|
|
|
|
|
|
23.08.07
|
Cleared For Take Off
|
|
|
By Dmitry Babich
|
MAKS-2007 – Flying High
This year’s air show in the town of Zhukovsky near Moscow was held in extremely hot weather, which sent President Vladimir Putin searching for an ice cream stall on the first day of the show. Having found no ice cream but a bunch of hotdogs instead, the president decided to compensate for the disappointment by engaging the sales woman in a friendly conversation. Other participants of the show, which is held every two years, also complained of the heat and difficulties in parking their cars near the huge airfield. However, no one complained about the lack of contracts signed or the quality of the aircraft presented at the show, which is officially named MAKS-2007.
This year, 787 companies from 110 countries took part in the show. Russian companies were especially active as they strived to make an impression on president Putin, obviously in the hope of getting more support from the state. They definitely had a point, as Putin, speaking at the opening of the show on Tuesday, hinted at more financial injections into this sector, while encouraging domestic industry to work more aggressively on global arms and civil aviation markets.
“Russia, which has recently got some new economic advantages, is paying very close attention to high technologies,” Putin said. After his speech, the president was approached by an alluring blonde in red who happened to be none other than Svetlana Kapanina, a famous instructor pilot and a world champion in aerobatics. When speaking to reporters after the meeting Kapanina said she encouraged the president to give more financial support to aviation.
“I told the president that we had the best planes in the world, that we still have the best pilots in the world. But we are on our knees now, in particular the sports aviation. We need financial aid to recover,” Kapanina said.
While some Russian companies view the state and in particular the defense ministry as their main clients, others searched for clients abroad, offering products and services in spheres where Russia has been traditionally strong – engines, fighter planes, medium-sized “regional” passenger planes, avionics and navigation equipment. For example, Moscow-based “Kompas” presented its pocket-sized navigator allowing the user to locate himself in space using the Russian global satellite navigation system (Glonass), a Russian alternative for the U.S. monopolist Global Positioning System (GPS). Russia allocated 9.88 billion rubles ($379.7 million) in 2007 to the Glonass project, which is reported to be under the special tutelage of the first vice-premier of the Russian government Sergei Ivanov, Putin’s possible successor in the Kremlin. The Glonass system will be fully operational by 2008.
But the main emphasis was on regional civil aircraft and other more traditional Russian products. Ilyushin Finance announced having amassed contracts for $500 million for six AN-148 planes, one IL-96-300 and three TU-204-100s. Cuba and Iran signed deals to purchase aircraft, including one TU-204 and four AN-148 for the La Habana-based Cubana company.
“The total cost of contracts and agreements to build new aircraft signed on the first day of the show amounted to $1 billion,” business daily Vedomosti reported. “In Farnborough and Le Burge, where the global giants Airbus and Boeing exhibit their products, the cost of contracts is numbered in tens of billions of dollars.”
Among the technical sensations in military use was the brand new S-400 air defense missile system Triumf (NATO codename SA-21 Growler). A successor to the famous S-300 system Favorit, Triumf tested on July 12-13 in Kapustin Yar (Astrakhan region), a little more than a month before the air show. The system is believed to have the capability to destroy stealth aircraft at a range of 400 kilometers (250 miles). During the war against Yugoslavia in 1999 Belgrade often asked Russia to provide S-300 systems, but never received even one.
Some Russian aviation companies try to combine civil and military plane production. For example, the famous Sukhoi company, mostly known for its fighter jets, unveiled the new SSJ-100 regional civilian plane, the aircraft upon which the newly constructed aviation national champion UAC, is based. Putin got so excited about the project that he asked to be placed inside a model of a cockpit, where he could imitate all actions of a pilot during the landing of SSJ-100. A special presentation of the SSJ-100 is scheduled for September 26.
MAKS-2007 can be seen as an indicator of continuing Russian-Ukrainian cooperation in civil and military transport planes. Engines for AN-148s are produced in Ukraine. Ilyushin Finance signed a contract for the purchase of 74 AN-148s. The other success was the resumption of serial production of AN-124 Ruslan military transportation planes. The production of these planes, designed in 1982 in the framework of Soviet defense industry, was suspended in 1995 due to differences between the Russian and Ukrainian governments. Meanwhile, Ruslan planes proved to be extremely handy, and not only for Russia. In 2002, NATO troops from European countries had to be transported to Afghanistan by Ukrainian Ruslans as West European countries did not have enough long range military transportation planes of their own. Now Ruslans are going to be produced in the framework of a joint project by the Russian Volga-Dnieper company and the Ukrainian Motor-Sych. By the year 2030 annual demand for Ruslans is expected to reach about 100 aircraft, while during Soviet times only 53 planes were produced per annum. |
| The source |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The virtual community for English-speaking expats and Russians
