Date Posted 21 March 2008

The Sukhoy company plans to begin testing two more flying examples of the Su-35 multirole fighter at the end of 2008. Right now they are being assembled at the Komsomol’sk-on-Amur Yu. A. Gagarin Aviation Production Association (KnAAPO).

Su-35 flight tests began on 19 February of this year. They are underway at the M.M. Gromov flight research institute airfield in the Moscow suburb of Zhukovskiy. A second sortie, during which power plant and overall control system regimes were worked through, took place on 7 March. A third flight is being readied at the present time. Russia’s honored test pilot Sergey Bogdan piloted the airplane.

Su-35 series production and deliveries to Russian and foreign customer are planned for 2010 - 2011. The fighter's arrival into the Russian air force inventory will enable fortifying the country's defense capabilities and also allow the Sukhoy company to maintain competitiveness until the fifth generation fighter, the first examples of which they began to build at the end of last year in  Komsomol’sk-on-Amur, reaches the export market. The company also plans to export the Su-35 – to the countries of Southeast Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America.

Source: 20.03.08, AVIA.RU

Date Posted 20 March 2008
The Russian Airplane Building Corporation (RSK) MiG is realizing the ship-based MiG-29K/KUB manufacturing program successfully, fulfilling a contract which provides for the delivery of these airplane to India's navy.
 
On 18 March, during a visit to Russia of India's naval chief-of-staff, Surish Mehta, the first flight of the series-built Mig-29KUB (side number 113) took place in the Moscow suburb of Lukhovitsy at the airfield of the RSK MiG flight test complex. Senior test pilot, Hero of Russia Pavel Nikolaevich Vlasov, and honored test pilot, Hero of Russia Aleksandr Petrovich Pelikh, piloted the airplane.
 
The ship-based fighter made 2 traditional taxi runs and completed a 42-minute flight in regimes which had been worked out on an experimental airplane. The flight performance of the series-built MiG-29KUB, which had been laid out in the technical specifications for the delivery of this article, was confirmed during the flight.

The complex contract for the delivery to India’s navy of the ship-based multi-role fighter was signed by the RSK MiG on 20 January 2004. The contract provides for the delivery of 12 single-seat MiG-29K and 4 twin-place MiG-29KUB, and also training of the customer’s airmen and maintenance personnel, the delivery of simulators and spare parts and the organization of the airplane’s servicing. An option for another 30 airplanes has been provided for by the overall contract with a delivery period before 2015.

Source: 03.19.08, AVIA.RU


Two upgraded MiG-31BM fighters entered the inventory of the Lipetsk Center for Combat Application and Cross-Training of Flight Personnel on Thursday.

"As a result of the upgrade, the airplanes were equipped with a long-range detection system and a satellite navigation system which allows determining the coordinates of aerial and ground target with high precision and successfully engaging missiles including an enemy's small cruise and supersonic vehicles," the aid to the air force commander-in-chief, Aleksandr Drobyshevskiy, said.

He reported that the airplane's upgrade was carried out at the Nizhniy Novgorod Sokol aviation plant.

"They will be studying the combat capabilities of the MiG-31BM at the Lipetsk aviation center and also cross-training flight and maintenance personnel on this upgraded airplane," A. Drobyshevskiy said.

Source: 20.03.08, Gudok

Date Posted 19 March 2008

Intense Testing of Experimental Yak-130 Airplanes to Resume in Near Future

Tests of the Yak-130 combat training airplane with the participation of three experimental aircraft will be continued at the base of the air force State Flight Test Center in Akhtubinsk (Astrakhan Oblast') in April - May, they reported at the Russian defense industrial complex.

"The forthcoming tests will be extremely intensive, inasmuch as the task has been put to complete the state joint test stage of the Yak-130 at the end of this year," an agency source reported.

"Besides combat application flights, a large number of tests will be performed for stability and control  testing operation of the avionics, including the use of weapons," the agency source said.

The Yak-130 is one of the most prospective Russian aircraft projects both from the point of view of delivery for the needs for the Russian Federation air force and for export deliveries. The Russian air force (12 aircraft) and the Algerian air force (16 airplanes) are the first customers of the new Yak-130 combat training airplane.

Source: 19.03.08, Gudok

The Arsen'ev Progress company has begun the final stage of assembly of  the first Ka-52 "Alligator" combat helicopter.

An assembled fuselage has been transferred to the final assembly hall where preparations are underway for installing the communications and equipping it with instruments and equipment. Very soon a second fuselage will arrive here, too, which already is being painted, Lemma Radio reports.

In all it is planned to produce three of the strike helicopters in 2008, two of which the Kamov firm will receive for state tests, and the third will be send to Russia's defense ministry.

As the Kamov OKB general designer, Sergey Mikheev, noted recently who had visited Progress, the "Alligator" trainer, which was developed during the development of the "Black Shark," while preserving the principle structural similarities  with respect to its basic components, is an absolutely new combat package, a new generation aircraft.

The Ka-52 combat helicopter has been recognized as one of the priorities by those at the Helicopters of Russia Holding Company, which Progress joined recently.

Source:  19.03.08, PrimaMedia

Date Posted 18 March 2008

Ulan-Ude Manufactured Mi-171 Helicopter Receives Certificate of Type in Mongolia

((Mongolia is the fourth country to certify the Mi-171.  It also has been certified by China, South Korea and Slovakia.  The Mi-171A has been certified in Brazil.  The Mi-171 is operated in 70 countries and has better flight performance than the Mi-8 on which it is based.  Avionics include a weather radar and a satellite navigation system.  It is manufactured in passenger and cargo variants.))

Source: 18.03.08, ARMS-TASS

Date Posted 17 March 2008

Sri Lanka to Sign Contract for 5 MiG-29 Fighters

((Reported originally in Jane's Defense Weekly.  The contract is for MiG-29SM.  Sri Lanka already has four upgraded MiG-27 obtained from Ukraine.  Not further translated.))

Source: 17.03.08, ARMS-TASS

((The PS-90A2, a modification of the PS-90A.  Cuba has ordered five of the transports with this engine.  Not further translated.))

Source: 17.03.08, Gudok

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