SSJ100 launches operations PAK FA two prototypes flying already ...

had accounted for 5 t. An increase in the
powerplant’s emergency rating had boosted
flight safety when flying with one engine
down. A technical and economic analysis had
proven that the Mi-38 would be far superior
to the Mi-8 by 1.8 times in payload weight,
by 2 times in performance capacity and by 1.7
times in fuel efficiency. Civil aviation leaders
approved the draft design, and the Kazan
Helicopters began to gear up for productionising
the Mi-38.
Together with foreign partners
The Mi-38 transport/passenger helicopter
was designed to carry passengers and cargo,
cargo handling, civil and erection works, search
and rescue operations, forest engineering, geologic
exploration, ambulance services, medical
evacuation and operation as a VIP wagon.
From the outset, the aircraft was designed for
operation under various weather and climatic
conditions. It is also important that the Mi-38
became essentially the first Russian helicopter,
whose designing provided from the outset, its
certification in line with the Russian and foreign
air worthiness standards.
However, the collapse of the Soviet Union
disrupted the existing industrial links. Many
of the Mi-38 programme participants found
themselves in different former Soviet states
or switched to different products. At the
same time, Russian helicopter makers found
new opportunities to cooperate with foreign
partners. Major European helicopter maker
Eurocopter took interest in cooperation with
the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant, with the
Mi-38 out of all of Mil’s development programmes
attracting its attention. The two
companies made a preliminary agreement
Kazan Helicopters
Yevgeny Yerokhin
on cooperation in December 1992 and set up
their Euromil joint venture in 1994 including
the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant, Kazan
Helicopters, Klimov plant and Eurocopter
company.
Under the work sharing agreement between
the partners, the Mil Moscow Helicopter
Plant was to design and test the advanced helicopter,
the Kazan Helicopters was tasked with
making prototypes and production machines
and with their after-sales support and the
Klimov plant was responsible for the development
of the TV7-117V helicopter engine rated
at 2,500 h.p. (3,750 at the emergency rating)
and, a bit later, offered an even more sophisticated
next-generation engine TVa-3000 rated
at 2,800 h.p. Eurocopter undertook the development
of the flight/navigation suite, flight
control system and cockpit and cabin interiors.
It also promised to facilitate the Mi-38’s
international certification, promotion on the
global market and after-sales support.
The helicopter’s development by an international
team was supported by the Russian
government that included it into the Russian
Civil Aircraft Development Programme for
Mi-38 first flying prototype (OP-1)
in its maiden flight, 22 December 2003…
industry | programme
the Period through 2015. However, the funding
of the programme by the government
proved to be scarce. The problem was further
exacerbated by the crisis of the late ‘90s and
a number of federal laws that limited the
amount of foreign capital in the Russian
aircraft industry and, hence, banned foreign
partners from managing joint venture in that
branch of economy.
This led to the Klimov plant’s pullout from
the Euromil joint venture due to Klimov’s dire
financial situation. Then, Eurocopter followed
suit, having been stripped of incentives to
keep on participating in the programme. Only
two companies, Mil and Kazan Helicopters,
had stuck to the programme by 2003 when
Kazan Helicopters completed the first Mi-38
prototype (OP-1). After Klimov’s withdrawal
from the programme, the Mi-38 project
was tailored for use of Canadian PW127TS
turboshaft engines with a takeoff power of
2,500 h.p. (3,750 h.p. at the emergency rating).
A two-engine set was provided to the
Mi-38 developers by Pratt & Whitney Canada
anticipating the future market success of the
programme and subsequent lucrative orders.
… and at MAKS 2007 airshow,
August 2007
www.take-off.ru take-off june 2011
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