 

Alexey Mikheyev 

Andrey Fomin

Sergey Sergeyev 

civil aviation | in brief 

Two more Il-96s built 

As many as two advanced 

wide-body aircraft of the Ilyushin 

Il-96 family had been completed and 

had kicked off flight trials on the 

verge of the MAKS 2007 air show. 

Leasing company Ilyushin Finance 

Co. pays for their construction by the 

VASO aircraft plant in Voronezh. The 

first of the planes is the lead freighter 

in the new Il-96-400T version, 

which conducted its maiden flight in 

Voronezh on 14 August. It was made 

for the Atlant-Soyuz air company 

owned by Moscow’s city hall. 

6 

On 23 August, in a ceremony 

during MAKS 2007, Atlant-Soyuz, 

Ilyushin and Ilyushin Finance Co. 

signed an acceptance report for 

the first Il-96-400T (RA-96102) to 

enter flight trials with the carrier’s 

participation. The new transport is 

to be the first aircraft of the type in 

Atlant-Soyuz’s fleet being formed 

in line with a strategy of entering 

regular cargo operations. In this 

connection, Atlant-Soyuz Director 

General Vladimir Davydov and 

his Ilyushin Finance Co.’s oppo- 

New aircraft for Russian carriers 

Several major contracts were 

made on the very first day of the 

MAKS 2007 air show. Airlines 400, 

which operates out of Moscow and 

has assumed the Red Wings brand 

name this year, and Ilyushin Finance 

Co. signed on 21 August a financial 

leasing contract on six Tupolev 

Tu-204-100s. Their deliveries are 

slated to begin in 2008, with the 

lease’s duration set at 15 years. 

On the same day, the government-owned 

Rossiya airline turned a 

six Antonov An-148 regional aircraft 

agreement into a firm financial leasing 

order and signed a contract of 

sale of six more aircraft of the type. 

According to expert estimates, both 

deals are worth in the neighbourhood 

of $500 million. Another agreement 

between the major Russian leasing 

company and Rossiya, dated 21 

August, is memorandum of understanding 

on one more Il-96-300 

long-range widebody aircraft. 

To ensure deliveries of advanced 

An-148-100 regional aircraft in 

2008–10, Ilyushin Finance Co. and 

VASO on 23 August clinched a firm 

deal on acquisition of 34 airliners 

of the type. They are designed for 

Russian and foreign carriers. On 

the same day, the East European 

Air Transport Association (EEATA) 

signed a memorandum on acquir- 

site number, Alexander Rubtsov, 

signed a memorandum, under 

which Ilyushin Finance Co. is to 

lease five Il-96-400T freighters to 

ing five An-148 planes in the cargo 

version for the Polish airline Exin 

and Hungarian carrier CityLine 

Hungary. Thus, by the time MAKS 

2007 wrapped up, the number of 

firm orders for the An-148 had 

totalled 45, with 89 options. To 

fit the An-148s in production by 

the airline. The first two of them are 

to start cargo operations by the end 

of 2007, with the rest to follow suit 

before 2010. 

The second brand-new Il-96 participating 

in this year’s MAKS show 

was the Il-96-300 (RA-96018) airliner 

made by VASO in August for 

use by the Rossiya state transport 

company. The company has in its 

inventory two Il-96-300PU airliners 

designed for carrying the Russia’s 

President and other governmental 

officials. Unlike the two presidential 

jets, Rossiya’s new buy has the traditional 

passenger layout. 

VASO with engines, Ilyushin Finance 

Co. and Motor Sich signed a contract 

of sale on the very first day 

of the air show, under which the 

Zaporozhye-based engine manufacturer 

is to deliver 74 D-436-148 

engines and 37 AI-450-MS auxiliary 

power units. 



Alexey Mikheyev

Tu-204 acquires Red Wings 

Another low-cost air company 

is emerging in Russia. Airlines 

400, the carrier trying to establish 

itself on the market under the Red 

Wings brand name, has started taking 

delivery of Tupolev Tu-204-100 

aircraft from Ilyushin Finance Co. 

leasing company. The lessor handed 

the first aircraft (RA-64018) over to 

Airlines 400 for a term of 15 years 

during a ceremony at Moscow’s 

Vnukovo Airport on 2 October. 

“Over the past 18 to 24 months, 

we have analysed the proposals 

of aircraft and have opted for the 

Russian-made Tu-204-100 for 

use with the Red Wings project”, 

Airlines 400 Director General 

Konstantin Teterin says. “We chose 

the aircraft because it meets our 

corporate business model and our 

specificity best”. According to the 

carrier’s experts, the Tu-204-100 

is to be most effective in domestic 

low-cost operations – the opinion 

shared by Ilyushin Finance Co.’s 

Director General Alexander Rubtsov 

who said, “The aircraft of the type 

are very competitive and are going 

to be 15 per cent more effective 

in service than the Boeing 

737s used by Sky Express”. Today, 

the Tu-204-100 from Aviastar-SP 

in Ulyanovsk meets ICAO’s emission, 

noise and navigation precision 

standards, and its operating 

temperature restrictions have been 

scratched, with its service life having 

been extended to 15,000 flight 

hours or 15 years of operation. 

Thus, Red Wings becomes the first 

Russian low-cost carrier operating 

a fleet of modern Russian-built 

airliners. The company is intent on 

flights to be within 3 hr and services 

to Murmansk, Chelyabinsk, 

Samara and Kaliningrad provided 

so far. 

Now, two low-cost carriers operate 

from Vnukovo – GermanWings, 

which flies Airbus A319s on international 

routes, and Sky Express 

using Boeing 737s on domestic 

lines. Red Wings joins them now, 

with its experts believing there will 

be no competition with Sky Express 

on domestic services yet because 


the companies will have different 

aircraft, specificities and, to some 

extent, destinations served. 

The Tu-204-100 (RA-64018) Red 

Wings leased on 2 October is the 

second plane of the type in the 

carrier’s stable. In May this year, 

the Roand Image Graphics company 

developed a corporate identification 

of the Red Wings brand for the 

Airlines 400 company, particularly, 

its aircraft’s exterior design. The 

first Tu-204-100 (RA-64020), sporting 

the new paintwork, left the paint 

shop of the Bykovo Aircraft Repair 

Plant in June and soon started operating 

under Red Wings’ flag, albeit 

charter flight so far. The aircraft is 

owned by Ilyushin Finance Co. too 

and had since 2003 been leased to 

KrasAir that subleased it to Airlines 

400 in the summer. 

The Tu-204-100 No 64018 had 

been owned by KrasAir since 2000 

as well, but it has been bought by 

Ilyushin Finance Co. earlier this year 

along with another aircraft of the 

type (RA-64019). The airliner has a 

210-seat single-class cabin. Ilyushin 

Finance Co. plans to deliver the 

RA-64019 to Red Wings in coming 

December. However, Red Wings is 

not about stop at that. 

At the MAKS 2007 air show in 

August, the carrier awarded Ilyushin 

Finance Co. a firm order for financial 

leasing of six brand-new Tu-204 

aircraft in various configurations, 

including the Tu-204SM upgraded 

model now under development. 

Their deliveries are slated to begin in 

late 2009 or early 2010. Therefore, 

to plug the hole while the carrier 

is waiting for the new Tu-204s, 

the lessor is pondering temporary 

commissioning of several earlier-built 

aircraft of the type, e.g. 

those previously operated by Siberia 

Airlines (S7) and now flown by 

Aviastar-TU – the Tu-204-100s No 

64011 and 64017, which were built 

in 1993 and 1996. Another Tupolev 

aircraft could be delivered to Red 

Wings as early as next March. 

civil aviation | in brief 

In addition, at the same time 

with delivering the RA-64018 to 

Red Wings on 2 October, Alexander 

Rubtsov and Konstantin Teterin 

signed another document aimed 

at developing the carrier’s aircraft 

fleet – an agreement on the delivery 

of five more Tu-204-100s worth 

about $160 million in total. 

Thus, in the coming years, the 

Tu-204-family planes in service with 

Red Wings are to total 14, which will 

make the airline the major operator 

of aircraft of the type. 

The new Russian low-cost carrier 

is expected to arrange the booking 

of tickets two to three weeks in 

advance via the Internet, like other 

discounters do. 


7 

Yevgeny Yerokhin Yevgeny Yerokhin

civil aviation | event 

“THE TIME HAS COME” 

First airworthy Sukhoi SuperJet 100 rolled out 

in Komsomolsk-on-Amur 

‘The time has come’ was the motto of the long-awaited event – the rollout of the first flying prototype of the advanced 

Russian regional airliner, the Sukhoi SuperJet 100, conducted by the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft company on the premises of the 

Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Production Association (KnAAPO) on 26 September. The first SuperJet 100 rolled out of the 

Sukhoi Civil Aircraft hangar in a well-rehearsed top-class ceremony attended by First Vice-Premier Sergey Ivanov and leaders 

of Russian and foreign companies involved in the Sukhoi SuperJet 100 programme, airlines and a thousand other guests and 

media people. The ceremony marked another stepping-stone to developing the advanced Russian regional jet. The first flying 

SuperJet serialled 95001 now enters ground tests in the run-up to flight trials. According to Sukhoi Director General Mikhail 

Pogosyan, the maiden flight is slated before year-end. 

The aircraft rolled out in Komsomolsk-on- 

Amur on 26 September is actually the second 

KnAAPO-made Sukhoi SuperJet prototype. 

The first one (c/n 95002) was assembled late 

last year and flown by an Antonov An-124 

Ruslan heavylifter to Zhukovsky where it has 

been undergoing its static tests at TsAGI’s 

labs. In all, six prototypes are to be built 

under the SuperJet test programme. On the 

eve of its rollout, the media were shown in 

KnAAPO’s shops the fuselage and wing of 

the third prototype (c/n 95003) to be com- 

8 take-off november 2007 

pleted before the end of the year, as well as 

parts of the airframes of next three aircraft. 

All of them are to enter testing next year. 

As far as the third prototype is concerned, 

three basic fuselage components – F-2, F-3 

and F-4 – have been made and mated, and the 

wing panels have been completed. According 

to KnAAPO’s SuperJet Production manager 

Vladimir Bychenko, who spoke with Takeoff’s 

correspondent, the completed fuselage 

nose and tail sections with the empennage 

(F-1, F-5 and F-6) were slated for delivery 

to KnAAPO by NAPO in Novosibirsk on 

30 September, after which KnAAPO was 

to launch final assembly of the airframe of 

the prototype c/n 95003. Next two prototypes 

(c/n 95004 and 95005) are designed 

for flight tests while the sixth one (95006) 

for endurance ones. Fuselage and wing parts 

are being made by KnAAPO to fit these 

aircraft. Work is underway concurrently on 

prototypes, which gives hope that all of them 

will join the certification programme at small 

intervals during 2008. The programme is very 

www.take-off.ru

tough: the SuperJet is to be certificated in 

late 2008 when the first production aircraft 

are to be delivered to the launch customer, 

Aeroflot – Russian Airlines. 

Attending the rollout ceremony, Aeroflot’s 

boss Valery Okulov concluded his welcome 

address by wishing well to the aircraft’s 

developers and voices his hope for the first 

SuperJet’s delivery to be on schedule. Sukhoi 

Director General Mikhail Pogosyan agreed 

that the certification’s unprecedented tight 

schedule posed the main hurdle for the programme 

but his company and subcontractors 

had been doing their best to stick to the 

schedule. Stringent (to the day!) compliance 

with the first SuperJet’s rollout schedule is a 

good case in point. 

At the same time with the certification 

tests, KnAAPO will launch production in 

2008. According to Vladimir Bychenko, the 


Andrei FOMIN 

All photos by the author 

unless stated 

first 13 aircraft are planned for production 

next year, while the proactive renovation of 

KnAAPO’s production facilities is to allow 

production of as many as 30 airliners in 

2009. The annual SuperJet output is to be 

driven to 60 by late in 2010, and then to 70 

afterwards. 

About 115 million euros are to be 

invested in the production lines overhaul. 

The money is to be obtained from several 

sources, including the governmental 

financing, Sukhoi’s and KnAAPO’s own 

funds and money provided by leasing 

companies. To date, KnAAPO has used 

about 50 million euros on setting up an upto-date 

engineering centre, which provided 

the paperless preproductioning technology, 

and on acquiring manufacturing equipment 

from major foreign companies. 


Mikhail Pogosyan, Sukhoi’s Director General (left), 

and Sergey Ivanov, Russia’s first Vice-Premier, at 

the Sukhoi Superjet 100 roll-out ceremony 

Productionising the SuperJet, KnAAPO takes 

delivery of automated assembly systems allowing 

manual assembly work to be minimised. This 

steps up quality and precision of the production 

processes and saves time. Production aircraft 

are to be assembled at the production line, with 

the final assembly shop being furnished with 

six work areas, namely the automated jigless 

fuselage assembly-hole laser assembly area 

(the first such area in Russia), wing/fuselage 

mating area; powerplant/airframe integration 

area, aircraft system assembly area to fit the 

hydraulic, oxygen and fire-suppressant systems, 

and other areas. At the same time, six aircraft 

will be in the assembly shops, moving from 

area to area. A production SuperJet is to be 

completed in only 28 days. 

The SuperJet cooperative manufacture 

also involves two more Russian aircraft 

take-off november 2007 9 

Yuri Kabernik


Right: SaM146 new-generation turbofan designed 

and manufactured by Russia’s NPO Saturn in 

cooperation with French SNECMA onboard the 

first Sukhoi Superjet 100 flying prototype 

plants – NAPO (Novosibirsk Aircraft 

Production Association) making fuselage 

nose and tail sections and empennage 

and VASO (Voronezh Aircraft Production 

Joint Stock Company), the manufacturer 

of the new airliner’s composite parts and 

components that make up 10 per cent of 

the structure. The SuperJet’s wing high-lift 

devices, elevators, rudders, hatches, fairing 

and the inboard leading-edge blendings are 

made of composites. 

NPO Saturn and SNECMA handle 

the development and manufacture of the 

SaM146 engine to power the SuperJet. The 

two companies set up the PowerJet joint 



Yuri Kabernik

venture to this end. For the first flying 

SuperJet prototype to be completed and 

rolled out on time, Saturn in August 

delivered two production SaM146 engines 

(No 005 and No 006) to KnAAPO, people 

from the Aircelle company assembled 

the engine nacelles at KnAAPO, and the 

nacelles then were mounted on the aircraft. 

In all, 10 SaM146 engines are to be made in 

support of the SuperJet’s certification test 

programme. 

For the prototype to go on its maiden flight, 

Saturn shipped a flight-capable SaM146 

(No 003/2) to Gromov LII Flight Research 

Institute in July, where it was installed on 

the Il-76LL flying testbed (RA-76454) that 

was displayed at the MAKS 2007 air show. 

The first flight of the SaM146-powered flying 

testbed is planned for October 2007. Along 

with tests of several SaM146 prototypes at 

Saturn’s test rigs since last summer, the flying 

testbed trials will allow the required reliability 

and safety of the SuperJet’s early and followon 

test missions to be provided. The SaM146 

will be certificated under the Russian, EU 

and US air rules, which will permit the 

SuperJet’s operation in any country. 

In accordance with the SuperJet’s service-entry 

schedule and under the existing 

contracts, Saturn shall launch deliveries of 

production SaM146s in 2008. According to a 

Saturn spokesman, 267 SaM146s are planned 

for delivery to Sukhoi Civil Aircraft in 2008- 

10, of which 167 have already been firm 

orders. 

Major French, German, US and other 

companies handle the development, 

manufacture and delivery of systems and 

avionics to fit the airliner. This is done 

in cooperation with their Russian partners 

under the programme. Delivery and 

after-sales support will be performed by a 

Russo-Italian joint venture, which establishment 

was announced during MAKS 

2007. Headquartered in Venice, SuperJet 

International will have 51 per cent of its 

stock owned by Alenia Aeronautica (a division 

of Finmeccanica) and 49 per cent by 

Sukhoi. The venture will tackle marketing, 

sale and after-sales support of the Sukhoi 

SuperJet 100 in Europe, America and a 

number of other regions of the world. 

According to Mikhail Pogosyan, Alenia 

Aeronautica is to play an important part 

in the SuperJet 100’s certification under 

the EU’s air rules. “The participants in the 

SuperJet 100 programme are well versed 

in certifying their components on the 

European and global markets. This is a very 

important factor that will facilitate quick 

certification of the advanced aircraft”, he 

said. 

By the time the first flying SuperJet 

was rolled out, the developer had snagged 

73 firm orders, including 10 from Italian 

carrier ItAli and 61 from Russian airlines, 

with 41 options. In September, a customer 

from the former Soviet Union appeared – 

a contract was signed on 14 September 

in Yerevan for two SuperJet 100/95LR 

extended-range planes and two options for 

Armenian carrier Armavia. The deal, which 

value is estimated at $55–60 million, will 

be financed by Russian bank VTB. The first 

aircraft for the Armenian airline is to be 

delivered late in 2008. 


As of October, the SuperJet 100 orderbook 

was as follows: 30 aircraft for Aeroflot 

with 15 more as an option, 10 for the 

Financial Leasing Company, 15 with 10 

options for AirUnion, six with four options 

for Dalavia, 10 with 10 options for ItAli and 

two with two options for Armavia. The first 

airliner is estimated to be delivered to the 

launch customer, Aeroflot, in November 

2008 and to the first foreign customer, 

ItAli, in December 2009. 

According to Sukhoi managers, the 

number of firm orders is to reach 100 by 

year-end and total 300 in 2010. Sukhoi 

estimates the capacity of the market the 

SuperJet 100 can enter by 2025 at 800 aircraft, 

of which 70 per cent are designed for 

export. The production SuperJet’s flyaway 

cost will stand at $28 million, according 

Sukhoi Director General Mikhail 

Pogosyan speaking in Komsomolsk-on- 

Amur. At the inauguration of the SuperJet 

International joint venture in Venice, 

Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Financial Director 

Left and centre: wing and fuselage assembly for the second Sukhoi Superjet 100 flying prototype 

(No 95003). Top: airframe panels manufacture by means of Broetje automatic processing system 

Maxim Grishanin offered a new assessment 

of the market. In accordance with the socalled 

‘conservative forecast’, Sukhoi Civil 

Aircraft with its SuperJet 100 regional airliner 

eyes 15 per cent of the global market 

of airliners, whose total capacity until 2022 

is estimated by Boeing at 6,000 units. Thus, 

we are talking here about as many as 900 

SuperJet 100s. “Considering the advanced 

120-seat SuperJet variant now under development“, 

Maxim Grishanin said in Venice, 

“the total number of possible sales of the 

whole SuperJet family may well be 1,800 

aircraft”. 

www.take-off.ru take-off november 2007 

11

Andrey Fomin 

industry | in brief 

UAC and Aviation of Ukraine to work together 

A key event on the first day of 

MAKS 2007 was the meeting of 

Russian President Vladimir Putin 

and Ukrainian Prime Minister Victor 

Yanukovich, who discussed the cooperation 

of the two countries’ aircraft 

industries. Putin and Yanukovich 

attended together the MAKS 2007 

exposition of Ukrainian aircraft makers 

and were briefed on the status of 

the Ukrainian-Russian aircraft development 

programmes. Speaking with 

Antonov’s Designer General Dmitry 

Kiva, the guests discussed the two 

countries’ cooperation in resuming the 

full-rate production of a newer variant 

of the An-124 Ruslan heavy airlifter 

and productionising a new-generation 

An-148 regional airliner. The Russian 

president also called for continued 

cooperation in developing and making 

the An-70 airlifter. 

The meeting of the Russian president 

and Ukrainian premier resulted 

in the signature on 21 August of the 

memorandum of understanding by 

the United Aircraft Corporation and 

Aviation of Ukraine state aircraft production 

concern, with the MoU providing 

for furthering the cooperation 

in the field of transport and passenger 

aircraft-making. To prevent competition 

due to similar programmes pursued, 

the parties agreed to stick to 

common marketing and pricing policies 

and run joint scientific and technical 

research under a common product 

strategy. The memorandum reaffirms 

the two countries’ readiness to have 

12 

Russian and Ukrainian aircraft plants 

launch the full-scale production of 

the An-148 and set up relevant maintenance 

centres. Cooperative development 

of the MS-21 medium-haul 

airliner and an advanced wide-body 

airliner was pronounced promising 

as well. 

A month after the MoU’s signature 

– on 19–20 September, the programmes 

of the joint An-140, An-74 

and An-148 production by Ukrainian 

and Russian manufacturers were 

presented to UAC and the Aviation 

of Ukraine delegations as well as 

media and new fields of cooperation 

to explore were discussed on the 

premises of KSAMC (Kharkov), Aviant 

(Kiev) and Antonov (Kiev). 

Being more specific on the MoU, 

Ilyushin’s Director General/Designer 

General Victor Livanov, dual-hatted 

as the head of UAC’s Transport and 

Special Aircraft Division, told at a 

news conference in Kiev that, as far 

as cargo ramp aircraft are concerned, 

the parties were intent on joint promotion 

of the An-124, Il-76, An-70, MTA, 

Il-112 and An-74 freighters on the 

markets, including the Russian one. 

In this context, the Ukrainians were 

invited to join the MTA programme, 

and the Russians indicated their willingness 

to reconsider their stance on 

the An-70 programme. 

Feasibility of passenger aircraft 

cooperation was mentioned before 

the gathering in Kiev by Ilyushin 

Finance Co. Director General Alexander 

Rubtsov, who stressed that the major 

Russian-Ukrainian project in this field 

was production and sales of An-148 

regional airliners. He said that the rollout 

of the first Aviant-built production 

An-148 was slated for late this year and 

that of the first VASO-made one for late 

2008. According to Alexander Rubtsov, 

the An-148 “has become part of UAC’s 

model line” and 96 An-148s are to be 

made by VASO until 2010. 

The next stage of airliner development 

and production cooperation 

between the two countries, IFC’s 

leader believes, may be joint work 

on the future MS-21 short-medium-haul 

airliner slated to hit the 

market in 2015–16. In addition, the 

Ukrainian side was invited to cooperate 

in developing a future twin-engine 

medium-haul wide-body aircraft that 

might replace the current Il-86 fleet. 

Antonov Designer General Dmitry 

Kiva outlined the current R&D efforts 

on a medium transport jet with a lifting 

capacity of 20 t, a 300–350-seat 

medium-haul wide-body airliner and 

a 150–180-seat medium-haul airliner 

that could serve the base for future 

Russian-Ukrainian programmes. 

Rounding off the meeting, head of 

Aviation of Ukraine Oleg Shevchenko 

underlined that he was for “partnership” 

between UAC and Aviation of 

Ukraine and believed Russia’s and 

Ukraine’s cargo and passenger aircraft 

industries had a future ahead of 

them only in pooling their efforts. 



Line of helicopter models to be optimised 

The Oboronprom defence industrial 

corporation and Helicopters of Russia 

joint stock company (Oboronprom’s 

100-per cent subsidiary) have come 

up with a concept of optimising the 

line of helicopters in production with 

the Russian aircraft industry. The 

news was voiced by Helicopters of 

Russia Director General Yuri Ivanov 

at a news conference during the 

MAKS 2007 international air show. 

According to Ivanov, the Mil Mi-34 

and the Kazan Helicopters-developed 

Aktai are to be developed further in 

the light helicopter class. In June and 

July this year, the Mi-34 made its 

debut, flown by the crew of Mikhail 

Kazachkov and Yuri Kazachkov at 

the open championships in the UK, 

Italy and France. Oboronprom and 

Helicopters of Russia acted as the 

principal partners of the Russian 

team who took prize-winning places 

in all three countries. The Russian 

team also flew the Mi-34 at Mil 

Design Bureau Cup held during 

MAKS 2007 on 24–25 August and 

dedicated to the 100th anniversary 

of the helicopter advent. 

In the class of single-engine 

helicopters with a takeoff weight of 

2–3 t, Yuri Ivanov says, the feasibility 

of licence-producing a foreign 

machine (possibly, by the Ulan-Ude 

Aircraft Plant) is under consideration. 

The machine would fill the 

niche between the lightweight Aktai 

(1.5 t), on the one hand, and Ka-226 



and Ansat (3.5 t), on the other. 

The leader of Helicopters of Russia 

named the Ansat a very promising 

aircraft, but before it hits the market, 

he believes, its certification should be 

completed first. A balanced marketing 

policy is being pursued on the 

Ka-226 as well. If all goes to plan, 5 

to 10 Ka-226s are to be sold in 2007 

and about 15 in 2008. Kamov’s and 

the Kazan Helicopters’ machines may 

find different applications, with the 

Ka-226 featuring the unique capability 

of landing on tiny helipads 

and the Ansat being just the thing 

for flying rather long distances. In 

addition to the Rolls-Royce-powered 

Ka-226 variant, another version, 

this time powered by a powerplant 

from Turbomeca, is to be built. 

Russo-French R&D in under way into 

the version 

According to Yuri Ivanov, in the 

4.5t takeoff-weight class, in which 

the Mi-54 used to be planned for 

development, a different machine 

will be developed with foreign participation 

to meet the FAR and JAR 

standards. The aircraft will be able to 

carry either Russian or foreign-made 

engines. The head of Helicopters of 

Russia also brought Kamov’s pro- 


ponents unpleasant news as well. 

In his view, in the 6.5t class, “due to 

the lack of the full-fledged financing” 

of the promising Ka-60 and Ka-62 

helicopters and “the lack of an engine 

to power them, it might be easier to 

buy a licence for a foreign machine’s 

licence-production in Russia”. 

As far as the Mil Mi-17 is concerned, 

the helicopter will certainly 

remain in demand for the forthcoming 

10–15 years, Yuri Ivanov 

believes. “The machine is upgraded 

continually, using the principle of the 

so-called reverse upgrade,” he said. 

“For instance, the advanced power 

train developed for the Mi-28 and a 

number of sophisticated Mi-38 components 

have been adapted for use 

on the Mi-17 at the same time”. 

Promotion of the Kamov Ka-32, 

which goes well on the very competitive 

markets of North America, Europe 

and Japan, will continue as well. 

In addition, a joint Russian-Indian 

programme will be pursued in the 

10–11t helicopter class, Yuri Ivanov 

said. 

As far as heavy helicopters are 

concerned, production and sales 

of the Mi-26 will continue. Both 

Russian and foreign users need 

an upgraded Mi-26. The Russian 

Defence Ministry does. In addition, 

according to Ivanov, Oboronprom 

and Helicopters of Russia, which 

have teamed up with Eurocopter, are 

taking part in NATO’s work group 

for developing a future European 

heavylifter. Ivanov maintains that 

the Russian helicopter makers have 

both technologies and wealth of 

experience relevant to developing 

heavy rotorcraft. 


13 

Andrey Fomin

KnAAPO 


Su-35’s debut 

Probably, the first flying example 

of the Generation 4++ Sukhoi Su-35 

heavily upgraded fighter, which is to 

replace the current Su-30MK fighter 

family on the global market after 

2009–10, was the most-high profile 

debutant of the MAKS 2007 air show. 

Sporting a new yellow-and-brown 

camouflage paintjob and No 901, the 

first Su-35 had been completed by 

KnAAPO by August 2007 and had not 

flown by the time the air shows kicked 

off. It was shown only as a static display 

for this reason. 

An An-124 Ruslan transport aircraft 

airlifted it to Gromov LII’s airfield in 

Zhukovsky on the eve of the MAKS 

2007 show. After the show had been 

over, it carried on with the ground tests 

in the run-up to its flight trials. The 

maiden flight is slated for November 

this year. The aircraft has been fitted 

with flying examples of the Saturn 

117S engine rated at 14,500 kgf. 

Prior to MAKS 2007, the first 

Su-35 had been equipped with the 

Tikhomirov-NIIP Irbis-E passive 

phased array radar (PAR) and, during 

the show, was displayed with 

its nose cone detached for a while. 

The full-scale mockup of the phased 

array and a scaled-down mockup of 

the whole Irbis-E radar were exhibited 

by Tikhomirov-NIIP as part of its 

pavilion exposition. The Irbis-E radar 

features, among other things, an 

electro-hydraulic actuator enabling 

the phased array to scan ±60 deg. 

in azimuth and ±120 deg. around its 

longitudinal axis. However, the principle 

advantage of the Su-35’s radar 

is its 350–400km acquisition range. 

This has been the world record as 

far as production active and passive 

fighter PARs as well as those now 

14 

under development are concerned. 

At present, the Irbis-E is in its flight 

trials on board the Su-30MK2 No 503 

flying testbed, with the first series 

of test mission having produced 

very good results in basic declared 

air-to-air and air-to-surface characteristics. 

Both the existing air-launched 

weapons (R-73E, RVV-AE, R-27ER1, 

R-27ET1, Kh-59MK, Kh-29T and 

Kh-31A/P) and unveiled full-scale 

mockups of a super-long-range 

two-stage air-to-air missile and the 

3M-54AE two-stage long-range antiship 

missile were displayed on the 

Su-35’s hardpoints and laid out in 

front of it. The two two-stage missiles 

in question are both from the Novator 

design bureau in Yekaterinburg. 

The first Su-35 prototype has been 

followed by two more in KnAAPO’s 

jigs (the second and fourth prototypes). 

They are to join the flight test 

programme in 2008. At the same time, 

several flying testbeds derived from 

various Su-27 versions are used in the 

trials to test the 117S engine, Irbis-E 

radar, a new infrared search-and-track 

(IRST) system, the advanced KSU-35 

integrated control system, etc. 

The Su-35 is expected to enter 

full-rate production and delivery 

already in 2009, with its production 

to continue until a Russian 

fifth-generation fighter hits the market. 

The Su-35’s production also has 

become part of the State Armament 

Programme for the Period until 2015, 

under which its deliveries to the 

Russian Air Force are planned. 



Yevgeny Yerokhin




Details on MiG-35’s 

new exterior 

Participating in the MAKS 2007 

air show, the MiG Corp. placed 

emphasis on displaying the ad-hoc 

painted MiG-29K and MiG-29KUB 

carrierborne fighters under development 

on order from the Indian 

Navy and on the Gen. 4++ MiG-35 

fighter demonstrator, known from 

the air show in Bangalore, and 

upgraded MiG-29SMT. A number 

of interesting innovations under 

the MiG-35 programme could be 

seen at the stand, in particular, 

the full-size Zhuk-AE active 

phased-array radar mockup, 

OLS-UEM IRST and a MiG-35 

model featuring several design 

modifications compared with the 

flying demonstrator. 

The latest MiG-35 will have larger 

vertical tails, whose outline will be 

different to that of the well-known 

MiG-29 family’s fighters. In addition, 

its tail section’s shape will change 

as well due to introduction of a large 

central tail boom. The improvements 

stem from the necessity of housing 

extra fuel and from an increase in 

the takeoff weight. In addition, the 

MiG-35 had as many as 10 underwing 

weapons stations. It looks like 

the aircraft will kick off its tests in 

this very layout, with the tests slated 

for late 2008 or early 2009. 

Kamov’s new programmes 

In addition to its traditional family of 

characteristic coaxial utility and combat 

helicopters (Ka-226, Ka-32, Ka-50, 

Ka-52) exhibited as static displays and 

demonstrated in flight at the MAKS 

2007 air show, the Kamov joint stock 

company provided brief information 

on two of its latest programmes at the 

show. One, designated as Ka-32-10, 

is a top-to-bottom upgrade of the 

production Ka-32A11BC, including 

introduction of an advanced more 

streamlined and spacious fuselage 

with a cargo ramp at the stern and 

an all-new empennage. News about 

the Ka-32-10 programme came as far 

back as 2001, but the machine must 

have been at the design stage so far. 

At the stand shared with the 

State Ryazan Instrument Plant in the 

United Aircraft Corporation’s combat 

aircraft pavilion, the Tikhomirov-NIIP 

instrument research institute 

unveiled at MAKS 2007 fragments of 

the prototype X- and L-band active 

electronically scanned arrays (AESA) 

in development to fit the radar system 

of the future PAK FA tactical 

fighter. 

AESAs being developed by 

Tikhomirov-NIIP are based on 

up-to-date Russian technologies and 

electronic componentry, including 

microwave multifunction integrated 


Tikhomirov-NIIP unveils AESA 

developments 

Kamov’s second latest programme 

unveiled at MAKS 2007 looks far 

more revolutionary. It is about 

developing the Ka-92 high-speed 

helicopter powered by a rigid coaxial 

three-blade coaxial main rotor and a 

coaxial push-type propeller set in the 

tail section aft of the tail unit. Judging 

by a poster at Kamov’s stand, the 

Ka-92 is designed “for use as a trans- 

circuits. The microwave multifunction 

integrated circuits intended for 

the X-band AESA are wrapped around 

GaAs heterostructures. Coupled with 

innovative AESA systemic solutions, 

this allowed the emission level per 

antenna channel to be about 10W 

with the antenna efficiency exceeding 

30 per cent. The L-band AESA 

is to be housed by the aircraft’s 

moving slats. 

Both AESAs implement electronic 

scanning within the 120deg. sector 

and extensive beam shaping to 

provide the radar with the effective 

lookup and lookdown capabilities. 

port means in inaccessible areas 

of the country”. There has been no 

detailed information offered yet, but 

the proof that this is not a dusted-off 

design of yester-years is the fact 

Oboronprom’s chief Denis Manturov 

presented a Ka-92 model to Russian 

President Vladimir Putin attending 

the helicopter makers’ stand at 

MAKS 2007. 


15 


Alexey Mikheyev



Second Ka-60 has flown! 

The second example of the 

advanced Kamov Ka-60 medium 

multirole helicopter entered the 

flight test programme on the Kamov 

company’s premises in Moscow’s 

Lyubertsy suburb on 21 September. 

The machine completed its first 

flight controlled by a test pilot crew 

of Alexander Smirnov (pilot in the 

right seat) and Alexander Papai 

(unlike the first prototype, the second 

machine is the Ka-60U trainer 

version with double controls). 

The maiden flight of the second 

Ka-60 (side No 602) had been awaited 

for quite a while. The aircraft was 

built as far back as 2003 and exhibited 

as a static display at the MAKS 

2003 air show. Engine runs began 

in March 2005, but it took the prototype 

the long 2.5 years from the 

first engine run to the maiden flight, 

because the powerplant and power 

train were in need of debugging and 

additional ground tests. Following the 

early test hovers, the Ka-60 (No 602) 

was moved to Kamov’s new flight 

test base near the Chaklovsky airfield 

where it will undergo further trials. 

At the same time, the future 

of the Ka-60 remains hazy. Yuri 

Ivanov, Director General of the 

Helicopters of Russia joint stock 

company (a 100-per cent subsidiary 

16 

of Oboronprom), said during MAKS 

2007 that the current Russian helicopter 

type and model optimisation 

concept does not provide for actual 

steps to be taken to productionise 

the Ka-60. “In the 6.5t field (i.e. 

the advanced Ka-60 and Ka-62), it 

would, possibly, be easier to obtain 

a licence for making a similar foreign 

machine in Russia due to the 

lack of the proper financing of these 

[Ka-60 and Ka-62] helicopters and 

the lack of the engine to power 

them”, Yuri Ivanov told at a news 

conference in Zhukovsky. 

As is known, the Ka-60 was developed 

to be powered by the RD-600V 

1,300 hp (emergency rating – 

1,550 hp) engine from the Rybinsk 

Engine Design Bureau (now NPO 

Saturn). The IAC’s Aircraft Registry 

type-certificated the engine on 30 

December 2003, but the RD-600V 

has not entered production due to 

the lack of orders and proper funding. 

The same goes with the Ka-60’s 

power train: the VR-60A main and 

KhVR-600A reduction gearboxes were 

developed by the Voronezh-based 

OKBM Engine-Building Design 

Bureau but its testing dragged its feet 

due to the lack of money. By the way, 

the problems faced by the VR-60A 

reduction gearbox are considered to 

be among the reasons behind the 

delays in the helicopter’s tests. 

A manufacturer of the Ka-60’s 

production model has not been 

selected yet either. The first prototype 

(side No 601) was made in 

1997 by Kamov’s prototype division 

that later assembled the second 

prototype made by the MiG 

Corp.’s production and test outfit 

in Lukhovitsy. Then, the Ka-60 and 

Ka-62’s production was planned to 

run at the Ulan-Ude Aircraft Plant 

(UUAZ) that used to make Kamov’s 

Ka-15, Ka-18 and Ka-25 helicopters. 

They say the Ka-60 might enter production 

at another Kamov-related 

helicopter plant, Progress, in the 

town of Arsenyev in the Russian 

Far East, which now builds Ka-50s 

and Ka-52s. However, it looks like 

neither plant has taken any concrete 

steps to productionise the Ka-60 

yet. 

Meanwhile, the Kamov company 

is hopeful for its machine to face 

a bright future, all the more so that 

no helicopters in the class are made 

in this country, and the niche of 

the 6.5t helicopter with the 2–2.75t 

lifting capacity remains vacant. 

Therefore, the company carries on 

with its work on the Ka-60, paying 

for it, essentially, out of its pocket. 

The first prototype helicopter, which 

entered the trials almost a decade 

ago (by the way, it completed its 

10 December 1998 maiden flight, 

controlled by the very Alexander 

Smirnov who took off the second 

prototype from the ground as well), 

is having bugs ironed out of its 

empennage and avionics. Once 

this is done, it is to resume flying. 

Testing as many as two flying prototypes 

will allow the programme 

to step up its tempo, which, Kamov 

hopes, will attract launch customers. 

In such a case, one could expect 

a change of heart of the Russian 

helicopter industry’s leaders as to 

the programme. 


Alexey Mikheyev


Tactical Missiles Corp. unveils new weapons 

The Tactical Missiles Corp. unveiling 

as many as three advanced guided 

air-launched weapons at MAKS 2007 

recently made a stir. The company 

displayed such a drastic innovation 

as the Kh-38ME small-size multirole 

medium-range missile designed 

to replace a wide range of similar 

air-launched guided weapons in the 

Russian and foreign air forces’ inven- 

Kh-38ME 

tories (the Kh-25M and Kh-29 missiles 

in the first place). Thus, the 

missile will handle a wide spectrum 

of missions. Its characteristics have 

not been revealed yet, but in terms 

of dimensions, the missile is known 

to be between the family of Kh-25M 

modular missiles with a launch weight 

of about 300 kg and the heavier 

Kh-29T/L, which launch weight stands 

at 660–680 kg. Like the designs they 

are to oust, the new missiles are to be 

fitted with various guidance packages, 

including TV or active radar homers, 

homing submunitions packed by the 

cluster warhead, etc. 

A full-size mockup of the modified 

Kh-31AD high-speed antiship 

missile featuring an improved powerplant 

and a large fuel capacity was 

unveiled at the air show as well. The 

derivative has a longer range over 

the baseline Kh-31A. 


Another novelty was the 

Kh-58UShKE antiradiation missile. 

Unlike the known baseline model designated 

as Kh-58UShE and fitted with 

a wideband passive homing head, it 

has a redesigned pop-up wing enabling 

the weapon to be housed by 

weapons bays of future warplanes. 

According to Tactical Missiles 

Corp. Director General Boris 

Obnosov speaking during MAKS 

2007, the company devised a comprehensive 

air-launched weapon 

development programme in 2006. 

To date, timeframes for delivering 

weapons to fit a fifth-generation aircraft 

have been hashed out, financial 

sources have been determined and 

in-house cooperation has been opti- 

mised. The programme has won the 

government’s support, and the government 

now has only to take care 

that the executive bodies, including 

the Finance Ministry, do their job, 

Boris Obnosov believes. 

There are three components 

of funding the development of 

sophisticated air-launched weapons 

– governmental, private-in- 

vestor and in-house financing. 

According to Obnosov, the corporation’s 

governmental financing 

has been virtually unchanged, 

accounting for mere 20 per cent, 

with the government to start providing 

the bulk of the funds to 

pay for advanced programmes no 

sooner than in 2011. 


Today, the corporation’s divisions 

develop virtually the whole spectrum 

of air-launched guided weapons, with 

the Vympel design bureau developing 

all types of air-to-air missiles, the parent 

company – Tactical Missiles – as 

well as Raduga and Vympel working 

on air-to-surface, antiship and antiradiation 

missiles and Region handling 

the development of smart bombs – all 

for use with the existing, upgraded 

and future combat platforms. 

“In spite of the current funding and 

managerial issues, the company plans 

Kh-58UShKE 

to launch the trials of several latest 

designs in the forthcoming months”, 

Boris Obnosov said at MAKS 2007. 

Thus, cutting-edge air-launched 

guided weapons may enter inventory 

after 2010–12. All of them are 

designed to fit future aircraft, particularly, 

the PAK FA, and the Su-35 

and MiG-35 upgrades. 


Kh-31AD 

17 


Yevgeny Yerokhin

Andrey Fomin 


Novator air-launched premiers 

Among advanced air warfare 

gear exhibited as static displays 

during the MAKS 2007 air show, 

the Novator design bureau unveiled 

mockups of the Club family’s 

long-range air-launched cruise missiles 

– the air-to-ground 3M-14AE 

and antiship 3M-54AE. They are 

designed for use as part of the 

weapons suites of the MiG-35 and 

Su-35 warplanes, along with which 

they were displayed at MAKS 2007. 

Until recently, the aircraft of the 

MiG-29 and Su-27 families have 

been unable to use such long-range 

and heavy missiles weighing 1.4 t 

or more. 

Novator used to be a specialist 

in naval anti-ship and surface-to-air 

missiles. At the air show, the company 

made its debut in the field of 

aircraft weapons. The design bureau 

has been working in this field for 

a rather long time, with the efforts 

being based on proven solutions 

Back to origins 

The Lavochkin scientific production 

association, which designed 

several versions of jet-powered 

drones and unmanned recce aircraft 

of the La-17 series and then 

switched to spacecraft development, 

is coming back to aeroplane development. 

News came during MAKS 

2007, when the company unveiled a 

mockup of its new UAV bearing the 

famous brand name of Lavochkin. 

The aircraft is dubbed La-225. 

Take-off’s correspondent was 

told at Lavochkin that work on 

advanced drones had been under 

way for several years now. There 

are several programmes in various 

18 

implemented in sea-based antiship 

missiles and SAMs. 

The Club family’s missiles are 

derivatives of the 3M-14E and 

3M-54E surface-to-surface cruise 

missiles widely displayed at various 

arms shows, differing only in the 

lack of the solid-fuel booster motor. 

Thus, the 3M-14AE has become 

a single-stage weapon. Its powerplant 

is made up by a turbofan 

engine developed and manufactured 

by the Omsk Engine-Making Design 

Bureau and NPO Saturn. The engine 

furnishes the missile with the Mach 

0.6–0.8 subsonic cruising speed. 

The 3M-54E version is a two-stage 

design with a supersonic warload 

stage powered by a solid-propellant 

booster accelerating it to Mach 

2.35. The missiles have the normal 

aerodynamic configuration with the 

pop-up wing and cruciform tail unit. 

The solid-fuel sustainer is housed 

by the tail section of the missile’s 

stages of development, including the 

Krechet (Binom), Colibri and Terrier 

(Navodchik) remote-sensing UAVs. 

Displayed at MAKS 2007, the 

La-225 Komar mobile air recce 

UAV is designed to feed real-time 

video imagery to the ground control 

post. The vehicle is powered 

by a two-stroke petrol engine 

(there are several versions of the 

powerplant to fit it), can remain 

airborne for six hours and keep 

an eye on a perimeter up to 300 

km (up to 500 km, if a relay capability 

is available). According to 

Lavochkin, the aircraft is at the 

flight test and experiment stage. 

body and has a belly-mounted air 

intake. On hardpoints, the Club 

family’s missiles are inside the cruciform-empennage 

containers, from 

which they are ejected by an expulsion 

charge after the release from 

the carrier. It is such containers that 

were exhibited during MAKS 2007. 

Release can take place within 

the 500–11,000m altitude bracket. 

The cruising altitude above water 

is 20 m, with the 3M-14AE hugging 

terrain at an altitude of 50–150 m. 

On the terminal leg towards the 

target, the altitude over the sea 

drops to 5–10 m. The maximum 

range of the Club-family weapons 

is 300 km. the 3M-14AE’s launch 

weight measures 1,400 kg, with 

the two-stage 3M-54AE weighing 

1,950 kg. Depending on the variant 

of the missile, the warhead weighs 

from 200 kg to 450 kg. 

Another latest product from 

Novator, displayed together with 

the Su-35 aircraft at MAKS 2007, 

is a superlong-range two-stage 

air-to-air missile, which provisional 

designation ‘AAM’ was stencilled 

its mockups. Two full-size AAM 

mockups were on display by the 

Sukhoi design bureau, attached to 

the Su-35 or laid out in front of it. 

However, Novator’s stand lacked 

any information on the weapon, and 

its experts kept mum about it. 


Yevgeny Yerokhin Andrey Fomin 

Andrey Fomin


BARUK, younger brother of Dan 

The Sokol design bureau situated 

in the city of Kazan is developing 

an advanced unmanned reconnaissance/attack 

aircraft system designated 

as Dan-BARUK. Its full-size 

mockup was unveiled at the MAKS 

2007 air show in August. 

Take-off’s correspondent was 

informed by Sokol that the system 

of Dan-BARUK unmanned aerial 

vehicles is designed “to conduct 

aerial reconnaissance and attack 

individual ground targets”. The 

operational-tactical self-contained 

mobile system includes the UAV, 

mobile control post with the flight 

control room and a bank of antennas, 

ground-based maintenance 

equipment including the mobile 

launcher, transport vehicle and a 

mobile service station. The UAV 

has a combined programmed and 

radio-command control system. 

Reliable control of the UAV will 

be ensured by the highly secure 

data link. 

According to the developer, the 

system can reconnoitre the battlefield, 

seeking, acquiring and identifying 

ground targets and getting the 

fix on their location for their subsequent 

elimination. Targets can be 

attacked both with onboard weapons 

and by other assets provided target 


designation via the ground control 

post. The system is expected to 

have the round-the-clock all-weather 

capability. 

The UAV’s weapons are housed 

by two under-wing pods fitted with 

homing or shaped charge/fragmentation 

submunitions. 

The system is being designed 

as heavily commonised with the 

baseline Dan aerial target system 

in service with the Russian Defence 

Ministry. The same is true with the 

aircraft as well. Its fuselage is 4.6 m 

long, with its wing spanning 5.63 m. 

The takeoff weight is within 500 

kg, and both weapon pods weigh 

Squadron of new unmanned aircraft 

The ENIKS close corporation – a 

Russian leader in developing various 

unmanned aerial vehicles – is 

running several development programmes 

on advanced UAVs for 

the Russian Defence Ministry and 

commercial users. The company 

unveiled an extensive palette of 

UAVs differing in layout, purpose 

M850 Astra 

and size during MAKS 2007. These 

are full-size examples and mockups 

of the T24 and T10 light UAVs, larger 

T90, T92 Lotos, T92M Chibis and 

M830 Svist and, finally, ENIKS’s 

largest advanced UAVs – the M850 

Astra and E22 Berta with launch 

weights of 130 kg and 150 kg, 

respectively. The latter two aircraft 

30 kg and surveillance/targeting 

gear weighs up to 90 kg. 

The system’s combat radius is 

150 km and its altitude bracket 

between 50 m and 6,000 m. The 

piston engine provides the 150– 

300-km/h speed for at least 10–15 

hours. The UAV can take off from 

the mobile launcher, propelled by 

its booster motor. The UAV lands in 

a fixed-wing aircraft manner, using 

its four-strut landing gear, but it can 

descend by parachute if need be, 

e.g. if there is no suitable airstrip 

available. 

Belarus is said to be among the 

system’s component suppliers. 

E22 Berta 

are aerial targets designed for range 

practice of air defence missile system 

crews, with the Astra being an 

air-launched UAV while the Berta is 

launched from the ground. The UAVs 


Particularly, a Belarus-made powerplant 

is to be used. 

The Dan-BARUK UAV system’s 

unveiling at MAKS 2007 in UAC’s 

joint pavilion proves the developer is 

quite serious about the programme 

it is running. The Rosoboronexport 

state corporation promotes the Sokol 

design bureau’s products abroad. 

Sokol and Rosoboronexport have 

crafted technical and commercial 

proposals for potential customers. 

According to a Sokol spokesman, 

the programme is focused on export 

sales, moreover, there is already a 

concrete customer that has not been 

named as yet. 

land by parachute. Both targets are 

powered by ENIKS’s traditional powerplants 

– pulsejet engines; however, 

there are the piston-engined 

and turbojet Berta variants. 


19 


Yevgeny Yerokhin


contracts and deliveries | project 

MiG-29 

Over 800 MiG-29 fighters have been exported since the aircraft entered production, with many of them still being in service 

with the air forces of almost 30 countries. Many of them were delivered from 1986 to 1995 and are now in the middle of their 

service life, which makes the users keen on having them upgraded. 

Therefore, along with designing and productionising new variants, such as the MiG-29K/KUB, MiG-29M/M2 and MiG-35, MiG 

Corp. has been pursuing several MiG-29 upgrade programmes to meet requirements of various customers. At the same time 

with introducing advanced avionics and weapons, the upgrade may include overhaul, conversion to on-condition maintenance 

and service life extension. Depending on tasks and the depth of the pockets of the customers, the upgrade may be either deep 

or ‘lite’. The former option results in the MiG-29SMT featuring the highest combat capabilities for earlier built aircraft of the 

type. Such fighters have already been supplied to countries in the Middle East and North Africa. 

The MiG-29SD and MiG-29SM offer less expensive upgrade packages, with their avionics not being subject to such drastic 

updating. Nonetheless, these versions acquire a number of advanced capabilities in using latest weapons systems. 

In addition to modernising operational MiG-29s, MiG Corp.’s work is in full swing on developing a heavily upgraded derivative 

of the Fulcrum, the MiG-35, that will hit the market after 2009–10. The MiG-35’s advanced technical solutions also are to be 

embodied in the MiG-29M/M2 intermediate derivative carrying less expensive avionics and weapons suites commonised with 

the MiG-29SMT. 




CATCHES ITS 

SECOND WIND 


21

Andrey Fomin 


The first MiG-29SMT prototype (aircraft 917) built in late 1990s and offered for 

RusAF featured a wide array of precision guided weapons, new avionics, glass 

cockpit, mid-air refuelling system and a huge additional 2,000-litre dorsal fuel cell, 

at MAKS 2005 airshow 

MiGs in the Middle East 

The MiG-29 debuted in the Middle East 

20 years ago, in 1987, with a batch of such 

aircraft sold to Syria. According to western 

experts, about 150 aircraft of the type are in 

use in the region now. The major MiG-29 

operators in the Middle East and North 

Africa are Algeria, Yemen, Iran and Syria. 

A number of MiG-29s in various versions 

have been delivered to Eritrea and Sudan 

over the past decade also. MiG Corp.’s 

experts estimate the near-future capacity of 

the Middle East and North African markets 

for aircraft in the MiG-29 class at 200–250 

units. The number includes both deliveries 

of brand-new fighters and upgrade of those 

in use, with the growth of the number 

of MiG-29 operators in the area being a 

possibility. 

According to the Flight International 

magazine (21–27 Nov. 2006), the Syrian 

Air Force had operated 48 MiG-29 fighters, 

Iran 40, Algeria 33, Yemen 17, Sudan 12 and 

Eritrea five by early this year. 

The MiG-29s were exported to Syria and 

Iran by the Soviet Union between 1987 and 

1990. The fleet of the Iranian MiG-29s was 

beefed up in the ‘90s with the aircraft that 

escaped in 1991 from Iraq that ordered 

its most up-to-date combat aircraft to the 

neighbouring country to save them from 

destruction at the hand of the United States 

and their allies in the course of Operation 

Desert Storm. Those MiG-29s remained in 

Iran, being incorporated into IRIAF later 

on. 

Algeria received its first fighters of the type 

in 1999-2000 from Ukraine and Belarus, with 

the two countries having delivered to Algeria 

before 2002 a total of 36 Soviet-built aircraft 

discarded from service by their own air forces. 

Yemen got its MiG-29s in the same fashion: 

four used fighters were exported by Moldova 

(all data of MiG-29 exports have been taken 

from the UN Register of Conventional Arms at 

http://disarmament2.un.org/un_register.nsf). 

Eritrea took delivery of its first MiG-29s in 

1998–99 when six to 10 aircraft of the type 

arrived from Russia. However, many of them 

were lost soon during the war against Ethiopia. 

Sudan was next to join the club of MiG-29 

users, having bought from MiG Corp. 12 

MIG-29SE and MiG-29UB aircraft in 

2003–04 under the contract signed in 2001. 

The willingness of the users in the region 

to have the combat capabilities of their 

MiG-29s enhanced (the former Soviet 

states sometimes delivered the fighters in 

a state that was not satisfactory enough) 

and expand their fleets of the fighters of 

the type has led to new contracts awarded 

to MiG corp. earlier in this decade. Under 

the contracts, the manufacturer upgrades 

the fighters to MiG-29SMT standard or 

replaces them with brand-new aircraft of 

the same type. 

Yemen became the launch customer for 

the MiG-29SMT in the region and in the 

world, having ordered upgrade of 20 fighters, 

including upgrade of four MiG-29UB 

two-seaters, in December 2002. At the first 

stage, Yemen got 14 baseline MiG-29s in 

the early 2000s, which soon afterwards were 

replaced with upgraded MiG-29SMTs. 

Delivery of updated twinseaters kicked off in 

2004 and that of MiG-29SMT singleseaters 

in March 2005, having been completed by 

2006. 

The next country to field upgraded 

Fulcrums was Eritrea receiving two 

MiG-29SMTs in 2005. 2006 saw the kick-off 

of the deal, clinched earlier in the year, for 28 

MiG-29SMT singleseaters and six upgraded 

MiG-29UB twinseaters to Algeria. The first 

twinseaters went to Algeria late last year, 

followed by early single-seat MiG-29SMTs 

this year. 

As was announced during the Le Bourget air 

show in June, early 2007 saw the signature of 



the first contract for MiG-29M/M2 fighters 

that are close enough to the MiG-29SMT 

in terms of avionics, weapons and combat 

capabilities, but are, actually, newly-built 

aircraft, with the airframe, powerplant and 

avionics fit being the same as those of the 

Generation 4++ MiG-35 fighter. 

In support of NATO’s East European 

members 

Since the East European MiG-29 users 

Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria and 

Romania decided to retain their Fulcrum 

fleets in service despite joining NATO in 

1999–2004, the fighters have to be adapted 

to NATO/ICAO standards. The standards 

in question are met by the upgraded version 

dubbed MiG-29SD. MiG Corp. and a 

number of foreign companies have been 

upgrading the Slovak Air Force’s MiG-29s 

to SD standard since 2005. 

Upgrading MiG-29s to MiG-29SD 

standard is aimed at adapting their avionics 

for compatibility with other NATO 

air forces and improving the cockpit 

management system to enhance combat 

effectiveness. Once upgraded, the fighters 

will be fitted with advanced US- and 

UK-made communications, navigation 

and IFF gear. Modifications to the cockpit 

MiG-29SMT (aircraft 918) became a prototype 

for upgraded fighters for Yemeni Air Force, 

their deliveries started in 2005. Bottom photo 

shows aircraft’s demo flight at Dubai airshow in 

November 2005 

management system include the advanced 

MFI-54 push-button colour multifunction 

liquid-crystal display (MFD) and PUS-29 

systems control panel from the Russian 

Avionics company. 

MiG Corp. is the MiG-29SD programme 

integrator operating in close cooperation with 

suppliers of latest gear to fit the fighters – 

Rockwell Collins and BAE Systems as well 

as the LOT aircraft repair plant in Trencin 

(Slovakia) that handles the upgrade of the 

Slovak MiG-29s. 

Similar modernisation is offered to other 

NATO’s East European members operating 

MiG-29 fighters with specific improvements 

and advanced equipment may vary depending 

on the customer’s requirements. 

Low-cost option 

Cash-strapped countries in Eastern 

Europe, Africa and Asia needing inexpensive 


multirole fighters are offered the MiG-29SM 

low-cost upgrade package. At minimum cost, 

the customer can have its fighters furnished 

with the improved avionics and weapons 

suites, the latter beefed up with sophisticated 

air-to-air missiles and precision-guided 

air-to-ground weapons. In addition, the 

aircraft can be fitted with the mid-air 

refuelling system, if the customer wishes so. 

Similar solutions have been applied to the 

MiG-29BM fighters in the Belarusian Air 

Force’s inventory since 2004. 

MiG-29SM improvements boil down 

to furnishing the N019E (N019ME) fire 

control radar with the ARLK additional 

radar channel and MVK-4 computer, 

modernising the infrared search-and-track 

(IRST) system by introducing an up-to-date 

data display system with the MFI-54 MFD 

and installing a control system to manage 

additional weapons. The flight navigation 

www.take-off.ru take-off november 2007 23 

Andrey Fomin 

Piotr Butowski


New Zhuk-ME slotted-array radar 

designed by Phazotron-NIIR corp. 

featuring increased to 120 km target 

detection range, wider scan area and 

four-target multiple-engagement 

capability 

RVV-AE medium-range active 

radar-guided air-to-air missile 

KAB-500Kr TV-guided ‘smart’ bomb 


Optionally upgraded 

infra-red search-and-track 

system 

In-flight refuelling 

system 

Kh-31P (A) anti-radiation (anti-ship) passive 

(active) radar-guided air-to-surface missile 

New glass cockpit with two 

huge multifunction colour 

LCDs, new HUD and HOTAS 

concept implemented 

GSh-301 built-in 

cannon of 

30mm calibre 

New avionics of Russian and 

optionally foreign origin 

R-27R1 (ER1) medium-range semiactive 

radar-guided air-to-air missile 

Option for additional 

950-litre dorsal fuel cell 


R-27T1 (ET1) medium-range IR-guided 

air-to-air missile 

R-73E dogfight 

IR-guided air-to-air 

missile 


MiG-29SMT 

upgraded fighter main features 

Drawing by Alexey Mikheyev 

Klimov RD-33 Series 3 turbofan engines 

with increased to 2,000 h service life being 

produced by Chernyshev Moscow-based 

Machine-building Plant 


25

Anton Pavlov 


Anton Pavlov 

Zhuk-ME slotted-array radar designed by 

Phazotron-NIIR corp., the core of the MiG-29SMT’s 

upgraded weapons control system 

and communications suites have been beefed 

up through introducing a multifunction 

computer, a satnav receiver and an extra 

comms radio. The advanced MSP-418K 

podded electronic warfare system can be 

added as well. 

The MiG-29SM’s air-to-air weaponry 

is similar to that of the MiG-29SE, but 

in addition it can use such air-to-ground 

PGMs, as the Kh-29T(TE), Kh-31A and 

Kh-31P guided missiles as well as KAB-500Kr 

and KAB-500-OD guided bombs. Using a 

target designation pod or having the targets 

painted by external 


laser designators, the aircraft can use the 

Kh-29L and Kh-25ML guided missiles and 

KAB-500L guided bombs. 

Deep upgrade 

A deeper upgrade of the MiG-29 fighter, 

the MiG-29SMT, is offered to the Middle 

East, North African and Asian countries that 

are in cash and in need of top-notch multirole 

fighters. The MiG-29SMT features the 

sophisticated Zhuk-ME radar, a new cockpit 

management system, a number of latest 

avionics, 

new weapons including air-to-ground 

PGMs, and an in-flight refuelling system. 

Subject to specific customer requirements, 

the fighter’s internal fuel capacity can be 

increased and individual foreign-made 

avionics can be fitted. For instance, the 

Yemen-ordered MiG-29SMTs are fitted with 

several French-made avionics systems and 

those intended for Algeria mount a 950-litre 

extra fuselage fuel cell aft of the cockpit. 

The MiG-29SMT’s open-architecture 

avionics suite is wrapped around the central 

computer system with multiplex data 

channels, which allows it to incorporate 

new avionics from Russian and foreign 

manufacturers, should the customer wish 

so. Compared with the N019E and N019ME 

radars, the slotted-array Zhuk-ME designed 

by Phazotron-NIIR corp. has wider scan 

area, an acquisition range twice as longer 

(120 km), a lower weight, a higher reliability 

and the four-aircraft multiple-engagement 

capability. 

The MiG-29SMT’s cockpit management 

system comprises two large MFI-10-6 MFDs 

and HOTAS capability. Its navigation suite 

includes an inertial/satellite navigation 

system and its communications suite has 

advanced radios. The aircraft can carry 

the MSP-418K EW system in a pod. At 

the customer’s request, the MiG-29SMT 

can be given an up-rated IRST and radios, 

navigation aids and IFF transponders of 

other types. 

The MiG-29SMT’s weapons suite 

is commonised with the 


MiG-29SMT prototype (aircraft 777) in demo flight 

over Zhukovsky out of Moscow, August 2007 

Left: MiG-29SMT (aircraft 919) featuring 

additional 950-litre dorsal fuel cell became a 

prototype for upgraded fighters for Algerian 

Air Force being delivered since 2006 



27 

Piotr Butowski


MiG-29SMT and upgraded MiG-29UB main data 

MiG-29SMT MiG -29UB 

upgraded 

Aircraft length, m 17.32 17.42 

Wing span, m 11.36 11.36 

Height, m 

Take-off weight, kg: 

4.73 4,73 

- normal 17,000 16,000 

- max 22,000 21,000 

Internal fuel, kg 4,200 3,380 

Drop fuel tanks, l 1х1,500 1х1,500 

2х1,150 2х1,150 

Max combat load, kg 

Max speed, km/h: 

4,500 4,500 

- at sea level 1,500 1,500 

- at high altitude 2,400 2,230 

Max Mach number 2.25 2.1 

Service ceiling, m 17,500 17,500 

Max g load 

Ferry range, km: 

9 9 

- without drop fuel tanks 1,800 1,400 

- with one drop fuel tank 2,400 2,000 

- with three drop fuel tanks 3,000 2,600 

- with three drop fuel tanks and 

in-flight refueling 

6,000 - 

Powerplant type RD-33 RD-33 

Series 3 Series 2 (3) 

Take-off thrust, kgf 2x8,300 2x8,300 

Weapons 

Number of hardpoints 

Air-to-air missiles 

6 6 

- medium range 2xR-27ET1 2xR-27ET1 

(T1) 

6xRVV-AE 

(T1) 

- close range 

Air-to-surface missiles 

6xR-73E 6xR-73E 

- general purpose 2xKh-29T (TE) 2xKh-29T (TE) 

2xKh-29L, 2xKh-29L, 

Kh-25ML* Kh-25ML* 

- anti-ship 2xKh-31A - 

- anti-radiation 2xKh-31P 2xKh-31P 

Guided bombs 4xKAB-500Kr 4xKAB-500Kr 

(OD) (OD) 

4xKAB-500L* 4xKAB-500L* 

Internal cannon of 30mm caliber GSh-301 GSh-301 

* with usage of target designation pod or external target 

designation 

MiG-29SMT’s glass cockpit: the main sighting and navigation information is displayed 

on two huge multifunction colour LCDs and HUD with HOTAS concept is implemented 

MiG-29SM and Fulcrum’s latest versions – 

the MiG-29K/KUB and MiG-35 in terms of 

the existing production weapons. 

Important features of the MiG-29SMT are 

its extended service life and reduced operating 

cost. To maintain the relevant serviceability 

and combat readiness of the aircraft and 

ensure their flight safety, the fighters are 

now subject to on-condition maintenance. 

The assigned life has been extended to 4,000 

flight hours and the service life to 40 years 

(production MiG-29s had 2,500 hours and 

20 years respectively). MiG-29SMTs are 

powered by RD-33 Series 3 engines, which 

assigned life has been extended to 2,000 

hours. The RD 33 Series 3 is in production 

with the MMP Chernyshev Moscow-based 

Machine-building Plant. 

On-condition operation includes 

operational maintenance (preflight and 

between-flights servicing totalling within 

25 min., as well as post-flight action up 

to 45 min.) and periodic maintenance, 

including dedicated inspections and tests, 

periodic maintenance every 200 flight hours 

logged or 24 months of operation, technical 

assessment and reconditioning every 

1,000 flight hours logged (for comparison: 

during planned-maintenance operation of 

earlier-built fighters of the MiG-29 family, 

periodic maintenance was run every 100 flight 

hours or 12 months, scheduled maintenance 

every 200 fight hours (24 months) and 

overhaul every 800 and 1,500 flight hours, or 

9 and 17 years respectively). 

MiG-29SMT fighters can result from 

both upgrading the existing MiG-29s 

(MiG-29SEs) and making new aircraft. 

MiG-29SMT deliveries to the launch 

customers Yemen and Eritrea kicked off in 

2005 and to Algeria in late 2006. 

The two-seat combat trainer variant of the 

MiG-29SMT was designated as ‘upgraded 

MiG-29UB’, or MiG-29UBT. It has the 

same avionics suite and cockpit management 

system, save for the radar. Its weapons fit 

matches that of the MiG-29SMT, except 

for the radar homing missile capability (an 

MiG-29SMT prototype (aircraft 777) with different PGMs being displayed at Dubai airshow 

in November 2005 

28 take-off november 2007 www.take-off.ru 

Anton Pavlov 

Piotr Butowski

emulation mode has been provided for 

trainees to practice firing radar homing 

missiles. 

Upgraded MiG-29UB (MiG-29UBT) 

combat trainers will result from conversion 

of the existing MiG-29UBs and from 

construction of new aircraft in this version by 

the Sokol aircraft plant in Nizhny Novgorod. 

Foreign customers stated taking delivery of 

modernised two-seaters in 2004 with the 

arrival of such aircraft to Yemen, and Algeria 

followed suit in 2006. 

The advanced MiG-29M single-seat and 

MiG-29M2 two-seat derivatives now under 

development by MiG Corp. are to be similar 

enough with the MiG-29SMT in terms 

of the avionics and weapons suites and, 

hence, combat capabilities. Both MiG-29M 

MiG-29M-OVT main data 

Aircraft length, m ...............................................................17.37 

Wing span, m .....................................................................11.36 

Height, m .............................................................................4.73 

Normal take-off weight, kg ...............................................16,100 

Internal fuel, kg ..................................................................4,400 

Max speed, km/h: 

- at sea level ......................................................................1,500 

- at high altitude .................................................................2,300 

Max Mach number .................................................................2.2 

Service ceiling, m ............................................................17,500 

Max g load ................................................................................9 

Ferry range with three drop fuel tanks, km .........................3,000 

Powerplant type ........................................................RD-33 OVT 

Take-off thrust, kgf .........................................................2x8,300 

and MiG-29M2 are commonised heavily, 

sporting virtually identical fuselage nose 

sections, cockpit canopies and integrated 

mid-air refuelling systems. The MiG-29M 

and MiG-29M2 aircraft differ only an extra 

fuel tank fitted to the singleseater instead 

of the rear cockpit. A similar solution 

has been applied to the MiG-29K and 

MiG-29KUB carrierborne fighters now in 

production for the Indian Navy and will be 

embodied in the future MiG-35 single-seat 

and MiG-35D two-seat fighters. As a matter 

of fact, the MiG-29M/M2 and MiG-35(D) 

are to be commonised considerably in 

terms of design, with the fighters to differ 

only in their avionics and weapons fits. This 

will allow a MiG-29M/M2 cost reduction, 

making the aircraft more affordable to 

certain customers. In addition, the avionics 

suite proven on the MiG-29SMT will allow 

a considerable reduction in the MiG-29M/ 

M2’s development time from snagging 

a contract to delivering first production 

fighters. 

At the current Dubai air show, MiG 

Corp. is displaying the MiG-29M-OVT 

experimental supermanoeuvrable fighter 

prototype boasting a modified control 

system and all-aspect swivelling-nozzle 

engines. The aircraft has been used 

to test the technology ensuring 

supermanoeuvrability in air battle and in 

on-route flight. The technology can be 

introduced into advanced MiG versions, 

particularly, the MiG-29M/M2 and 

MiG-35, if the customers wish so. 

MiG-29M-OVT debuts in skies of Dubai 

The main flying exhibit, demonstrated by Russia at the current air show in Dubai, is the MiG-29M-OVT supermanoeuvrable experimental fighter. With MiG 

Corp.’s test pilots Pavel Vlasov and Mikhail Belyayev at the controls, the MiG-29M-OVT has impressed the public during the air shows in Berlin, London, Paris 

and Bangalore, India. Now the star of the air shows is making its debut in the skies of Dubai. It would not be an overstatement to say that the latest MiG lacks 

rivals among other advanced fighters owing to its unique characteristics. However, the aircraft has been developed for other purposes than showing off at air 

festivals. Should customers wish so, its supermanoeuvrability technology based on all-aspect thrust vector control can be fitted to the latest MiG-29 versions 

being proactively promoted on the global market, including in the Middle East. 

Drawing by Andrey Zhirnov 


www.take-off.ru take-off november 2007 29

contracts and deliveries | in brief 

Irkut makes first Su-30MKA jets for Algeria 

The Irkut corporation will have delivered 

the first six Sukhoi Su-30MKA 

multirole fighters to Algeria before 

year-end, Irkut President Oleg 

Demchenko said at MAKS 2007. The 

deliveries will be in compliance with the 

contract landed by Rosoboronexport 

last year. Under the deal, the Irkutsk 

aircraft plant will make 28 Su-30MKAs 

and deliver them to the Algerian Air 

Force in 2007–09. 

Sukhoi derived the fighter from the 

Su-30MKI and Su-30MKM exported 

30 

to India and Malaysia respectively, 

from which the derivative differs 

only in certain avionics. The high 

degree of commonality with the 

production Su-30MKI/MKM enabled 

the Su-30MKA developer to skip 

making flying prototypes, launching 

full-rate production instead. 

Following factory tests, new-build 

warplanes will be shipped to the 

customer at once. 

According to Oleg Demchenko, 

the first two Su-30MKAs flight-tested 

by Irkut’s test pilots were ferried this 

summer to the Sukhoi design bureau 

for flight trials. They have been flown 

at the Defence Ministry’s Flight Test 

Centre (GLITs) in Akhtubinsk. Three 

more aircraft were built in September. 

They are designed for converting the 

first team of Algerian Air Force pilots 

who are having ground school at 

Sukhoi’s training centre in Zhukovsky 

(Moscow Region), with the flight 

training phase to take place there as 

well. To this end, three Su-30MKAs 

were ferried from Irkutsk to Gromov 

LII’s airfield in Zhukovsky. 

“Following the flight trials 

and training the Algerian crews, 

the aircraft will go to Algeria,” 

Demchenko is quoted as saying 

by the Interfax-AVN news 

Venezuelan Su-30 deliveries on schedule 

The contract on delivering 24 

Sukhoi Su-30MK2 multirole fighters 

to Venezuela are right on schedule, 

Sukhoi Director General Mikhail 

Pogosyan said late in September. 

“We have shipped as many as eight 

aircraft to Venezuela this year and 

will have delivered four more by 

the end of the year”, he said, “The 

Sukhoi company has always done 

its utmost to meet its contractual 

obligations”. 

The deal for 24 Su-30MK2 fighters 

was clinched with Venezuela 

in July 2006. The first four aircraft 

arrived in Venezuela as far 

back as late last year. Su-30MK2s 

are made at KnAAPO plant in 

Komsomolsk-on-Amur. Then 

An-124 Ruslan heavylifters bring 

them to the customer two fighters 

per sortie. Once in Venezuela, they 

are assembled and check-flown by 

Russian pilots and then accepted 

by the Venezuelan Air Force. The 

service will have had as many as 16 

Sukhoi jets by late this year, with 

the remaining eight to be delivered 

by KnAAPO next year. This done, 

Rosoboronexport expects to snag 

a new Venezuelan contract for 24 

fighters more. If this goes to plan, 

Hugo Chavez might be offered more 

sophisticated Su-35s that should 

be ready for delivery in 2009–10. At 

present, Venezuela is regarded as 

a most probable launch customer 

for the Su-35. Rosoboronexport 

Director General Sergey Chemezov 

agency. The Irkut president also 

said the plant in December would 

assemble one more production 

Su-30MKA that would be shipped 

to the customer at once. Under 

the contract, the Russian company 

will have delivered the first 

Su-30MKA six-ship tranche to 

Algeria by early next year. 

The remaining 22 aircraft will 

be delivered during 2008–09, after 

which a new deal might be clinched, 

Irkut’s president admits. The current 

contract provides for an option for 

28 Su-30MKAs more. “The deal 

under the option may be finalised 

based on the result of operating 

the aircraft to be delivered under 

the first contract”, Oleg Demchenko 

said at MAKS 2007. 

confirmed this, talking to the media 

in Komsomolsk-on-Amur late in 

September. 

take-off novermber 2007 www.take-off.ru


MMRCA tender kicks off at last 

The Indian government issued on 

28 August the request for proposals 

under the MMRCA (Medium 

Multi-Role Combat Aircraft) programme 

stipulating for the Indian 

Air Force (IAF) to acquire 126 

medium multirole fighters. Thus, 

a largest combat aircraft tender in 

history (estimated to be worth more 

than $10 billion) kicked off officially. 

Until that date, only requests 

for information had been sent to 

potential contenders. Based on this 

preliminary stage’s results, a group 

of principal aspirants for the multibillion-dollar 

deal has emerged. Six 

companies from the United States, 

Western Europe and Russia are will- 


ing to take part in the Indian tender 

– Lockheed Martin and Boeing 

with their F-16 Fighting Falcon and 

F-18E/F Super Hornet respectively, 

Dassault with its Rafale, SAAB and 

BAE Systems with their JAS39 

Gripen, Eurofighter with the EF2000 

Typhoon and Russia’s MiG Corp. 

with its MiG-35. 

The proposals should be submitted 

within six months, i.e. by 

late February 2008. The first stage 

of the tender – the three-month 

evaluation of the six contenders’ 

demonstrators – is to begin already 

next June. Then, IAF’s experts will 

go to the fighters’ countries of 

origin to evaluate the capabilities of 

Indonesia to get more Sukhoi fighters 

During the MAKS 2007 air 

show, an important event was the 

signature on its very first day, 21 

August, of the protocol putting in 

force the contract, under which 

the Indonesian Air Force will 

accept six more Sukhoi fighters – 

three upgraded Su-27SKM sin- 


their weapons suites. A short list of 

contenders is to be approved early 

in 2009, with a final decision to 

be taken based on the short list in 

2012–14 following the final evaluation 

of the remaining contenders 

(that stage will mostly be focused 

on the commercial side of the deal, 

particularly, offset programmes 

offered by the seller, which at 

the Indian government’s request 

should total 50 per cent of the 

contract’s value). With a decision 

taken, a contract is to be awarded 

to a winner that will deliver 18 

fighters to IAF, with the remaining 

108 to be licence-produced by 

Indian corporation HAL. 

gleseaters and three Su-30MK2 

twin-seaters worth a total of $335 

million during 2008–10. The aircraft 

will be an addition to the 

two Su-27SKs and two Su-30MKs 

bought by Indonesia in 2003. 

News about the preparations 

for signing the contract came a 

year ago, when the two countries 

forged an agreement on a Russian 

loan to finance Indonesia’s acquisition 

of the Russian fighters. The 

first several planes of the new 

tranche are to be delivered late 

in 2008. 

According to expert opinion, the 

Generation 4++ MiG-35 multirole 

being developed and offered by the 

MiG Corp. will be among the main 

contenders in this race. The company 

had completed a MiG-35 technology 

demonstrator based on the 

MiG-29M2 No 154 by early 2007. 

The demonstrator was displayed at 

the Aero India 2007 air show in 

Bangalore in February. In all probability, 

the aircraft will be used in the 

first phase of the competitive trials 

in India next summer. MiG Corp. 

plans to launch testing prototype 

(preproduction) MiG-35s in the final 

configuration, intended for IAF, in 

late 2008 or early 2009. 

Soon after MAKS 2007, Russian 

President Vladimir Putin paid an 

official visit to Indonesia, during 

which an intergovernmental 

agreement was signed on Russia 

providing a $1 billion state credit 

to Indonesia to finance its procurement 

of advanced Russian 

arms. 

The latter may include about 10 

Mil Mi-17 helicopters, five more 

Mi-35 attack helicopters and 

an additional tranche of Sukhoi 

fighters – Indonesian Defence 

Minister Juwono Sudarsono said 

the country would continue to 

buy Sukhoi fighters to bring their 

number up to 18. 

take-off novermber 2007 

31



Ilyushin Finance Co. to deliver planes to Cuba and Iran 

A ceremony of signing the contracts 

for delivery of advanced Russian 

aircraft to Cuba and Iran was held on 

22 August during the MAKS 2007 air 

show. The contract for five Tupolev 

Tu-204-100s worth over $200 million 

in total was signed by Russian leasing 

company Ilyushin Finance Co. and 

Iranian air carrier Iran AirTour. The 

first delivery is to be taken in 2009. 

In the wake of the signature of the 

contract, Russian Transport Minister 

Igor Levitin said that Russia and Iran 

intended to use their transit capabilities 

and air route network, noting that 

the decision had been taken during 

the bilateral talks between Iran’s 

and Russia’s transport leaders at 

32 

MAKS 2007. Levitin explained that 

both countries have “aircraft deficit 

that we should remedy by forming 

joint routes”. In this connection, 

the transport minister tasked the 

Federal Air Transport Service to look 

into the issue in cooperation with 

domestic carriers. Iranian Transport 

Minister Mohammad Rahmati said, 

“Russian-made aircraft have flown in 

the Iranian skies for many years, and 

we continue our cooperation”. 

The second agreement was 

made by Ilyushin Finance Co. and 

Cuban company Aviaimport S.A. It 

is a memorandum on delivering two 

Tupolev Tu-204 aircraft and three 

Antonov An-148 regional airliners to 

Ka-32 exports on the rise 

As Take-off learnt from 

Oboronprom company, all six new 

Kamov Ka-32A11BC helicopters have 

been delivered to Portugal by late 

October. The delivery took place under 

the $50 million contract signed in May 

2006 in the wake of a tender held by 

the Interior Administration Ministry of 

Portugal. A group of Kamov experts is 

now in Portugal, accepting the aircraft 

together with Interior Administration 

Ministry specialists. Acceptance 

includes test flights and training of 

air and ground crews. The machines 

delivered were made by the Kumertau 

Aircraft Production Company 

(KumAPP), fitted with additional 

advanced flight navigation equipment 

and can handle fire-fighting, search, 

rescue and evacuation missions in 

addition to the tasks helicopters of 

the type fulfil. 

Earlier this year, another two 

Ka-32A11BC helicopters have been 

built for delivery to Spain, one more 

Ka-32A to South Korea and the first 

Ka-32A11BC to Japan. In all, 18 aircraft 

in the Ka-32A11BC version have been 

made and delivered to 10 countries. 

The Ka-32A11BC variant, which 

was derived in its day on order from 

Canada and meeting such stringent 

Cubana Aviacion. Deliveries to the 

Cuban carrier will take three years 

from 2008 to 2011. The value of the 

deal exceeds $150 million. To date, 

Ilyushin Finance Co. have provided 

Cuba with three Ilyushin Il-96-300s 

airworthiness standard, as FAR-29 in 

effect in that country (hence the BC 

letters in the chopper’s designation to 

indicate British Columbia, a province 

of Canada) has been in demand in 

several European countries of late. 

The first such machines were delivered 

to Spain in 2004, with one more 

shipped to the Heliswiss company 

in Switzerland. Spain’s HeliSurEste 

then received two Ka-32A11BCs in 

2005 and five more last year, having 

become the major operator of 

the helicopters of the version (nine 

machines that became 11 this year). 

The growing Ka-32A11BC’s popular- 

and two Tupolev Tu-204s (aTu-204CE 

freighter and a Tu-204-100E passenger 

airliner, which participated 

in the airshow and was accepted 

by Cubana Aviacion right at MAKS 

2007). 

ity in Europe is contributed to by the 

work underway to have the aircraft 

certificated under the EASA air rules, 

with the certification expected to wrap 

up this year. 

By the way South Korea remains 

a traditional market for the Ka-32, 

with the number of the machines of 

the type in use in that country has 

long exceeded 50. Over the past three 

years, South Korea took delivery of 

two Ka-32Ts for its forest protection 

administration in 2004 and 2005 and 

three Ka-32A04 for the ROK Air Force 

in 2004 and another four in 2005. Two 

more Ka-32As were ordered by South 

Korea and built last year. 

The export of Ka-32s has been 

growing steadily. While it totalled 

seven aircraft in 2006, this year’s plans 

provide for delivery of at least nine 

helicopters, with new Ka-32A11BC 

users – Portugal and Japan – appearing 

specifically in 2007. 

The Ka-32 has proven itself abroad 

in logging and fire-fighting operations 

as a dependable aircraft easy to use 

and maintain. Designed in Kamov’s 

trademark coaxial rotor fashion, the 

helicopter features high manoeuvrability 

and hover stability, which is 

especially important, e.g. in erecting 

work or SAR operations in mountainous 

terrain or among high-rise 

buildings. 

take-off novermber 2007 www.take-off.ru 

Alexey Mikheyev

military aviation | in brief 

Su-34 fielded with Air Force 

The first Sukhoi Su-34 multirole 

fighter-bomber has been accepted 

by the Russian Air Force’s (RusAF) 

Combat and Conversion Training 

Centre (CCTC) in Lipetsk recently. 

Another step towards the aircraft’s 

fielding with the service was taken 

on 12 September 2007 when 

Lipetsk CCTC crews flew the Su-34 

on its first training missions. 

The Su-34’s delivery to CCTC 

was planned to take place as far 

back as late last year, as was stated 

officially during the first production 

Su-34’s rollout ceremony in 

Novosibirsk in July 2006. However, 

NAPO’s assembly and debugging 

work on the first two planes followed 

its own track, with the first aircraft 

completing its maiden flight on 12 

October 2006. On 15 December, 

both production Su-34s No 01 and 

02 were delivered to the Air Force 

while remaining at NAPO, in fact. 

Upon completion of the factory trials, 

the Su-34 No 01 was ferried 

to the Russia’s Defence Ministry’s 

Chkalov Flight Test Centre (GLITs) 

in Akhtubinsk for military test pilots 

to try it. The second production 

fighter-bomber, the Su-34 No 02, 

had been ready to ferry this summer, 

which it did on 3 August, hopping 

to CCTC in Lipetsk. CCTC flight 

and ground crews spent a month 

on familiarising themselves with the 

aircraft and then started scheduled 

training flights on 12 September. 

34 

In Lipetsk, the Su-34 No 02 flew 

its first mission with CCTC chief 

Maj. Gen. Alexander Kharchevsky 

and Chkalov GLITs instructor-pilot 

Col. Vyacheslav Petrusha at the 

controls. They were followed by 

two more CCTC crews of pilots 

Yuri Sukhkov and Yuri Gritsayenko 

with navigators Alexander Mayorov 

and Nikolay Kabantsov. At the first 

stage, the pilots practiced takeoff, 

basic handling and landing procedures. 

According to CCTC commander’s 

assistant Lt.-Col. Vladimir 

Kokhlenko, speaking with a 

Take-Off correspondent, future 

scheduled flights will be focused 

on “certifying the centre’s pilots 

and navigators for the subsequent 

beginning of a planned study into 

the plane in line with the tasks 

assigned”. The first week after the 

Su-34’s arrival saw CCTC chief 

Maj.-Gen. Kharchevsky, his deputy 

for research Col. Sushkov and chief 

navigator Col. Nikolay Kabantsov 

qualified for solo flights on the 

Su-34. “It is an awesome aircraft, 

its engine power is similar to that 

of a bomber and its handling is like 

that of a fighter”, Kharchevsky said, 

having completed several flights. 

Once the centre has completed 

its familiarisation with the new aircraft, 

it will recommend the Su-34’s 

operating procedures and tactics. 

In the near future, CCTC will handle 

on-site ground-school and flight 

conversion of flying and ground 

crews in combat units. To this 

end, an up-to-date Su-34 simulator 

will be set up. It maximises 

the simulation of real-life flight and 

combat procedures as realistically 

as possible. However, transition 

to en-mass conversion of combat 

pilots will begin once Su-34 start 

fielding with RusAF combat units in 

sufficient numbers. To date, NAPO 

has delivered only two production 

aircraft, with six Su-34 prototypes 

and LRIP aircraft more undergoing 

the joint official trials in Akhtubinsk 

and Zhukovsky. If all goes to plan, 

CCTC could be furnished with several 

aircraft more once they have 

completed their trials in Chkalov 

GLITs. 

The Su-34 entered full-rate production 

in 2006 under a three-year 

contract. Alas, one should hardly 

expect that the manufacture and 

delivery of six such aircraft before 

year-end would not slip behind 

schedule. Meanwhile, the plan provided 

for making up to 10 aircraft a 

year since 2008. 

According to first Vice-Premier 

Sergey Ivanov speaking in public 

on his visit to NAPO last year, 

24 production Su-34s are to be 

built to form an air regiment the 

three-year contract. As many as 

58 aircraft were to be delivered 

by 2015. In all, “RusAF needs 

about 200 aircraft of the type”, 

says Mikhail Pogosyan, Sukhoi’s 

Director General, but the company 

plans “to make a total of 300–400 

Su-34 aircraft”, considering the 

prospects the fighter-bomber’s 

export variant, the Su-32, is facing 

on the global market. 


A.Gordeyev 

A.Gordeyev

Growing number of upgraded Su-27SMs 

On 15 August 2007, the 

Russian Defence Ministry’s Web 

site (www.mil.ru) reported that 

the fighter air regiment stationed 

at Tsentralnaya Uglovaya AFB in the 

Primorsky Territory, Russia’s Far 

East, was about to convert to the 

upgraded Su-27SM fighters. This 

must be the 22nd Guards Fighter 

Air Regiment, 11th Air Force and 

Air Defence Army, which, thus, will 

be the second RusAF regiment to 

switch to the Su-27SM. 

As is known, the first five combat 

Su-27SM fighters were delivered 

to the Lipetsk-based Combat and 

Conversion Training Centre (CCTC) 

following their upgrade by KnAAPO 


in December 2003. CCTC subjected 

them to operational evaluation, 

with the opeval’s results serving 

the base for Su-27SM operating 

and maintenance manuals devised 

for combat unit personnel. Then, 

under a three-year deal between 

the Defence Ministry and KnAAPO, 

24 Su-27SM aircraft more were 

delivered between December 2004 

and July 2006 to the 23rd Fighter 

Air Regiment at Dzyomgi AFB in 

Komsomolsk-on-Amur. 

Even before the first contract 

was fulfilled, KnAAPO had launched 

overhaul and reconditioning of the 

airframes of another first six aircraft 

awaiting the upgrade to the new 

RusAF Chief tries Yak-130 out 

Col.-Gen. Alexander Zelin, 

commander-in-chief, Russian Air 

Force, visited the Yakovlev design 

bureau on 5 September and completed 

an inspection flight on the 

advanced Yak-130 combat trainer 

at the Gromov LII Flight Research 

Institute. The service chief’s visit 

to Yakovlev was aimed at assessing 

whether drafting a preliminary 

report on the Yak-130’s official tests 

was on schedule, with the report to 

be released in November this year. 

Having flown the Yak-130, 

Col.-Gen. Zelin praised the aircraft, 

emphasising its flight performance, 

“The aircraft is easy to control. It 

is a manoeuvrable plane featuring 

a good thrust-to-weight ratio 

and an ergonomic cockpit and 

being tolerant to many errors in 

handling”. According to Alexander 

Zelin, a combat trainer in this class 

is needed by his service very much. 

He stressed that the combat trainer 

both can and should be used 

to train rookie to fly virtually all 

up-to-date fighters. 

Oleg Demchenko, president of 

the Irkut Corp. and Director General 

of the Yakovlev design bureau, said 

that completing the Yak-130’s official 

trials was high on the company’s 

agenda. “In this November, we 

are to receive the customer’s pre- 

liminary report on the Yak-130. The 

official tests are to be completed 

in late 2008. The aircraft is being 

productionised at the same time,” 

Demchenko said. 

Col.-Gen. Zelin said the Air Force 

would launch procurement of production 

Yak-130s in 2008, with the 

first four aircraft to be delivered 

to the Combat and Conversion 

Training Centre (CCTC) in Lipetsk 

in later 2008 for familiarisation and 

issuance of recommendations to 

combat units on its operation. This 

done, the early Yak-130s are slated 

for fielding with the training centre 

in Borisoglebsk, Alexander Zelin 

says. 

In all, RusAF plans to field 

at least 60 Yak-130s by 2015. 

standard. A group of Tsentralnaya 

Uglovaya pilots went on a temporary 

duty to CCTC in Lipetsk for theoretical 

and flight conversion training. 

“Three upgraded Su-27SM fighters’ 

acceptance ceremony was 

held by a Guards fighter air regiment 

in the Primorsky Territory,” 

the Defence Ministry’s Web site at 

www.mil.ru reported on 3 October. 

“At present, ground crews are 

familiarising themselves with the 

upgrades, while flying crews led by 

Maj.-Gen. Alexander Kharchevsky 

are completing the conversion 

training course at CCTC in Lipetsk. 

In the near future, the regiment 

in the Primorsky Territory are to 

As Oleg Demchenko said during 

the air show in Paris in June, 

the State Armament Programme 

for the Period until 2015 stipulated 

the number of aircraft, with 

additional orders being mulled 

over. The wings of the Yak-130s 

earmarked for RusAF will be 

made in Irkutsk and airframes 

in Nizhny Novgorod, with the 

Nizhny Novgorod-based Sokol 

plant to handle the combat trainers’ 

final assembly as well. 

In all, the Irkut Corp. has plans 

for over 150 Yak-130s to be delivered 

in the coming years in cooperation 

with Sokol. According to Oleg 

Demchenko, this year, the aircraft 

plant in Irkutsk has launched work 

under the first foreign contract for 

military aviation | in brief 

accept of two more aircraft, with 

the modernised warplanes to be 

ferried to their air base in the 

vicinity of Vladivostok.” 

The Defence Ministry’s official 

reports on the Su-27SM fighter’s 

forthcoming arrival to the 22nd 

Regiment indicates certain progress 

made under the combat units’ aircraft 

upgrade programme. Another 

case in point is the statement by 

Sukhoi’s Director General Mikhail 

Pogosyan who spoke at MAKS 2007 

on 22 August about the delivery of 

“more than 20 upgraded aircraft” 

to RusAF, planned for this year (he, 

probably, meant both the Su-27SMs 

and Su-25SMs). 

aircraft of the type, under which 

16 Yak-130s are to be exported to 

Algeria. The first six aircraft are 

to be delivered in 2008, with the 

remaining 10 to follow suit in 2009. 

Concurrently, talks are underway 

with other potential foreign 

buyers. Oleg Demchenko says his 

company has 82 orders for the 

Yak-130. “We are facing the future 

with confidence,” Irkut’s president 

said, “Air forces around the 

world are to start renovating their 

trainer aircraft fleets in 2012. Only 

Russia, Italy and South Korea can 

now offer such advanced trainers. 

We are leading other countries by 

1.5–2 years in this respect and, 

hence, expect to get a large slice 

of the market.” 


35 

Alexey Mikheyev

Andrey Fomin 

military aviation | project 

The Skat low-observable jet-powered 

combat unmanned aerial vehicle 

(UCAV) under development by MiG 

Corp. became the most interesting and 

unexpected novelty of the MAKS 2007 

air show. Unveiling the Skat’s full-scale 

mockup to the media in a MiG Corp. 

hangar at LII’s airfield in Zhukovsky 

on the third day of the show made 

quite a stir, because no details on MiG 

Corp.’s UCAV development had been 

available and the Skat’s demonstration 

at MAKS 2007, albeit planned by the 

developer, had not been advertised 

at all. Permission to unveil the Skat 

UCAV was given by Russian President 

Vladimir Putin on 21 August. As a result, 

a full-size Skat mockup was displayed 

in a hangar of MiG Corp. at Gromov 

LII’s airfield, rather than at the display 

ground, and few media people were 

invited, among which this author was 

lucky to be. 


Andrey FOMIN 

World experience 

Mind you, there have been no unmanned 

aerial vehicles in this class in Russia until 

now. Development of heavy (i.e. weighing 

over a tonne) jet-powered reusable UAVs (it 

is reusability that distinguishes UAVs from 

cruise missiles) has been handled in this 

country by the Tupolev design bureau since 

the late 1960s. Tupolev has developed the 

VR-2 Strizh subsonic theatre-wide recce 

UAV (‘141’, or Tu-141, with a takeoff weight 

of 5.4 t) and VR-3 Reis subsonic tactical 

recce UAV (‘143’, or Tu-143 with a takeoff 

weight of 1.4 t). Both were in full-scale 

production and in service with the Soviet 

Army. In addition, there was production and 

operation of the La-17R subsonic tactical 

recce UAV with a takeoff weight of about 

3 t, which was derived from the La-17 target 

drone by S.A. Lavochkin’s design bureau. 

Application of the above UAVs was limited to 

SKAT 

aerial reconnaissance, and the way they took 

off and landed was unlike that of ordinary 

planes – they would be launched from special 

launchers by means of solid-propellant 

boosters and would land by parachute. The 

soviet jet-powered UAVs were not fit for 

fighting despite a number of attempts to 

design combat-capable vehicles. 

At the same time, the lessons learnt from 

the armed conflicts of the ‘80s and ‘90s, 

evolution of air defence and electronic warfare 

(EW) assets and growing costs of training 

flying crews had by the early new millennium 

raised the issue of a new class of heavy jetpowered 

UAVs capable of full-fledged combat 

operations solo and as part of a package, 

including such missions as taking out surface 

threats with precision-guided munitions 

(PGM), while having the performance as 

well as avionics similar to those on up-to-date 

manned tactical aircraft. 


The United States followed by Western 

Europe launched proactive research into the 

matter on the verge of the new century. 

The United States even hurried to proclaim 

combat UAVs the ‘sixth generation’ of 

warplanes, which would succeed the current 

manned multirole fighters, including the 

fifth-generation F-22 and F-35, ousting 

them almost completely in due time. In 

1998–2000, the leading US aircraft 

makers, Boeing and Northrop Grumman, 

launched designing experimental technology 

demonstrators of such UCAVs, dubbed X-45 

and X-47, starting their flight evaluation in 

2002–03. The basic components of those 

UCAVs’ concept include flight performance 

similar to that of advanced combat aircraft; 

reusability and basing at frontline aircraft 

airfields; high survivability achieved through 

low observability, special design solutions and 

defence aids suites; ability to independently 


identify and attack targets with internallycarried 

PGMs; and operating both solo and 

as part of a package, including in conjunction 

with manned aircraft. 

The final configuration of the US drone 

demonstrators has featured a maximum 

takeoff weight of 16.6 t (X-45C) and even 

19 t (X-47B), which puts them in the same 

dimensional niche occupied by F-16size 

frontline fighters. The X-45 and X- 

47 experimental UCAVs were competitive 

designs under the J-UCAV programme 

providing for a combat UAV common for the 

US Air Force and Navy. However, the United 

States ditched the idea of a joint UCAV last 

year, and the programme – now dubbed 

UCAS-D – continues in the interest of the 

US Navy only. Although a more sobering 

look has been taken at UCAVs and the United 

States no longer regards them as a worthy 

replacement of manned combat aircraft, 

rather a complement especially effective in 

difficult tactical situations of high-intensity 

conflicts, their development will, no doubt, 

continue for both the USN and USAF. 

Besides the United States, several European 

countries have been developing combat UAVs 

recently. Experimental designs entered trials 

in France (Petit Duc, 2000), the UK (Raven, 

2003), Italy (Sky-X, 2005), Sweden (FILUR, 

2005), Germany and Spain (Barracuda, 

UNMANNED FUTURE 

OF COMBAT AIRCRAFT? 

www.take-off.ru take-off november 2007 37 

Andrey Fomin

Sergey Kuznetsov 





2006). The French programme has gradually 

evolved into a pan-European one dubbed 

nEUROn. Sweden, Italy and Spain, which 

decided to pool their UAV expertise for 

common good, have joined the programme 

along with Greece and Switzerland. The 

UK follows its own way so far, pursuing 

its Taranis programme stemming from the 

Raven experimental UAV programme. Both 

the nEUROn and Taranis are based on the 

concepts similar to that implemented in the 

X-45 and X-47, but their takeoff weight is 

estimated at 6–8 t so far. It has come to public 

knowledge recently that, following last year’s 

loss of a prototype, Germany has decided to 

terminate the Barracuda UCAV programme 

unveiled at the Berlin air show in May 2006 

and is pondering joining a European future 

combat drone programme (most probably, 

the nEUROn programme). 

On the home front 

What about Russia? Tupolev was among 

Russian pioneers of combat UAVs, having 

pursued a programme on a new-generation 

UAV, designated as ‘300’, or Tu-300 Korshun, 

since the ‘80s. The programme was based on 

the concept of Tupolev’s earlier Reis and 

Strizh recce UAVs, including their takeoff 

and landing manner, and, with its 3–3.5tonne 

takeoff weight, was to occupy the niche 

between them in terms of dimensions. The 

aircraft was to be used as part of the Stroy- 

F tactical UAV system in several versions, 

including the strike one – the payload could 

be carried both externally under the belly and 

internally. Six prototypes had been built and 

subjected to testing by the mid-’90s. During 

the ‘90s, the Tu-300 was displayed at MAKS 

shows several times. Then, the Korshun was 

forgotten, but the media reported in July this 

year that Tupolev was intent on resuming 


the programme, enhancing the UAV’s 

performance and fitting it with sophisticated 

gear. However, if the programme goes ahead, 

it looks like it will follow the direction 

traditional to Tupolev’s Reis and Strizh air 

recce UAVs, because the Tu-300 is far off the 

current international UCAV mainstream as far 

as its concept, including takeoff by launcher 

and landing by parachute, is concerned. 

The Yakovlev design bureau’s Proryv 

(Breakthrough) programme is much more 

on a par with the spirit of the age. Having 

a wealth of experience in small UAVs (e.g. 

several types of Pchela (Bee) drones have 

been tested, combat proven, produced and 

operated by the Russian military), Yakovlev 

went public with its plans of developing a 10t 

combat UAV several years ago. The Proryv- 

U UCAV was to be developed as part of a 

commonised UAV family also comprising 

the Proryv-R recce UAV and Proryv-RLD 

airborne early warning UAV. To slash the cost 

and time of development, systems proven on 

the Yak-130 combat trainer were to be used, 

first and foremost, the engine, remote control 

system, aircraft systems, special airborne 

equipment, etc. According to the picture 

at Yakovlev’s Web site, the commonality 

between the Proryv UAV and Yak-130 may 

be 40 per cent. Yakovlev’s Chief Designer 

Yuri Yankevich offered detailed enough 

information and diagrams of the Proryvfamily 

drones in a special issue of the Polyot 

scientific and technical magazine timed to 

the 100th anniversary of A.S. Yakovlev in 

March 2006. 

The strike variant is planned to be a stealthy 

tailless flying wing with internal payload 

carriage, a single engine and an air intake 

placed on top the front fuselage. Its takeoff 

weight is estimated at 10 t, payload (missions 

systems and weapons) at 1–3 t, maximum 

speed at 1,100 km/h, service ceiling at 

16,000 m and endurance at six hours. 60 

to 70 per cent common with the combat 

variant, the recce and AEW versions differ in 

avionics, a higher wing aspect ratio and the 

design of their tail unit modules. 

In summer 2005, the Yakovlev design 

bureau, part of Irkut Corp., became known to 

have offered its long-time Yak-130 programme 

partner, Alenia Aermacchi (subsidiary of 

Finmeccanica), to pool efforts in advanced 

UAV development, with the Russo-Italian 

relevant agreement signed during MAKS 

2005. At the Le Bourget air show in June 

this year, Irkut’s President and Yakovlev’s 

Director General Oleg Demchenko said for 

the record that the parties were about to 

launch practical work in this field. “Two 

years ago, Italian companies Finmeccanica 

and Alenia and we signed an agreement 

on deriving an unmanned aerial vehicle 


Tupolev Tu-300 UAV prototype at MAKS airshow in 1990s 

Skat UCAV and MiG-29 fighter dimensions 

comparison (drawing by Alexey Mikheyev) 


Yakovlev Proryv UAV family being designed 

using Yak-130 combat trainer technologies 

(drawing by Alexey Mikheyev) 

take-off november 2007 39 

Yevgeny Yerokhin


from the Yak-130. To date, the Russian and 

Italian defence ministries have granted all 

relevant permissions. Practical work under 

the programme is beginning”, he told the 

media in Paris. 

Many an aircraft maker develops drones 

in Russia these days. Some progress has been 

made by Irkut Corp., the Sokol design bureau 

(Kazan), ENIKS and Novik-21st Century 

companies and others. However, all UAVs 

they develop range in weight from a few 

kilograms to hundreds of kilograms and are 

designed, primarily, for aerial surveillance and 

reconnaissance. In 2006, the Sukhoi design 

bureau unveiled at Le Bourget mockups of 

its three UAVs of the Zond (Probe) family, 

weight from 2 to 12 t at takeoff and designed 

for multispectral monitoring, air traffic 

control and communications retransmission. 

Sukhoi is known to work on combat UAVs 

as well, but no detail on its efforts has been 

published yet. 

Two years ago, it became known that MiG 

Corp. had been developing an advanced UAV 

too. The programme was launched soon after 

Alexei Fyodorov (now UAC’s chairman of 

the board and president) assumed office of 

Director General and Designer General. 

Mr. Fyodorov, who is very sensitive to 

the market, had initiated several UAV 

development programmes in Irkut he led 

then. However, for two years, MiG leaders 

have limited themselves to stating the fact 

of the programme, but kept mum on detail. 

By August this year, MiG Corp.’s UCAV 

programme had reached a stage, at which the 

management decided it was time to go public 

with some of the results produced. 

By the time the company launched 

development of the Skat, it had had a wealth 

of experience in pilotless airborne vehicles 

development. Since the late ‘40s, the design 

bureau had worked on the first Soviet antiship 

cruise missiles, the KS and KSS (sort of 

shrunk unmanned MiG-15 fighter), and then 

K-10 and Kh-20 supersonic cruise missiles 

for use with Tu-16 and Tu-95 long-range 

bombers and had taken part in developing the 

Kh-22 high-speed cruise missile that remains 

in the inventory of Tu-22M3 bombers. To cap 

it all, work was under way on recce and attack 

UAVs (X-155DR and Krechet), unmanned 

interceptors (K-155 and Gyurza), etc. in the 

‘60s. The design bureau continued its work 

on unmanned designs afterwards as well. 

Skat: nuances of design 

So, what is MiG Corp.’s future combat 

drone? The Skat UCAV (Skat is Skate, 

or Guitarfish in Russian) is designed to 

eliminate pre-reconnoitred hostile static 

ground targets, first of all, air defence assets, 

in the face of formidable enemy air defence 

fires and destroy mobile surface threats in 

solo and package missions in cooperation 

with manned platforms. 

In line with the present-day global trend, 

the aircraft was designed in the low-observable 

tailless flying wing configuration, with its 

airframe heavily using composite materials. 

The aircraft’s lifting body in planform 

is a triangle with a leading-edge sweep of 

about 54 deg. The wing panels have the 

same sweep. They have the zero-taper ratio 

and wingtips angled 90 deg. relative to the 

leading and trailing edges. It is clear from the 

Skat’s external look that its designers tend 

to make all airframe lines, panel joints and 

lines of doors and hatches along only few 

parallel axes, which meets the radar signature 

reduction requirements. 

The aircraft’s basic aerodynamic control 

surfaces are multifunction deflectable surface 

set along the trailing edges to provide roll, 

pitch and yaw control and drag braking. 

Additional 

control surfaces are mounted on nearfuselage 

areas of the wing centre section and 

feature the forward sweep along the trailing 

edges (the same 54 deg. or so but in the 

opposite direction). 

The Skat’s powerplant is wrapped around 

a single Klimov RD-5000B nonafterburning 

turbofan rated at 5,040 kgf and being a 

derivative of the RD-93 reheated turbofan – 

a version of the MiG-29’s RD-33, which is 

mounted on single-engined foreign combat 

aircraft. The RD-5000B is fitted with a 

flat exhaust nozzle to reduce its infrared 

signature. At the first stage of the Skat’s trials, 

the engine can be equipped with a regular 

axisymmetric nozzle. The nonvariable air 

intake is set on top the fuselage nose section. 

Inside the UCAV’s airframe, there are two 

4.4m-long weapons bays with the 0.65x0.75m 

cross section on the sides of the engine’s 

air duct and the powerplant itself. Each can 

house an air-to-surface or antiradiation 

missile or a 250–500kg smart bomb. The Skat 

was unveiled mounting Kh-31P antiradiation 

missiles and KAB-500Kr smart bombs. Its 

maximum payload is reported to be 2,000 kg. 

Tricycle retractable landing gear is of 

traditional aeroplane type, enabling the 

UCAV to take off and land from ordinary 

airfields. Each strut is single-wheel. The 

levered nose gear retracts forwards into a well 

under the engine air duct, with levered main 

gear retracting into the centreline wells in the 

wing centre section. 

There have been no reports on the Skat’s 

avionics suite. However, one might guess 

that, in addition to the integrated control 

and navigation systems, it is going to have 

self-contained targeting systems to acquire, 

identify and engage targets and ISR and 

ECM gear to ensure its own survival. 

In accordance with the data unveiled, the 

UAV has a maximum near-ground speed 

of about 800 km/h and a maximum Mach 

of about 0.8. 

Calculations place its service ceiling at over 

12,000 m and range at around 4,000 km. The 

Skat’s dimensions are comparable to those 

of the MiG-29 fighter, with its length being 

10.25 m, wingspan 11.5 m and height 2.7 m. 

Its maximum takeoff weight is estimated at 

10,000 kg. 

Cooperation and prospects 

MiG Corp. has been developing the Skat 

UCAV since 2005, paying for the programme 

out of its pocket. Having teamed up with several 

Russian aircraft industry subcontractors and 

research institutes, MiG has conducted an 

extensive research producing a desired design 

and characteristics and has adopted a schedule 

to try relevant technologies. The UAV’s 

aerodynamic configuration has undergone 

wind-tunnel tests at TsAGI, which proved the 

design and layout solutions to be right. 

Under the Skat programme, MiG Corp.’s 

subcontractors, which logos are spotted by 

the mockup’s weapons bay door, are the 

Defence Ministry’s 2nd Central Research 

40 take-off november 2007 www.take-off.ru 

Andrey Fomin

Kh-31P antiradiation 

air-to-surface missile 

Skat 

advanced stealth 

unmanned combat 

aerial vehicle 

(drawing by Alexey Mikheyev) 

Skat-PD 

Institute (the military’s traditional supervisor 

of scientific support of air defence forces), 

Vega corporation recently appointed UAV 

industrial integrator by the government, 

GosNIIAS (aircraft industry’s major centre 

devising concepts of developing combat 

aircraft and weapons systems and integrating 

avionics suites). The Skat’s powerplant has 

been developed by the Klimov company in 

St. Petersburg in cooperation with the Soyuz 

design bureau (Tushino, Moscow) and will 

be made by the MMP Chernyshev company, 

if it enters production. Irkut’s subsidiary, 

Russian Avionics design bureau, is in charge 

of developing the UCAV’s avionics suite. 

Another subcontractor, the Hius close 

corporation (Tver Region), is a new kid on 

the aircraft-making block, but according to 

Vladimir Barkovsky, director of the Mikoyan 

Engineering Centre, it is very experienced in 

developing and making composite products. 

Hius develops composite structures to fit the 

Skat’s airframe. 

The full-size Skat UCAV mockup shown 

to the media at MAKS 2007 was made by 

MiG Corp.’s prototype-making division 

in summer 2007. It is intended for testing 

design and layout solutions and optimising 

the drone’s performance. 

Next stages of the programme provide for 

making flying technology demonstrators – 

the manned Skat-PD and unmanned Skat- 

D versions – and flight-testing them to 

debug the Skat and demonstrate all of its 

technologies, including the use of weapons. 

Vladimir Barkovsky attributes the need for 

a manned Skat variant to the Russian law 

imposing stringent limitations on UAV flights. 

The applicable law needs updating, and this is 

under way already. 

MiG Corp.’s managers decline to specify 

the date the flight tests of Skat prototypes 


will kick off. Obviously, test flights will hardly 

begin in the coming months. However, the 

priority given the programme by the company 

gives hope for the Skat’s maiden flight to be 

round the corner. 

Should the programme succeed, of which 

the developer is certain, the Defence Ministry 

is expected to throw its weight behind it, 

with the programme to be made part of 

the governmental defence procurement 

programme. Given the current trends in 

military aircraft development, the Skat is 

facing good prospects on the global market 

as well. Foreign participation in developing 

the Skat or its derivative cannot be ruled out, 

because such large-scale programmes have 

been increasingly pursued collectively in the 

West, with the afore-said nEUROn being a 

good case in point. Thus, the Skat may face 

bright vistas, given the present-day global 

combat aircraft tendencies. 


41

cosmonautics | mission 

ISS NOW RUN BY FEMALE 

Another replacement in position in orbit 

Alina CHERNOIVANOVA 

Photos www.cosmoport.info 


There has been a change of the crew 

of the ISS. In October, a woman, NASA 

astronaut Peggy Whitson, headed a 

long-term orbital expedition for the first 

time in history of space exploration. 

She and Russian cosmonaut Yuri 

Malenchenko were accompanied to the 

ISS by the first Malaysian cosmonaut 

Sheikh Muszafar Shukor. He spent 

11 days in orbit and came back to the 

Earth together with the ISS-15 crew – 

cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Fyodor 

Yurchikhin. 


Another Russian spacecraft went to the 

International Space Station on 10 October. 

The Soyuz-FG launch vehicle hauling the 

Soyuz TMA-11 blasted off the 1st Launch 

Pad at Baikonur at 17.22 hours Moscow 

time, with the spacecraft docking to the 

Zarya functional cargo unit of the Russian 

segment of the ISS two days later. The 

16th main expedition comprising Russian 

cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and NASA 

astronaut Peggy Whitson as well as the first 

Malaysian angkasawan Sheikh Muszafar 

Shukor arriving under the 13th expedition 

programme (angkasawan is the derivative of 

the Malay word ‘angkasa’ – outer space). 

The three have long space-related careers. 

Malenchenko first went to orbit in 1994, 

having worked 126 days at the Mir space 

station. He flew again in September 2000 as 

part of the STS-106 mission on board the 

Atlantis space shuttle under the programme 

of preparing the ISS for the arrival of the first 

permanent crew. Third time Malenchenko 

came to the orbit in April 2003 as crew 

commander of the 7th main expedition. While 

in orbit, Malenchenko got married, with his 

marriage of Russian-American Yekaterina 

Dmitiryeva being effected in absentia (under 

the law of Texas, the bride was present at the 

Mission Control Centre in Houston during 

the marriage ceremony). This was the first 

ever in-orbit marriage in history of space 

exploration. 

This flight was not the first one to Peggy 

Whitson. She spent six months at the ISS as 

the first researcher astronaut in 2002, having 

conducted 21 experiments in the fields of 

microgravity and medicine. However, this 

time around, she has much greater authority, 

having become the first female ISS crew 

commander. During the six month stint, 

she will have a crew of two men under her 

command, one of whom is Malenchenko 

and the slot of second flight engineer is to 

be occupied by alternating personnel. Until 

late October, it had been occupied by NASA 

astronaut Clayton Anderson, who came to 

the ISS as part of the STS-117 mission on 

the Endeavor shuttle in August this year. The 

STS-120 mission’s Discovery brought on 25 

October US astronaut Daniel Tani to replace 

Anderson. Tani will have stayed at the ISS 

until December when he will be replaced 

by ESA astronaut Leopold Eyarts, who is 

to come on the Atlantis shuttle (STS-122). 

Finally, US astronaut Garret Reisman will 

replace Eyarts in February 2008, coming on 

board the STS-123 mission’s Endeavor. 

The ISS-16 crew led by Whitson will 

pursue a complex and rich programme. With 

the arrival of the Discovery to the ISS, a new 

construction phase began – the shuttle, also 

commanded by a female NASA astronaut, 

Pamela Melroy, brought the second module, 

Node 2, into orbit. The first one, dubbed 

Unity, has been part of the ISS since 

1998. Node 2 made in Italy will link three 

lab modules – the US Destiny, the EC’s 

Columbus and Japan’s Kibo. Columbus will 

be brought to the ISS in December while Kibo 


in early 2008. This will beef up the capabilities 

of the ISS, allowing its crew to increase from 

three to six. The Whitson-led crew also will 

receive two Progress cargo craft and the first 

EC freighter, the ATV Jules Verne, which 

launch is slated for January 2008. As usual, 

the main expedition’s programme provides 

for several dozen experiments. 

The third member of the Soyuz TMA-11’s 

crew, Malaysian Shukor, went to outer space 

for the first time, but his space epic has 

gone down to history of Malaysia. Mulling 

over sending a man into outer space began 

in Malaysia as far back as the late 1980s 

in response to a proposal from the Soviet 

government. However, only in 2002 did 

Malaysia’s National Space Agency sate that 

it was ready to meet all relevant requirements. 

A space flight of a Malaysian was specifically 

stipulated in the major package agreement 

between the two countries (under the 

agreement, Malaysia procures an almost $1 

billion worth of Su-30MKM fighters and 

send a Malaysian national to outer space). 

Soon after clinching the deal, the Malaysian 

Space Agency started accepting applications 

from volunteers eager to become the first 

angkasawan. Applications were accepted via 

the Internet, with anybody above 21 having 

the right to apply. In the end, out of 11,000 

applicants, about 3,700, who met the age 

and education requirements, were selected, 

of whom subsequent additional tests and 

medicals left only four, including a female. 

The four were further reduced to two – 

Sheikh Muszafar Shukor, who, in the end, 

went to the ISS with the short-duration crew. 

His backup was Faiz Bin Halid. 

35-year-old Shukor is an orthopaedic 

surgeon. He teaches medicine in Kebangsaan 

University. During his 10-day space flight, he 

conducted a series of experiments, including 

those aimed at researching cancer cells, 

proteins and microbes as well as an experiment 

official dubbed Malaysian Cuisine in Outer 

Space. Truth be told, there was not much 

food in question (the pack of nine Malaysian 

national dishes cooked to Islamic standards 

(halal) weighed 550 g, but the angkasawan 

managed to treat his comrades-in-orbit right 

after the end of Ramadan. By the way, since 

Shukor also was the first Muslim to be in 

outer space during Ramadan, the Malaysian 

ulema had devised for him the world’s first 

Muslim cosmonaut memo that allowed him 

to pray in accordance with special rules. 

Shukor’s space flight inspired Malaysia 

so much that the country’s vice-premier 

arrived in Russia to greet the angkasawan 

upon his return from orbit and, at the same 

time, talk with the Russians about having 

the other Malaysian cosmonaut, Faiz Bin 

Halid, fly to the ISS. The initiative came as 


43


a pleasant surprise to the Russian Federal 

Space Agency (FSA). However, the other 

surprise could hardly be called pleasant: the 

Soyuz TMA-10’s lander with the Malaysian 

on board followed a ballistic trajectory. On 

the morning of 21 October, Oleg Kotov and 

Fyodor Yurchikhin, who were members of the 

15th main expedition, and Sheikh Muszafar 

Shukor left the ISS and headed for the Earth. 

At 14.37 hours Moscow time, the lander was 

to touch down 85 km north of the town of 

Arkalyk in Kazakhstan. However, at 14.18, 

two minutes after entering the atmosphere, 

Oleg Kotov reported to the Flight Control 

Centre (TsUP) that the onboard computer 


opted for ballistic landing for some 

reason. 

About a minute after the sitrep, 

the lander’s crew experienced g-load 

exceeding the normal one by two times 

– about 8.5 g. According to Kotov, 

electronic gear was sparking and there 

was a bit of smoke during the descent. 

At 14.20 hours, two minutes earlier than 

it would have happened in the automatic 

controlled descent, the main parachute 

deployed. “While I was telling Sheikh 

to hold on, we already landed”, Fyodor 

Yurchikhin reminisces on the ballistic 

descent. About a minute earlier that the 

estimated 

time, the lander’s soft landing 

motors kicked in, and the capsule touched 

down 10 km away from the Kazakh town of 

Tolybai at 14.36 hours, undershooting more 

than 400 km. Already at 14.49 hours, the first 

search-and-rescue helicopter landed by the 

Soyuz capsule lying on its side. The lander’s 

crew did not even have enough time to get really 

scared. According to doctors, the Malaysian 

cosmonaut’s pulse rate was 72 beats per minute 

and that of Yurchikhin and Kotov 80–90 beats 

per minute. Soon afterwards, the three were 

flown to Zvezdny Gorodok out of Moscow, 

and Energia’s ad hoc technical commission 

launched investigation into the reasons behind 

the ballistic descent. 

Mention should be made that last time a 

Soyuz spacecraft landed in a ballistic descent 

was May 2003, when Nikolay Budarin, 

Kenneth Bowersox and Donald Petit were 

returning from the ISS. They were subject to 

8.1g overload and the craft landed 460 km 

away from the estimated location. Later on, 

investigation revealed that the lander went into 

ballistic descent due to an inadequate reaction 

of the BUSP-M descent control unit – part 

of the descent control system – to signals it 

received from the KIOO-18 gyro and angular 

rate meter. According to FSA chief Anatoly 

Perminov, this time the reasons for the lander 

to go ballistic were different. “Most probably, 

the atmospheric state and the attitude of the 

craft played their part”, Perminov guessed. 

Anyway, the ad hoc commission will find out 

the reasons, but the FSA chief was certain 

that the incident would not have an impact 

on those queuing up to fly to outer space in a 

Russian Soyuz spacecraft. 


cosmonautics | in brief 

FSA Chief on prospects of Russian space exploration 

The head of the Federal Space 

Agency, Anatoly Perminov, has 

held several news conferences 

over the recent months, in 

which he shared with the media 

his vision of the state and future 

of the Russian space exploration 

industry. 

According to the FSA chief, 

Russia will have orbited six more 

spacecraft of the GLONASS satellite 

navigation system that is 

to start serving Russian users 

already in 2007 and provide global 

coverage by late 2009. 

According to Anatoly Perminov, 

the Russian constellation will have 

numbered 103 spacecraft, and its 

status has improved considerably 

since 2004 with the number 

of improve navsats having hiked 

from 25 per cent in 2004 to 60 per 

cent at present. 

The FSA head said the space 

companies’ net income had tripled 

over the past three years, with 

their earning capacity having more 

than doubled. “There remained 

only seven loss-making companies 

out of the 103. The annual 

salary growth in the industry is 25 

percent,” Perminov said. 

Dwelling on the future of manned 

flight in space, he remarked that 

the Clipper reusable spacecraft had 

not been approved by a scientific 

and technical council. “Scientists 

believes that another stage of 

developing an advanced manned 

transport space system should be 

the deriving of a spacecraft from 

an existing design”. According to 

Perminov, in the world there is 

“an aerospace-plane programme 

graveyard: there were eight to 12 

such spacecraft under development. 

Unfortunately, none of the 

programmes, except the US Space 

Shuttle, has succeeded”. 

The chief of FSA thinks that an 

advanced Russian manned system 

will have been developed by 2015, 

and by 2020 with the ISS to wrap 

up its operation, there will have 

been a new-type Russian space 

station in orbit to be used for inorbit 

assembly of spacecraft for 

46 

lunar and other planetary missions. 

Anatoly Perminov did not rule out 

foreign participation in developing 

such a station. Construction 

of the new orbital ‘base’ is now 

part of the medium-term Russian 

space exploration programme for 

the period until 2025. 

The FSA leader specified that 

the agency was not going to pull 

out from the Baikonur space 

launch facility in the near future. 

Responding to the question whether 

there is a chill in the Russian- 

Kazakh joint space operations, 

he said, “The idea is outlandish”. 

Perminov sad he had had talks 

with Talgat Musabayev, head of 

Kazakhstan’s space agency. “We 

have got no problems, and more 

than 40 agreements on joint work 

have been signed”, he maintained, 

saying that recurring minor disagreements 

and technical issues 

are settled in the regular course 

of work. “I see no alternative to 

Kazakhstan as far as manned 

space flights are concerned,” the 

FSA boss concluded. 

Speaking about plans to explore 

the Moon and Mars, Anatoly 

Perminov said that they should 

have a scientific base and “one 

should not stoop to resort to 

adventurism”. In his opinion, the 

cost of sending a manned spacecraft 

to the Mars is estimated at 

$40–50 billions. “Russia’s budget 

would, probably, survive that, but 

FSA’s coffers cannot”, he added. 

Nonetheless, Perminov specified, 

“We have come up with proposals 

for space exploration for 

the period until 2040. The proposals 

cover all aspects, including 

lunar and Martian missions. 

Now we have to obtain relevant 

financial and material resources”. 

The proposals cover several 

fields, particularly, further use of 

near-Earth space, development of 

the Moon and a flight to Mars. 

Readiness for landing on the Moon 

is to be achieved by 2025, a lunar 

base is to be set up between 2027 

and 2035 and a mission to Mars is 

slated for 2035 or later. 

According to Anatoly Perminov, 

FSA has not decided yet on the 

location for a new space launch 

centre. “If we develop an advanced 

manned spacecraft, e.g. for Moon 

missions, it will need an advanced 

launch vehicle that needs a new 

launch pad. Where the latter 

should be built remains undecided 

yet, but I think we should consider 

not only Baikonur to this end, but 

the territory of Russia as well”, 

Perminov said. “No matter where 

we start [construction of a new 

launch pad], we have to start from 

scratch. It is a very difficult thing 

to do in economic and technological 

terms. Still, it is doable”. 

Touching on international cooperation, 

FSA’s chief noted that cooperation 

with other countries has 

surged recently. The agency cooperates 

with 38 countries. Perminov 

noted, among other things, that 

“good relations with Arab countries 

are evolving” as far as remote 

Earth sensing, space communications 

systems and manned flight 

programmes are concerned. 

Commenting the South Korean 

launch vehicle development pro- 

gramme and construction of a 

launch centre in the Republic of 

Korea, Anatoly Perminov said 

relevant agreements had been 

reached and contracts signed 

and Khrunichev would roll up its 

sleeves in late 2007. “Essentially, 

Russia is offering one stage and 

the launch complex. Full-scale 

work is to begin in 2008, and the 

first flight under programme may 

take place in 2009”, he added. 

As to a first Russian space 

tourist planned to fly to the ISS in 

2009, Anatoly Perminov said he 

would be a businessman turned 

politician. FSA’s chief decline to 

name the man, citing the cosmonaut 

candidate’s personal 

request of anonymity for a while. 

Commenting on rumours of the 

feasibility of Russian President 

Vladimir Putin’s space flight, 

Perminov denied any FSA plans 

to this end, “I do not think it is 

serious. We have not planned any 

thing of the kind, let alone doing 

it for the president. The matter 

is not on the agenda. I guess the 

President has enough places to 

visit and enough work to do”. 


Igor Afanasyev 

Latest space rocket designs at MAKS 2007 

By tradition, space rocket hardware 

became a key element of the MAKS 

2007 air show. Truth be told, there 

were not too many truly advanced 

designs. 

For instance, the Makeyev design 

bureau displayed a mockup of the 

reusable space rocket system dubbed 

Rossiyanka. The project, no doubt, 

became a rocket sensation of the air 

show. The system, which designed 

under the 2006–15 Federal Space 

Programme, resulted from the cooperation 

among Makeyev, KBKhA, 

KBKhM, NIIMash (Nizhnyaya Salda), 

NPOA and KBTM. Under the federal 

programme, the partially reusable 

booster rocket is to insert 25–35t 

spacecraft into low orbit while slashing 

the specific launch cost by 1.5 

times and reducing the number of 

fallout areas by far. The Rossiyanka 

features a multi-unit first stage comprising 

four 4.1m-dia. tanks arranged 

around the tail section and interstage 

adapter; return of the first stage to 

the launch site along a ballistic trajectory 

and vertical parachuteless landing 

by means of the sustainer and 


control engines; and liquefied natural 

gas (LNG) or methane (which makes 

up 90 per cent of LNG) to be burnt 

as fuel. 

Measuring 35.6 m long, the rocket 

has a launch weight of 750 t and carries 

a payload of 21.5 t. The first stage 

can be used 25 times. The carrier’s 

lifting capacity could be increased to 

35 t by increasing its size or using 

an oxyhydrogen second stage, while 

retaining the system’s layout and 

returnability of its first stage. 

KBKhA is developing single-type 

sustainers (210 t of thrust in the first 

stage and 240 t in the second one), 

KBKhM and KBKhA are co-developing 

11t control engines and NIIMash 

handles the development of attitude 

engines. 

The total cost of Rossiyanka’s 

development is estimated $670–750 

million, and the launch cost is to be 

within $19 million. The LV will be 

able to blast off from the Kapustin Yar 

or Baikonur launch sites. In the latter 

case, the Energia launch vehicle’s 

ground infrastructure may be used. 

The wingless variant of the Clipper 

manned craft mounted on the mockup 

to simulate the payload came as a 

surprise, because the Clipper’s future 

remains hazy. 

The Makeyev design bureau’s 

exposition also included a mockup 

of a new rocket for the Air Launch 

system. Unlike the previous configuration, 

its stages have the same 

diameter – 2.66 m. The solution 

stems from the striving for using the 

Bloc E’s (third stage of the Soyuz 

carrier) production tooling available 

at the Progress plant in Samara. The 

public at MAKS could see a mockup 

of the ‘old’ launch vehicle of the 

Shtil family – a submarine-launched 

ballistic missile derivative. 

Khrunichev displayed mockups of 

the Angara and Proton LV families, 

long known by experts and space 

exploration enthusiasts. However, 

they included novelties as well, e.g. 

the Angara-5P two-stage LV designed 

for inserting the manned system 

Khrunichev is developing based on its 

TKS manned spacecraft expertise, and 

as many as three different versions of 

the Angara-1 light launch vehicle. 

TsSKB-Progress from Samara 

unveiled its R-7 family rocket mockups 

– the Soyuz-2-1b, Soyuz-2-3 and 

16–17t-capable Soyuz-2-3. While the 

first two are known, the third one 

became the second sensation after 

the Rossiyanka. Some data on the 

rocket have been circulating for a 


Igor Afanasyev 

while, but the general look and basic 

characteristics of the future launch 

vehicle were unveiled during MAKS 

2007. Despite the Soyuz-2-3 designation 

shared with the baseline 

model, the third variant is radically 

different rocket featuring enlarged 

strap-on boosters to house NK-33-1 

engines, just like the central booster 

will. To carry manned spacecraft, 

the third stage is to be powered 

by the RD-0110 engine. Fitted with 

the advanced efficient RD-0124, it 

will haul unmanned spacecraft. The 

second- and third-stage blocks have 

the same diameter, due to which the 

rocket measures roughly the same 46 

m despite its launch weight growing 

up to 481 t. In spate of a considerable 

difference from other versions, 

the 17t-capable Soyuz will likely to 

launch from a modernised launch 

complex of the Soyuz rocket, if the 

programme goes ahead, of course. 

Meanwhile, the future of this interesting 

rocket, which load ratio exceeds 

those of the Zenit and Angara, is a big 

question mark. The Soyuz-2-3 line 

stems from the Yamal, Aurora/Onega 

and Yamal-1 designs that were considered 

in 1997–2004 but have been 

as far back from being embodied in 

metal, as they were a decade ago. 


47 

Igor Afanasyev


Aspects of GLONASS development 

The development of the Russian 

global satellite navigation system 

dubbed GLONASS kicked off as 

many as two decades ago, but the 

‘steamroller’ of the 1990s almost 

ran it into the ground. Mere seven 

satellites of the constellation were 

active in orbit as of 2007 despite the 

measures taken by the government. 

Meanwhile, effective operation of 

the GLONASS is possible only in 

case the whole 24-satellite constellation 

is deployed. 

Given the importance of the issue, 

Russian President Vladimir Putin on 

17 May 2007 issued the decree on 

using the GLONASS global satellite 

navigation system in support 

of economic development of the 

Russian Federation, allowing access 

commercial users, including foreign 

ones, to navigation data. 

Under the decree, the Federal 

Space Agency (Roscosmos) was 

appointed coordinator of the efforts 

to maintain, develop and operate 

the GLONASS system in the interest 

of civil users. In addition, the 

government was tasked with determining 

the powers of the federal 

authorities in maintaining, developing 

and operating the constellation 

prior to 31 December 2007 and with 

adopting before late 2011 a relevant 

federal programme to be pursued 

during 2012–20. 

Attending the MAKS 2007 air 

show, President Putin visited the 

stand of RNIIKP, the core company 

of the Russian Corporation of 

Rocket-Space Device Engineering 

and Information Systems being 

established now. The President was 

briefed on the latest developments 

under the GLONASS programme, 

proving that the state’s interest in 

bringing the satnav system up to 

snuff is no lip service. Roscosmos 

chief Anatoly Perminov familiarised 

the President with a full-size 

mockup of the Reshetnev NPO PM’s 

advanced Glonass-K satellite and 

satnav user gear and brought him 

abreast of the status of the programme 

as a whole. 

According to NPO PM, new satellites 

will be fitted with intersatellite 

48 

measurement equipment that will 

enhance the operating stability of 

the constellation. The Glonass-K is 

slated for orbiting in 2009. 

During the air show, the Roscosmos 

chief and Vnesheconombank’s representatives 

signed an agreement 

on cooperation and coordination 

in devising techniques of financing 

Roscosmos programmes and the 

GLONASS federal programme in the 

first place. 

Introduction, albeit slow, of the 

Russian satnav system in everyday 

life is beginning. The Kompas design 

bureau (Moscow) displayed the 

first Russian-made GPS/GLONASS 

navigation receiver during MAKS 

2007. Initially, the gadget was developed 

for the Defence Ministry. It is 

immune to jamming, high and low 

temperatures and shocks. The compact 

NPI receiver is made of Russian 

electronic componentry, save for its 

German-made LCD that will lose 

ground to a Russian one once the 

device enters full-rate production. 

The receiver is estimated to cost 

within the $500–1,500 depending 

on the scale of production. 

Introduction of satnav capabilities 

to aircraft has been especially high 

on the agenda, because this enhances 

flight safety and, as far as military 

aircraft are concerned, effectiveness 

of combat operations. The growth of 

air traffic places greater emphasis 

on precise following of designated 

routes and air corridors, which has a 

heavy influence on flight safety. The 

current stacking standards stipulate 

air corridors must be stuck to 

with a 1-mile precision. GLONASS 

integrating with the joint navigation 

and aircraft positioning system will 

allow real-time route checking. The 

system will update the preset route 

every five seconds, thus ensuring 

compliance with all aircraft navigation 

requirements. 

The Atlant-Soyuz airline has been 

the first among Russian carriers to 

fit GLONASS gear on its aircraft, the 

Tupolev Tu-154M (RA-85740). The 

Vnukovo-based 400th Aircraft repair 

Plant fixed the airliner with the BMS 

onboard multifunction system from 

Navigator VNIIRA (St. Petersburg). 

In addition to GLONASS, BMS can 

use inputs from the US GPS and 

European Galileo satnav systems 

and GNSS-SBAS (WAAS, EGNOS, 

MSAS) satellite-based augmentation 

systems. The gear proved to be 

effective and functionable. 

The Kompas design bureau 

designed a landing system for aircraft-carrying 

vessels – the first 

Russian system of the kind, wrapped 

around GLONASS/GPS. The designers 

did their best to maximise its 

reliability and interference immunity 

and make it adaptable to commercial 

users’ requirements in the 

future. The system can be used on 

offshore rigs and civil vessels and 

at small airports. 

The government is to spend about 

10 billion rubles ($400 million) on 

the GLONASS system in 2007. The 

number of Russian navigation satellites 

is to be beefed up to 18 navsats 

in 2008–09 and to the 24 required to 

complete the constellation by 2011. 

The precision of positioning is to be 

the same as that of GPS – 1 to 5 m 

(it is lower by an order of magnitude 

so far). Two Proton launch vehicles 

were to insert six more GLONASS 

satellites late in 2007. 


Igor Afanasyev

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