THE 11 TH LANGKAWI INTERNATIONAL MARITIME AND AEROSPACE EXHIBITION 6th - 10th December 2011 Langkawi, Malaysia DELIVERING BUSINESS TO YOU Government of Malaysia Ministry of Defence Ministry of International Trade & Industry Ministry of Transport Malaysia HW LIMA SDN BHD 35F-1-6 Jalan 2/27F, KLSC II, Section 5, Wangsa Maju 53300 Kuala Lumpur T : +603 4142 1699 F : +603 4142 2699 E : hw5@hwlima.org W : www.lima.com.my
Kazan Helicopters industry | programme Mi-38 Andrey FOMIN successor to legendary Mi-8 The advanced Mil Mi-38 multirole medium transport helicopter made its debut at the HeliRussia 2011 show at the Crocus Expo exhibition centre in Moscow. Made by Kazan Helicopters last year, the second Mi-38 prototype (OP-2) had landed in front of Crocus Expo and sat by the entrance to the pavilion, receiving all exhibitors and guests of the forum. The Mi-38 programme dates back quite a while. Conceived as far back as three decades as a successor to the Mi-8, which remains the most popular machine in the world, the new medium transport helicopter of the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant has traversed a long path from the development of early projects, which were essential upgrades of the production Mi-8, to its current configuration, having gained weight and been given a better lifting capacity. In its day, during the stormy 1990s, the Mi-38 programme became one of the first Russian helicopter industry programme, in which foreign colleagues – famous Eurocopter and Pratt&Whitney Canada – took part. The first Mi-38 prototype (OP-1) took to the air in December 2003, but the programme actually has been given a kick-start only recently, after the emergence of the Russian Helicopters holding company that has incorporated key assets of the Russian helicopter industry. The holding has set the Mi-38 as its promising project in class of medium transport/passenger helicopters with a lifting capacity of 5–7 t. The machine is to rival the best foreign helicopters in the class – the AgustaWestland EH101 (AW101) and Sikorsky S-92 – and there are grounds for optimism, since the trials of the first Mi-38 produced a number of outstanding results, Kazan Helicopters manufactured the second, upgraded prototype, and a third machine is to join the tests this year. Two Mi-38 <strong>prototypes</strong> are slated for demonstration during the MAKS 2011 air show in August this year, with the first of them to have been powered by Russian-made TV7-117V engines by then. Background At the turn of the 1980s, the Soviet Armed Forces started taking delivery of upgraded Mi-8MT multirole helicopters powered by advanced TV3-117MT engines, while civil aviation continued to put up with the ordinary Mi-8Ts fitted with less powerful TV2-117As. However, the aircraft, which had been in service for almost <strong>two</strong> decades, began to grow obsolete and needed upgrade to meet the 14 take-off june 2011 new requirements. As a result, the government issued a resolution on 30 July 1981, in which it authorised development of the Mi-8M upgraded medium transport/passenger helicopter that has gradually evolved into today’s Mi-38. A principal requirement to the advanced helicopter was an increase in traffic profitability. Therefore, the Mi-8’s upgrade was based on replacing the TV2-117 engine with the more advanced and efficient TV7-117, which design was offered by the Leningrad-based engine design bureau led by Sergey Izotov (now the Klimov company). In addition, the development of the improved helicopter was to include replacement of the mixed-design rotor blades with fibreglass ones, improvement of the fuselage aerodynamics and shifting of the fuel tanks to the bay under the cargo cabin floor. Then, a decision was taken to introduce a number of more advanced technical solutions to the design of the machine. The solutions included an elastomeric main rotor hub, retractable landing gear, X-shaped tail rotor, up-to-date flight/navigation suite, etc. The improvements led to the emergence of a new helicopter dubbed Mi-38 in 1983. Later on, the Mi-38 underwent numerous modifications aimed at enhancing its reliability, efficiency and components/systems weight reduction and, in the end, at improving the technical and economic characteristics of the helicopter and honing its competitive edge on the global market. Naturally, implementation of the advanced solutions delayed the design process, to which the economic turmoil in this country in the later ‘80s and the ‘90s contributed. Overall, the Mi-38’s configuration had matured by 1990s, when the draft design was prepared. Compared to the initial Mi-38 design, the draft design had undergone quite a change. The design normal takeoff weight had grown from 12.5 t to 13 t and the maximum weight from 14 t to 14.5 t, while payload www.take-off.ru
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