Mig-29 - Take-off Magazine

Alexey Mikheyev
industry | in brief
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.
take-off november 2007 www.take-off.ru
Alexey Mikheyev