Flight International

FLIGHTINTERNATIONAL

WINGS CLIPPED RETIRED ADMIRAL HITS OUT AT NAVY PLAN FOR UCLASSDEFENCE P17

DRY CLEANING Lufthansa Technik puts its faith in carbon dioxide to develop water-free engine wash process P16

ROTOR HUB Eurocopter subsidiary Helibras gives timetable to begin assembly of EC225s in Brazil P24

MAKS SPECIAL

RUSSIA RESURGENTTime at last for post-Soviet aerospace industry to live up to its potential?

flightglobal.com

£3.30

20 AUGUST-2 SEPTEMBER 2013

20 August-2 September 2013 | Flight International | 5flightglobal.com

FLIGHTINTERNATIONAL

20 AUGUST-2 SEPTEMBER 2013

Russian Helicopters is developing models as part of a key strategy P42. A consortium is to look into the potential for a reusable spaceplane to launch satellites P28

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Chafed wiring downed Tyndall F-22, says USAF

AUVSI SHOW REPORT20 Titan unveils ‘atmospheric satellites’.

Privacy concerns slow UAS use in civil airspace

21 Matrix takes autonomous rotorcraft to another level. Ambitious China makes US UAV debut

LABACE SHOW REPORT 24 Cessna, Embraer advance on first

flights of new jets. Helibras gears up for civil Super Puma production

25 Client feedback puts safety first in Phenom 100 update. Bombardier goes local to regain lost Brazil sales

SPACEFLIGHT 27 NASA lifted as new launcher clears

design review hurdle

BUSINESS 28 Money moves, MRO goes

REGULARS7 Comment 52 Classified 55 Jobs 59 Working Week

NEWS THIS WEEK 8 Romiti stays keen on booming Brazil

9 UPS A300F hit trees before fatal smash at Birmingham. Airbus prepares for major Vueling deal

10 Third prototype of Ka-62 is set to be unveiled at MAKS

11 MQ-4C Triton team ramps up testing. Eurocontrol quantifies top-five air traffic dangers

AIR TRANSPORT 12 A321 crew mistook runway amid

landing-gear concerns. Moscow changes rules to boost fleet renewals

14 LOT keeps chasing 787 compensation. Lion Air considers N219 as it eyes expanded reach

16 Dry ice allows LHT to cut wet washes. An-70 freighter plans are spurred by new propfans

DEFENCE 17 USN clips wings of UCLASS concept.

Seoul seeks tankers to close its capability gap

18 Rostvertol takes Mi-28UB combat trainer for a spin.

COVER STORY32 RUSSIA SPECIAL REPORT Back from

the brink The industry has a new-found confidence after its post-Cold War slump

36 Getting there United Aircraft has put its faith in the Superjet

38 Back in business Irkut has high hopes for Russia’s new narrowbody, the MC-21

42 New frontiers Russian Helicopters is developing a raft of models

44 Lease of life IFC has come a long way

46 Relaunch required Moscow remains a spaceflight superpower

48 Bear market MAKS air show preview

VOLUME 184 NUMBER 54O4

PIC OF THE WEEK YOUR PHOTOGRAPH HEREFlightglobal’s Image of the Day blog featured this rather splendid shot of a British Airways Rolls-Royce Trent 1000-powered Boeing 787 alongside a R-R-engined Spitfire. AirSpace users can open a gallery in flightglobal.com’s AirSpace community for a chance to feature here.

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COVER IMAGERussian Helicopters supplied this arresting image of one of its Ka-32s showing why its Kamov brand remains the stuff of legend, as we shine a light on the Russian aerospace industry P31

NEXT ISSUE MAKS SHOW REPORT We round up all the news from Russia’s major air show in Moscow, where our reporters will have been gauging the state of the local aerospace industry

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Download the new Commercial Engines Directorynow with enhanced data and in-depth market analysis

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CONTENTS

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BEHIND THE HEADLINES THE WEEK ON THE WEB

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QUESTION OF THE WEEK

17%51%

Total votes: 2,438

This week, we ask: The future of Russian civil airliner programmes Will be a success in the West Popular in the former Soviet bloc Doomed to fail

Vote at flightglobal.com/poll

An aerospace pariahTo remain a niche military asset

The future of aviation

Last week, we asked for your thoughts on: UAVs. You said:

32%

HIGH FLIERSThe top five stories for the week just gone:1 Spotlight shines on Ryanair operations

2 Fire destroys Ukrainian An-12 at Leipzig

3 EasyJet A320 loses cowl on take-off from Milan

4 NTSB sends team to investigate UPS A300F crash

5 LOT still making demands for 787 delay compensation

The DEW Line links to the US Air Force accident report on

the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor that crashed at Tyndall

AFB, Florida, last November. Basically, the $149.6 million

aircraft was lost due to chafed wiring – this leaves the

USAF with 184 production

jets remaining, plus two

test aircraft. Tail 4013,

which used to be assigned

to Nellis AFB, Nevada, was

one of the oldest Raptors in

the USAF arsenal. And, the

Ariel View observes that

the Israeli unmanned systems industry looks to be getting

a boost from the country’s discovery of huge offshore gas

reserves – which, not surprisingly, are under threat even

before exploitation. Also not surprising, UAVs are being

drafted in to monitor the region, being excellent, long-

endurance adjuncts to traditional naval surface and air patrols – sparking much touting for business by their

suppliers.

Flightglobal’s team was out in

force at the AUVSI show in

Washington DC, producing three

daily papers from the site.

Meanwhile, business editor Dan Thisdell visited Rostvertol’s

sprawling helicopter factory –

one of the largest in the world –

in Rostov-on-Don where it makes

Mil Mi-28s, -35s and 26Ts.

IN THIS ISSUECompanies listedAeroVironment .............................................20AgustaWestland .......................................8, 10Air Busan .....................................................12Airbus ....................................9, 10, 12, 28, 29Airbus Military ........................................10, 17Air Contractors .............................................13 Air France ....................................................12All Nippon Airlines ........................................14American Airlines ...........................................8Antonov .................................................12, 16Arinc ............................................................29Asiana Airlines .............................................29ATR ..............................................................13 Aurigny ........................................................28Austrian Airlines ...........................................29AVIC .............................................................16Azul .............................................................13 BAE Systems ...............................................11Beechcraft ...................................................25Boeing ................................ 14, 17, 20, 21, 28Bombardier .................................................25Bristow Group ..............................................29Cessna ........................................................24Comac .........................................................16Cytec Industries ...........................................28EADS ...........................................................14EasyJet ..........................................................9Eaton ...........................................................29Embraer .......................................8, 24, 25, 28Eurocopter ...................................................24FLIR Systems ...............................................29Flybe ...........................................................18Garmin ........................................................25Gulfstream .............................................24, 25Helibras .......................................................24Hubei Ewatt .................................................21IASA Global .................................................28Insitu ...........................................................21Japan Airlines ..............................................14Jetstar ..........................................................28John Holland Aviation Services .....................28Kingfisher Airlines ..........................................8Learjet .........................................................25Líder Aviação .........................................24, 25Lion Air ........................................................14Lockheed Martin ..........................8, 18, 22, 27LOT ..............................................................14Lufthansa Technik ........................................16MBDA ............................................................8Merpati ........................................................14Motor Sich ...................................................16MTU Aero Engines ........................................29Nextant Aerospace .......................................25Northrop Grumman ................................11, 17Pneumo .......................................................14Pratt & Whitney ............................................13Qantas .........................................................28Qinetiq...................................................20, 27Reaction Engines .........................................27Rocketdyne ..................................................27Rockwell Collins .......................................8, 29Rolls-Royce ............................................14, 29Russian Helicopters ...............................10, 18Ryanair ........................................................10Selex ES ......................................................22SIA Engineering ...........................................28Sikorsky .......................................................21Sukhoi .........................................................12Textron Systems ...........................................22Thales Alenia Space .....................................27Titan Aerospace ...........................................20US Airways .....................................................8Virgin Australia .............................................28Vueling...........................................................9Zero Gravity Solutions ..................................29

6 | Flight International | 20 August-2 September 2013

FLIGHT TRAINING Search the Civil Simulator Censuswww.flightglobal.com/civilsim

COMMENT

flightglobal.com 20 August-2 September 2013 | Flight International | 7

Eurocontrol has been working hard for years to try to set up an air traffic management incident reporting

system so all parties – pilots, air traffic controllers, air navigation service providers (ANSP) and airport opera-tors – can report incidents, enabling easy identification of trends and risks.

This is easier said than done in the world of ANSPs, which in most European countries are state bodies more atuned to covering up mistakes than acknowledg-ing them.

Eurocontrol has begun to change that culture, and a useful quantity of data is flowing in. The findings are neither unexpected nor do they reveal unknown risks. But they are important, because the highest risks be-

come clear, enabling priorities to be set and policy to be adjusted accordingly.

But in the world of airline operators, which have been running a reporting system for much longer, a new milestone has been reached. There are still plenty of incidents to study, trends to monitor, and priorities to identify, but real accidents have become so rare that there are fewer of those to learn from.

When there is something to learn, it is important. An incident is interesting because something or someone stopped it escalating. Recognising that is the key. Most accidents are caused by something familiar. It begs the question – if it is familiar, why is it still happening? See This Week P11

Familiarity breeds contempt

Rex

Featu

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See Defence P17

Which way’s the enemy?

Carrier suicideLittle in the way of credible explanation has been offered by the US Navy for the neutering of its unmanned strike aircraft programme, leading military analysts to question its worth

The DEW Line blog offers more in-depth news and analysis of the global defence sector at: flightglobal.com/dewline

The Pentagon’s Joint Requirements Oversight Coun-cil (JROC) and the US Navy must provide a more

credible explanation for relaxing the requirements for the service’s Unmanned Carrier Launched Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) aircraft programme.

Its downgraded capabilities are baffling to current and former defence officials alike, and many are ques-tioning why the Pentagon would embark on such an endeavour that does so little to address the fundamen-tal challenges facing the fleet.

As initially envisioned, UCLASS would have pro-vided a credible solution to the anti-access/area denial problems faced by the USN’s carrier strike groups in many parts of the world. The original concept called for an ultra-stealthy, long-range unmanned bomber that could fly deep into the heart of enemy territory while simultaneously allowing the aircraft carrier to remain at a safe distance from retaliatory strikes.

Extreme range stand-off capability was considered a vital attribute of the system because enemy anti-ship ballistic and cruise missiles are posing an ever-increas-ing threat to carriers. Meanwhile, highly stealthy char-acteristics and a large weapons payload would allow the aircraft to remain inside the toughest of enemy air defences for an extended period.

However, the JROC, in a classified memo issued on 18 December last year, neutered the UCLASS. No long-er would the aircraft have the ability to aerially refuel,

The suspicion lingers that UCLASS is being set up as a budgetary sacrifice

which would extend its range. Nor would it be required to operate in highly contested airspace. Its weapons load has also been dramatically reduced to just 1,000lb (454kg). In all, this capability erosion takes it to the level of a modestly stealthy jet-powered Predator UAV.

As a result, many are openly questioning the point of the programme – especially in light of the Obama ad-ministration’s much-vaunted pivot to the Pacific. As many analysts note, a low-stealth, low-endurance and low-payload aircraft is virtually useless in that theatre.

Of course, just because the Pentagon set the specifi-cations for UCLASS does not mean it has a sound con-cept of operations. And the suspicion lingers that it is being set up as a budgetary sacrifice.

If the programme is not being created simply to fail, then its limited operational abilities – the short range, the low payload, the lack of stealth – all appear to point towards an aircraft that has been designed by commit-tee. As it stands, the navy appears to be acquiring little more than an off-white elephant.

THIS WEEK

flightglobal.com8 | Flight International | 20 August-2 September 2013

For a round-up of our latest online news, feature and multimedia content visit flightglobal.com/wotw

Four months after a critical set-back, AgustaWestland has re-

vived plans to build helicopters in Brazil and is in discussions with multiple local companies.

AgustaWestland chief execu-tive Daniele Romiti confirms the company remains open to restart-ing talks with Embraer over local manufacture of the AW189 and AW169 for the Brazilian market.

“We are open to accept any proposal that may come, consid-ering that we are pretty sure that the new products we have in mind, such as the AW189 and the AW169, that are coming soon are pretty good for the needs of the Brazilian market,” Romiti says.

It was Embraer who broke off negotiations with AgustaWest-land in April over forming such a joint venture, Romiti says, amid a developing acquisition scandal in India that led to the arrest of former Finmeccanica and Agus-taWestland executives in Italy.

Embraer never explained its reasons for abandoning the dis-cussions, Romiti says, but he speculates that the company was busy at the time with its regional jet business.

AgustaWestland, meanwhile, continues to regard the Brazilian market with great interest. An oil and gas boom is expected to

ROTORCRAFT STEPHEN TRIMBLE SÃO PAULO

Romiti stays keen on booming BrazilAgustaWestland chief revives plans for assembly plant in country to take advantage of booming helicopter market

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The AW189 is targeted at the offshore transportation sector

GOVERNMENT BIDS TO BLOCK US-AA MERGER TIE-UP American Airlines’ proposed merger with US Airways has

been threatened by the US Department of Justice, which has submit-

ted a 56-page lawsuit aimed at blocking the tie-up. The unexpected

legal challenge alleges decreased competition and negative impact

on consumers, but also cites industry trends towards fare and fee

increases, and capacity discipline that would be compounded by a

merger. One example contained in the suit is an alleged desire by US

Airways to charge fees on checked bags across the Atlantic. Alone

the carrier is viewed as too small to be a “price leader” but, com-

bined with American, it would have “sufficient size to lead industry

fee and price increases across the board”. American and US Airways

plan to fight the challenge but the suit is likely to add months, and

additional costs, to the merger plan. The merger agreement expires

on 14 October but can be extended by either carrier to 13 December.

MBDA RATTLES SABER FOR UAV WEAPONMUNITIONS MBDA is advancing flight trials involving its Saber glide

weapon, with the 5.9kg (13lb), Diamond Back wingkit-equipped

bomb to give small and medium unmanned air vehicles a 360˚ strike

capability. “We are going to continue testing with a semi-active laser-

guided drop in the near future,” Doug Denneny, vice-president, busi-

ness development, said at the AUVSI convention in Washington DC.

MBDA is promoting the self-funded Saber as a potential armament

for the AAI RQ-7 Shadow, flown by the US Army and US Marine Corps.

See Show Report P20

UPGRADED HERCULES RETURNS TO AUSTRIAMODIFICATIONS Austria’s air force has received its first Lockheed

Martin C-130K tactical transport to have undergone an avionics

modernisation programme performed by Marshall Aerospace and

Defence of the UK. Austria’s other two ex-UK Royal Air Force

Hercules will also receive the package of modifications by early

2015, with the second due to enter work during September.

TURBO COMMANDER HITS CONNECTICUT HOUSEACCIDENT Four people were killed in the crash of a seven-seat

Rockwell Turbo Commander 690B in a residential area of New

Haven, Connecticut, on 9 August. The aircraft (N13622) was a

35-year-old model owned by Washington-based Ellumax Leasing,

according to the US Federal Aviation Administration.

LOSSES MOUNT AT GROUNDED KINGFISHERFINANCE India’s Kingfisher Airlines has turned in a net loss of

Indian rupee (Rs) 11.5 billion ($189 million) for the first quarter. Its

unaudited results for the three months to 30 June, do not list any

figure for operational income. Owing to the “temporary” suspension

of its air operator’s permit, the company states, it “did not have any

operations during the quarter”. Kingfisher adds that it is “exploring

various options to recapitalise and resume operations” and, as a

result, has prepared its financial results on a going-concern basis.

But in a limited review report the company’s chartered accountant

points out that the company’s net worth is “completely eroded”, its

air operator’s permit has “lapsed” and banks have called in debts.

FLIGHT INTERNATIONALSCHEDULE This week’s Flight International is effectively a double

issue as the magazine will not publish an edition on 27 August.

Weekly publication will resume as normal on 3 September.

BRIEFING

drive state-owned oil firm Petro-bras to double its fleet of helicop-ters to more than 200 within the next six years.

The Brazilian navy also has re-quirements to buy training and light utility helicopters, while na-tional and state police agencies need more helicopters to deal with the security demands of the 2014 football World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games.

Domestic sourcing is a key cri-terion for winning orders in Brazil. Petrobras is being required by the government to commit to buying ever-increasing levels of hardware from local companies. The govern-ment has also passed a law provid-ing special tax incentives to de-fence contractors with at least 60% of shares owned by Brazilians.

AgustaWestland aims to estab-lish a joint venture that meets both the commercial and military preferences for domestic sourc-ing, Romiti says.

Unveiling a new AgustaWest-land service centre in Brazil, Romiti adds that the site could be expanded to accommodate a final assembly line should the joint venture be established. See Show Report P24

Catch up on all the latest news from the global rotorcraft sector: flightglobal.com/helicopters

THIS WEEK


Third prototype of Ka-62 is set to be unveiled at MAKSTHIS WEEK P10

An EasyJet Airbus A320 sus-tained cowling damage to one

of its engines shortly after take-off from Milan Malpensa, forcing a return to the airport.

The aircraft had been operating flight 2715 to Lisbon on 12 Au-gust when, according to the carri-er, it suffered a “technical issue” with one of its CFM International CFM56 engines.

EasyJet says the aircraft landed safely, “using both engines”. None of the 174 passengers and six crew was injured.

Italian investigation authority ANSV says part of the left-hand engine cowl detached on take-off from runway 35R as the aircraft departed at 18:16.

ANSV says the incident also resulted in damage to the rear fu-selage and rudder of the aircraft. The twinjet flew a circuit and re-turned to land on parallel run-way 35L.

It has opened an inquiry into the incident, identifying the air-craft involved as a four-year old jet registered G-EZTC.

Images purporting to show the aircraft involved show cowl dam-age to the left-hand engine, visu-ally similar to that suffered by a British Airways A319 in May. An investigation into the BA incident revealed that the cowls had been left unlatched before departure.

ANSV has not drawn any im-mediate conclusions about the EasyJet event.

“EasyJet is investigating the technical issue and will work alongside the relevant safety au-thorities according to our proce-dures. The safety of its passengers and crew is EasyJet’s highest pri-ority,” says the carrier.

Investigators believe a UPS Air-bus A300-600 freighter that

crashed on approach to Birming-ham, Alabama, hit trees before the jet struck the base of a hill.

Pilots of the aircraft, operating from Louisville, had not issued a distress call before the accident, says the US National Transporta-tion Safety Board.

Neither crew member survived the crash, which occurred at 05:11 on 14 August – about an hour before dawn – as the aircraft was approaching runway 18.

Birmingham has two runways of which 18/36 is the shorter. In-vestigators have not indicated the type of approach being conduct-ed, but navigation aids include a localiser and DME, as well as PAPI approach lights. There are several small hill peaks close to the extended centreline.

NTSB board member Robert Sumwalt says the twinjet (N155UP) hit trees before crashing into the bottom of a hill and breaking apart.

Debris then travelled up the hill, with the forward fuselage and cockpit section coming to

rest about 200m (660ft) from the initial impact point, while the wing and tail sections were some 75-80m past the cockpit.

The over-wing portion of the aircraft was “extensively dam-aged” by fire, adds Sumwalt.

Visibility at the time of the in-cident was 10nm (18.5km) and there were scattered clouds at 10,000ft above the area.

The NTSB checked the crash site to see if the aircraft was carry-ing hazardous materials. Sumwalt says the investigators have also been verifying the condition of the airport’s navigation aids.

Retrieval of the flight data and

cockpit-voice recorder was held up as firefighters dealt with the aft fuselage and tail section which, Sumwalt says, was “still smoul-dering” nearly 12h after the crash.

Senior investigator Dan Bower is heading the inquiry into the loss of flight 1354, and will be supported by specialists in air-craft structures and systems, powerplants, air traffic control and human performance.

Airbus says the aircraft, MSN841, was fitted with Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines and was delivered to UPS in 2003. It had logged about 11,000h in 6,800 flights.

Spanish low-cost carrier Vueling will start taking de-

livery of new Airbus A320s from 2015, if a huge fleet renewal deal from parent IAG is approved.

IAG, which is placing orders

and options for up to 220 A320-family jets, says the Vueling de-liveries will continue to 2020.

Vueling will take 30 regular A320s plus 32 re-engined A320neo aircraft under the firm part of the

deal, which is yet to receive clear-ance from IAG shareholders.

The provisional agreement also includes 58 options for Vueling. The airline already has 70 A320-family jets in its fleet.

IAG is to place options on 100 additional A320neo twinjets to be distributed among its primary carriers, British Airways and Ibe-ria, as well as Vueling.

The company says it has nego-tiated a “very substantial dis-count” for the overall deal.

IAG shareholders will later this year examine the agreement and previous planned orders for Air-bus A350s and Boeing 787s.

INQUIRY JON HEMMERDINGER WASHINGTON DC

UPS A300F hit trees before fatal crash at BirminghamPilots issued no distress call prior to accident that destroyed freighter on approach to runway

Airbus prepares for major Vueling dealORDERS DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON

Debris from the aircraft ended up far from the point of impact

Up to 220 A320-family jets are set to be delivered from 2015

INCIDENT

EasyJet A320 loses part of cowl in Milan

[Italian authority] ANSV says the incident also resulted in damage to the rear fuselage and rudder

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THIS WEEK


For a round-up of our latest online news, feature and multimedia content visit flightglobal.com/wotw

TRANSPORTS

First Turkish A400M gets airborneAirbus Military performed a 5h 30min first flight of an A400M tactical

transport for the Turkish air force on 9 August, with the milestone mov-

ing aircraft MSN9 closer to its planned delivery later this year. The first

flight was conducted from the manufacturer’s San Pablo final assem-

bly site in Seville, Spain, where Ankara’s first pilots, loadmasters and

technicians are already receiving instruction on the type. Turkey is to

receive 10 A400Ms, with Airbus Military having previously outlined a

schedule to hand over its first example in late September. The na-

tion’s air force will follow lead operator France in introducing the

European airlifter. Airbus Military’s flight test campaign for the A400M

currently involves a fresh series of unpaved runway trials, using devel-

opment aircraft “Grizzly 2” at an airfield near Zaragoza, Spain.

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Ryanair has gone on the offen-sive over social media sites

used by pilot groups that it claims misuse its intellectual property.

The Ryanair Pilot Group (RPG) – which bills itself as having been “created by pilots for pilots” – says it has started a new Facebook page since its original account was closed by the firm, which cited complaints the RPG was misusing Ryanair intellectual property.

RPG tells Flight International it has asked Facebook to clarify the reasons for taking the site down, as it has yet to receive a precise explanation.

Meanwhile, RPG’s Twitter ac-count has also been restarted after the group agreed to add a state-ment saying that it has no formal connections with Ryanair, which does not recognise a pilot union or negotiating body.

Ryanair says: “We are currently applying to obtain all ‘Ryanair’

pages on all relevant social media outlets in order to prevent internet trolls masquerading as Ryanair.

“We don’t comment on the Non-Ryanair Pilots Group, which is a PR front for the pilot unions of competitor airlines.”

Meanwhile, Ireland’s aviation regulator has sharply criticised a documentary on British televi-sion that made a number of alle-gations about Ryanair.

The programme, aired on 12 August, was “a misguided attack on the regulation of a low-cost carrier”, says the Irish Aviation Authority. Information used in the Channel 4 programme “may undermine the travelling public’s confidence in civil air transport in Europe, which, because of the intensive regulatory regime, re-mains the safest mode of mass transport”, adds the agency.

Ryanair is now planning legal action against the broadcaster.

EMPLOYMENT DAVID LEARMOUNT LONDON

Pilot groups on Facebook rouse Ryanair to reaction

Russian Helicopters will unveil at September’s MAKS show

its third prototype of the medium multi-role Kamov Ka-62, which will enter static trials immediately afterwards in preparation for a first flight in October-November. The airframer had previously suggest-ed the 6.5t helicopter would make its maiden sortie at the Moscow exhibition.

Prototype four, which will be identical to the serial production version and indistinguishable from number three bar extended windows, will fly from January.

The Ka-62 programme is a top priority for Russian Helicopters, which is contracted to begin de-liveries of seven aircraft to Atlas Táxi Aéreo, of Brazil, from 2015.

Speaking at his Moscow head office, Russian Helicopters chief executive DmitryPetrov is enthu-siastic about Brazil, a fast-grow-ing helicopter market where he believes the company’s models may prove more attractive than their “Western analogues” owing to designs and systems more tol-erant of harsh environments.

The Atlas Táxi deal is spear-heading a Latin America strategy

that will see a service centre set up on the ground, followed by a final assembly plant. Petrov says several models including Ka-62 are being considered for final as-sembly in Brazil; he gives no timetable, but expects to detail the project by year-end.

Meanwhile Russian Helicop-ters and AgustaWestland are set to formally kick off their bid to joint-ly produce a 2.5t-class rotorcraft, with an agreement on the “main principles” and development plan outline to be signed at MAKS.

Petrov adds that a final project management and workshare deal would be signed off by year-end, with EASA certification targeted for the final quarter of 2016. A joint group focused on the project has been at work since June 2012, and has produced a mock-up.

The two partners already have a 50:50 joint venture, HeliVert, which assembles intermediate twin AW139s for the Russian and CIS markets at a 40,000m² (430,000ft²) site at Tomilino, near Moscow. However, the pair have yet to reveal where they will build the proposed 2.5t type. See Feature P31

DEVELOPMENT DAN THISDELL MOSCOW

Third prototype of Ka-62 is set to be unveiled at MAKSRussian Helicopters targets Latin America with new Kamov type as it plans Brazilian assembly line for rotorcraft range

The medium twin is set for first flight in October or November

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THIS WEEK


A321 crew mistook runway amid landing-gear concernsAIR TRANSPORT P12

The US Navy and Northrop Grumman have started testing

the MQ-4C Triton in earnest, with the aircraft due to have performed its fourth flight on 14 August. Planned to last for 11h and to clear 250 test points, the sortie would require multiple crew changes, says US Naval Air Sys-tems Command (NAVAIR) pro-gramme manager Capt Jim Hoke.

Software development is pro-ceeding well, says Hoke, and the Triton’s 360˚ active electronically scanned array search radar has cleared 25 flights on board a Gulf-stream business jet.

However, the USN has halted

the development of the MQ-4C’s ITT Exelis sense and avoid radar system, which had fallen behind schedule and risen over budget. “It remains a requirement to the navy and to our programme, but we need to take a hard look at the path going forward based on where we are from the technology perspective,” Hoke says.

“We just have to make sure it’s the right system, it’s an affordable system and that it’s going to take care of the things that we need it to take care of. We have not an-swered all those questions yet.”

Hoke says all options are on the table, and that potentially the

Eurocontrol’s ranking of the five key risks in air traffic

management shows that go-arounds and missed approaches are the most common incidents. Airborne collision avoid system (ACAS) resolution advisories are in second place on the list.

The agency says more airlines and air navigation service provid-ers (ANSPs) are contributing to its ATM incident reporting pro-gramme, improving its ability to identify risk.

About 160 airlines contribute, a representing about 70% of Eu-rope’s air traffic, says Eurocontrol.

Data is also submitted by ANSPs and collected automati-cally from radar stations.

A data breakdown for 2008-2012 shows that go-arounds/missed approaches increased to

more than once in every 10,000 flights in 2010 and 2011, while ACAS resolution advisory inci-dents occur at a rate of about 0.7 events in every 10,000 flights.

Level-busts are next in the rank-ing, with about 0.2 per 10,000, fol-lowed by callsign confusion events and finally runway incursions.

The last of these is rare, at 0.05 events per 10,000 movements, but the potentially catastrophic outcome of incursion means it is still taken seriously.

The US Navy may eventually acquire as many as 68 of the type

Data has been collected from about 70% of Europe’s carriers

For all the news from this year’s AUVSI show in Washington, visit flightglobal.com/auvsi

David Learmount writes about safety on his eponymous blog: flightglobal.com/learmount

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UNMANNED SYSTEMS DAVE MAJUMDAR WASHINGTON DC

MQ-4C Triton team ramps up testingDevelopment progresses despite call for rethink of Exelis sense and avoid radar system after delays and budget overruns

The US Navy expects to announce a

name and designation for the un-

manned carrier-launched surveil-

lance and strike (UCLASS) aircraft

before the end of this fiscal year,

with a draft request for proposals

(RFP) also to be released in

September.

A final RFP will be released in the

second quarter of 2014, and the

USN hopes to select an “air vehicle

segment” by the first quarter of

2015, says Rear Adm Mat Winter,

US Naval Air Systems Command

(NAVAIR) programme executive of-

ficer for unmanned aircraft.

Once the contractor has been se-

lected, it will take between three and

six years to get the UCLASS to early

operational capability, Winter says.

Similarly, while it has a require-

ment for a certain number of orbits, it

will depend on the specific capabili-

ties of whichever air vehicle is chosen

as to exactly how many airframes the

navy will purchase, he says.

The command and control seg-

ment and the digitisation of the car-

rier will be led by the government

itself, with NAVAIR to act as the lead

systems integrator for the overall

UCLASS programme.

“Is it a challenging task? Absolutely,”

Winter says. “Is it one that we can do?

The answer is yes.”

See Defence P17

CONTEST

NAVAIR sets out schedule for UCLASS programme

entire effort could be recompleted from scratch.

If everything goes as planned, the Pentagon will take a produc-

tion decision for the MQ-4C in the second quarter of 2015, Hoke says, with the system expected to become operational in 2017.

In a separate development, Northrop’s MQ-8B Firescout has completed 11 of 12 launches of the BAE Systems Advanced Pre-cision Kill Weapon System, with a preliminary assessment show-ing positive results, says NAV-AIR programme manager Capt Pat Smith.

The lightweight weapon could also be added to the C-model Firescout –derived from the Bell 407 – after 2016. See Show Report P20

Eurocontrol quantifies top-five air traffic dangersSAFETY DAVID LEARMOUNT LONDON

AIR TRANSPORT


Check out our collection of online dynamic aircraft profiles for the latest news, images and information on civil and military programmes at flightglobal.com/profiles

Korean investigators believe the crew of an Airbus A321

were distracted by a perceived landing-gear problem before the aircraft landed on the wrong run-way at Busan’s Gimhae airport.

Operated by Air Busan, flight BX8108 had been cleared to per-form a circling approach to run-way 18R, following its service from Jeju on 8 May 2012.

This approach required align-ing with the localiser for the op-posite-direction runway 36L, then breaking off to the west and making a 180˚ right turn to land.

Gimhae’s parallel runways are separated by just 210m (690ft).

The crew of the aircraft (HL7761) received a landing-gear control interface unit fault indica-tion just above 11,000ft (3,350m), about 20min from landing.

Although the pilots carried out the necessary checklist procedures, the Korean accident investigation board ARAIB says they had “con-tinuing doubt” about the situation.

Gimhae tower instructed the aircraft to make the circling ap-proach to runway 18R, and the aircraft entered the circling turn at about 1,300ft.

The tower controller could not see the A321, and told the crew to “check wheels down”, before

clearing it to land on 18R. The aircraft descended continually but, upon exiting the turn, lined up with runway 18L.

In its analysis of the event the ARAIB mentions the phenome-non of “tunnel vision”. The pilots did not distinguish the correct runway and landed on 18L. The ARAIB says the monitoring pilot did not maintain an adequate check on the aircraft’s flight path.

Surface detection radar surveil-lance showed two vehicles at the far end of the runway at the time.

German investigators have opened an inquiry after a 9

August fire destroyed an An-tonov An-12 freighter at Leipzig-Halle airport.

Images show that the four-en-gined transport’s fuselage was completely gutted. The aircraft had been loaded with chickens.

The fire closed the airport for around 50min from 02:08, the air-port’s operator says, as emergency services – including 15 large fire-response vehicles and 60 personnel – attended the scene. German investigation authority

BFU says the aircraft was Ukrainian-registered, but under local laws it is unable to release any operator or airframe identifi-cation data. However, Kiev-based media identifies the Antonov as belonging to Ukraine Air Alliance Airlines.

Initial indications, BFU says, suggest the incident occurred as the aircraft was being prepared for departure, but its planned route has yet to be confirmed.

Seven crew members were on board, but they all managed to escape the fire.

INCIDENT DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON

A321 crew mistook runway amid landing-gear concernsInquiry finds monitoring Air Busan pilot failed to maintain adequate check on flight path

Investigators cite the phenomenon of “tunnel vision” in their analysis of events

SAFETY

Anti-stall system comes to aid of Air France A320

Russia’s government is amending some of its regula-

tions covering lease subsidies to carriers operating specific sizes of regional aircraft.

The government says the changes are intended to create “favourable conditions” for air-lines to renew their fleets and en-courage the acquisition of more efficient types.

It states that support will be given for all aircraft up to 50 seats

and turboprops up to 78 seats, as well as Russian-registered jets with 75-103 seats.

Several operators in Siberia and eastern parts of Russia need regional aircraft to cover the large distances between cities.

The government says there is demand in this area for 80 jets over the period to 2020 – types which include the locally-built Sukhoi Superjet 100 and An-tonov An-148.

French investigators have pro-vided details of an incident

involving an Air France Airbus A320 on which the stall-protec-tion system activated on ap-proach to Bordeaux.

The aircraft (F-HBNI) entered a hailstorm at a height of 3,000ft (915m) as it descended towards the airport, following a service from Paris Orly on 2 August.

French investigation authority BEA says the first officer’s wind-shield cracked.

As the A320 passed through 2,800ft, with its autopilot en-gaged, the aircraft pitched up to an attitude of 25˚.

The crew set the thrust levers to go-around power.

The A320’s normal flight-con-trol law provides angle-of-attack protection – known as “alpha floor” – above a certain threshold.

BEA says this protection acti-vated and engaged the “TOGA LOCK” mode, which maintains go-around power after the imme-diate stall threat has been averted.

The pilots subsequently dis-engaged this mode and landed successfully at Bordeaux.

Meteorological data from Bor-deaux airport from around the time of the incident shows the presence of thunderstorms and heavy rain.

REGULATORY DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON

Moscow changes rules to boost fleet renewals

INVESTIGATION

Freighter blaze prompts probe

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Take a look at the Learmount blog for analysis of safety news: flightglobal.com/learmount

AIR TRANSPORT


LOT keeps chasing 787 compensationAIR TRANSPORT P14

reduced to 3%. Neither pilot mentioned the declining airspeed as the autopilot gradually pitched the aircraft nose-up in order to maintain 2,000ft.

The aircraft was 6.5nm (12km) from the runway when a stall alarm sounded and the stick-shaker activated.

It had pitched up to an angle of attack of 11.2° and its airspeed had fallen to 111kt.

To recover from the near-stall the captain pitched the aircraft down and pushed the throttles almost to full power. As the ATR descended, and then climbed, the airspeed – which had declined to 104kt – rose to 174kt, exceeding the limit for the flap setting.

During the renewed descent to Glasgow the airspeed again re-duced to 111kt and the angle of attack verged on the stall alert threshold, before the aircraft subsequently landed without further incident.

The Air Accidents Investiga-tion Branch says the captain had been performing his first night-flying duty following a period of normal night sleep, and the incident occurred nearly 24h after the end of his last proper sleep. He had also driven 2h

45min to his base before flying duty, it adds: “Consequently, knowingly or not, he may have been tired or fatigued.”

Cockpit voice recorder data revealed the captain yawning during the flight, as well as dur-ing the previous Paris-Newcastle sector. Standard calls and re-sponses were not always correct-ly performed and a sterile cockpit environment was not maintained below 10,000ft.

In its analysis of the 22 February 2012 flight, the AAIB also notes that the captain’s manner during his responses to the first officer’s monitoring calls was “likely to have discouraged further input” at a point when effective communication was necessary.

SAFETY DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON

Fatigue cited in freighter’s near-stallUK investigators believe tiredness may have contributed to incident involving ATR 42-300 on approach to Glasgow

UK investigators looking into the near-stall of an ATR 42-300

on approach to Glasgow believe that fatigue might have played a role.

As the Air Contractors freighter (EI-FXA) was vectored for the runway 23 approach, it was operating with a level of ice protection which required higher speeds because the stall alert threshold was lower. With the ice protection engaged the approach speed required was 114kt

(211km/h). The captain did not state whether this speed, or the non-icing speed of 99kt, would be used for the approach.

The inquiry says several items were omitted from the Glasgow approach briefing, and that the captain was not operating the aircraft in line with company procedures.

During the approach the ATR – flying at around 140kt, with flaps at 15° – levelled at 2,000ft (610m) and the engine torque was

Brazilian investigators are probing

an incident in which the pilots of an

ATR 72-500 turned off both engines

in flight after experiencing vibrations.

The incident has been disclosed

by French investigation authority

BEA, and involved a service in the

vicinity of Salvador airport on 26

July. BEA identifies the aircraft as

being registered PP-PTU, an airframe

in the Trip fleet before the carrier

merged with Azul.

“During cruise flight the aircraft

[experienced] a strong vibration in

the engines,” says BEA, citing pre-

liminary information from the

Brazilian authorities. “The crew de-

cided to cut off both engines to re-

gain control of the aircraft.”

ATR 72s are fitted with Pratt &

Whitney Canada PW127 engines.

BEA has not clarified whether the

engines were turned off simultane-

ously. However, the authority says

the action was “voluntary”, and was

followed by the re-ignition of both

engines, before the crew “return[ed]

to normal operations”. BEA says the

pilots declared an emergency and

landed without further incident at

Salvador. There were 62 occupants

on board the aircraft.

INQUIRY

Brazil probes in-flight engine switch-offAirTe

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Keep up with safety issues in aviation online by logging on to flightglobal.com/safety

The aircraft was operating with a level of ice protectionwhich required higher speeds

The cargo aircraft landed safely following the issue

AIR TRANSPORT



Although Boeing executives have declared the issue be-

hind them, Poland’s LOT is still pursuing compensation claims over the four-month 787 ground-ing earlier this year.

The airline appears to be using diplomatic channels to keep pres-sure on the US manufacturer.

In a 7 August meeting, Poland’s Treasury Minister Vladimir Karpinski raised the issue of LOT’s claim for compensation from Boeing with US Ambassa-dor to Poland Stephen Mull, the ministry says.

“The US ambassador said that this issue is the subject of talks between the two companies, and hopes that it will result [in] a proposed solution acceptable to

FINANCIAL STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC

LOT keeps chasing 787 compensationBoeing claims of fulfilled obligations at odds with Polish diplomatic demands for remuneration after four-month grounding

Speaking on a second-quarter earnings call, Smith said the air-framer had satisfied all obligations to 787 customers created by the battery-induced grounding and halt of new aircraft deliveries.

SAFETY GREG WALDRON SINGAPORE

Crossed wires prompt ANA extinguisher inspectionAll Nippon Airlines (ANA) and Japan

Airlines (JAL) have inspected wiring

related to engine fire extinguishers

on their Boeing 787-8s, after a fault

was discovered on an ANA aircraft.

The problem was discovered during

a pre-flight check aboard a 787

(JA813A) as it was preparing to depart

on a Tokyo Haneda-Frankfurt service

on 14 August, the carrier says.

The pilot observed an error

message associated with a fire ex-

tinguisher located in one of the

Dreamliner’s Rolls-Royce Trent 1000

engines. Inspections by ground crew

revealed a wiring error, in which the

extinguisher controls for the left and

right engines were crossed.

In the event the flightcrew needed

to tackle a fire in one engine, the

crossed wires would have caused the

extinguisher in the other powerplant

to activate. ANA rectified the fault,

but the flight was delayed nearly 2h.

Learning of the ANA issue, JAL

decided to recall a 787 that had al-

ready departed on a Tokyo Narita-

Helsinki service back to the airport

for a check, it says.

ANA conducted a check of its re-

maining 19 Dreamliners, and found

the same problem replicated on two

more aircraft.

Asked if any further compen-sation demands were pending, Smith replied: “We think they are all behind us now.”

The 787 was grounded for four months until Boeing devised an improved battery enclosure that would prevent the onboard lithi-um-ion batteries from overheat-ing and generating smoke, toxic fumes or fire.

The grounding order in mid-January caught LOT at a difficult time. The order by the US Fed-eral Aviation Administration was issued as LOT was conduct-ing the inaugural flight of a 787 route between Warsaw, Poland, and Chicago-O’Hare.

View the full history of problems that have afflicted the 787 at flightglobal.com/787woes

Lion Air considers N219 as it eyes expanded reachTURBOPROPS FIRDAUS HASHIM SINGAPORE

Indonesia’s Lion Air has con-firmed its interest in acquiring up

to 50 Indonesian Aerospace N219 19-seat turboprops, as it looks to expand its reach to new airports.

The carrier says an aircraft of the N219’s size would allow it to serve as many as 200 additional airports across Indonesia, partic-ularly in the east of the country.

Lion indicated it would look to acquire around 50 of the type, al-though any order is “still a matter for negotiations”.

Production of the aircraft has

yet to commence, but Indonesian Aerospace has previously indi-cated it will assemble four flight- and static-test airframes in 2014.

Other Indonesian carriers in-cluding Nusantara Buana Air and Merpati have already indicated their interest in the new type, with the former provisionally ordering 20 aircraft in February 2012.

The N219 is based on the EADS Casa C212, which Indonesian Aerospace produces under licence as the NC212, and is operated by carriers including Merpati. The NC212 has found favour with Indonesian carriers

The Polish carrier has so far taken delivery of four Rolls-Royce-powered Dreamliners

both parties,” it adds.The disclosure that LOT is con-

tinuing to pursue the claim con-flicts with statements by Boeing chief financial officer Greg Smith last month.

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Bombardier, NextGen, Q400 and The Evolution of Mobility are Trademarks of Bombardier Inc. or its subsidiaries. ©2013 Bombardier Inc. All rights reserved.

AIR TRANSPORT



German maintenance, repair and overhaul provider

Lufthansa Technik (LHT) is plan-ning to improve the speed and ef-ficiency of engine-wash processes by using dry ice instead of water, following the conclusion of a four-year research project.

Turbofan engines can be cleaned on-wing to improve com-pressor efficiency and reduce fuel consumption and emissions. Nor-mally water is sprayed into the inner fan area while the engine spools up using bleed air. The con-taminated water is then collected from the engine exhaust stream.

But LHT says by utilising solid CO2 pellets instead of water the time taken to complete the proc-ess is significantly reduced, as is water consumption.

The revised procedure also per-mits engine washing in winter. This is usually restricted when air temperatures drop below 5˚C (41˚F), to avoid residual water freezing inside the engine core. However, this is not an issue with the 3x6mm CO2 pellets, which re-turn to a gaseous state at -78.5˚C and leave no residue.

LHT says some contamination on blades and vanes is mechani-cally removed due to the pellets’ kinetic energy. But the subzero

temperature of the CO2 also makes dirt brittle, aiding its removal with-out affecting component surfaces.

LHT claims the new method halves wash times compared with its water-based Cyclean pro-cedure, and cuts them by up to 90% versus similar processes used by engine manufacturers.

This enables more frequent cleaning of engines, and also cov-ers medium-range aircraft with shorter on-ground times, it says.

Despite the advantages offered by the dry ice, LHT will initially continue to use water for the ma-jority of engines washes, only uti-lising the CO2 during the winter months and in cold regions.

Its engineers developed the dry ice-based technique via a joint re-search project running since 2009, in conjunction with Darmstadt University and Frankfurt-based air equipment specialist Pneumo.

The project – supported with German government funding – has now been concluded, with patents registered in Europe and the USA.

LHT is now planning a follow-up project to assess the potential for other media to be employed in the engine wash process.

China has set itself a 10-year target to complete the devel-

opment of an indigenously pro-duced turbofan engine.

Zhang Yanzhong, chairman of an advisory committee on the Comac C919 aircraft programme, says the nation has identified jet engine development as one of its key priorities.

“This project is significant for the development of China’s avia-tion industry,” says Zhang.

He adds: “Currently, Chinese-made aircraft are all using for-eign engines. For a period of time it will be hard for a domestic en-gine to achieve international

standards – this is a reality we have to face.”

Zhang says China’s aviation in-dustry has a weak foundation be-cause it lacks resources, infra-structure and experience.

Last year, China said it planned to invest CNY10 billion ($1.63 billion) into research and devel-opment for commercial aircraft engines, to allow it to reach a sim-ilar production standard as its Western rivals, and cut reliance on foreign suppliers.

The programme will be under-taken by state-owned aircraft manufacturer AVIC’s Aviation Engine Holding subsidiary.

Motor Sich is to produce a new derivative of its D-27

engine – the D-727 – to power the freighter variant of the Antonov An-70 transport.

The Ukrainian engine maker’s president Vyacheslav Boguslayev revealed the plan during a brief-ing in Zaporozhye.

Powered by four Ivchenko-Progress D-17 propfan engines, the An-70 was developed as replace-ment for the An-12 airlifter. Russia intends to acquire several dozen of the aircraft as part of its long-term national rearmament programme.

Last year, the Ukrainian and Russian governments tentatively

assessed the KAPO plant in Kazan for An-70 assembly.

However, Boguslayev says the process of carrying out this project has slowed down: “One of the ways to spur it on is to work out a commercial application for the An-70. To this end, we’ll pro-duce D-727 engines fitted with fan cowlings.”

Antonov chief designer Dmitry Kiva says modification work on the An-70 will take less than a year. He and Boguslayev believe that, given the type’s technical charac-teristics, its freighter variant might be attractive for the long-haul, high-capacity cargo market.

MAINTENANCE MICHAEL GUBISCH LONDON

Dry ice allows LHT to cut wet washesMRO provider to use CO2 pellets in winter and cold areas as research project shows lower risk of ice accumulation

The new process also reduces the time taken for engine cleaning

Antonov is seeking commercial applications for the airlifter

PROPULSION TOM ZAITSEV MOSCOW

An-70 freighter plans are spurred by new propfans

STRATEGY MAVIS TOH SINGAPORE

Beijing eyes indigenous engineSign up to Flightglobal Pro for global MRO news and data at flightglobal.com/mro

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DEFENCE


Rostvertol takes Mi-28UB combat trainer for a spinDEFENCE P18

Concerns have been raised that the capabilities of the US Na-

vy’s proposed unmanned carrier-launched surveillance and strike (UCLASS) aircraft have been so watered down from the original concept that the programme could be vulnerable to cancellation by a cash-strapped Pentagon.

“The less-survivable, less-en-durance approach, although cheaper, is, to me, not transforma-tional,” says retired chief of naval operations Adm Gary Roughead. The original unmanned combat air system (UCAS) concept had called for a stealthy, long-range bomber that could take off from an aircraft carrier with a hefty pay-load and be refuelled in-flight.

“The idea [of] a long-dwell, long-range, refuellable, survivable UAV coming off a carrier was extremely important,” Roughead says.

By contrast, the navy’s current vision – modified by the Joint Re-quirements Oversight Council during a meeting last December – is for a modestly stealthy UCLASS that emphasises intelligence, sur-veillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions flown over lightly

contested airspace, and with a light secondary strike mission. Ac-cording to the Department of De-fense, the revised requirements were considered “within the broader unmanned aircraft portfo-lio, and included an assessment of the platform’s performance, capa-bility, survivability and basing”.

According to the office of the Chief of Naval Operations, “the requirements were written to fill a long-standing gap in persistent, sea-based ISR and a review of the overall UAS portfolio”.

Key changes will affect the air-craft’s stealth requirements, while its payload capacity has also been sharply reduced, narrowing its ability to penetrate into the dense anti-access/area-denial environ-ments in which the navy might have to operate in the future.

The reduced scope of the activi-ty means many are questioning the necessity of the programme at all, and there are some within the navy who believe UCLASS could be of-fered as a sacrifice as the Pentagon copes with a reduced budget.

Roughead says the original con-cept was to evolve the Northrop Grumman X-47B UCAS-demon-strator aircraft into an operational machine, adding aerial refuelling as part of an evolutionary process.

The US Naval Air Systems Command says aerial refuelling capability might be added as a fu-ture goal, “pending early opera-tional capability performance and fleet feedback”, but that it will not be required initially.

“I would like to see us evolve into something that has greater capability,” Roughead says.

“Everyone seems to be in agree-ment with the direction the pro-gramme is heading, which should put an affordable, capable platform on carrier flightdecks that will ex-pand the navy’s ability to project power within the full joint portfo-lio of unmanned systems,” a senior military official counters. “Failing to have made the necessary trade-offs would have measurably limit-ed UCLASS capacity in a number of critical mission areas.”

MODIFICATIONS

New-look Super Hornet shapes upBoeing has flown a US Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet equipped with

conformal fuel tanks and a weapons pod for the first time, from

Saint Louis, Missouri. The hardware installed on the aircraft is not

functional, but is designed to test the aerodynamic qualities of the

enhancements. Some advanced low-observable treatments are also

expected to be tested on the aircraft, which is being leased by the

company for the trials. Boeing has proposed the modifications as

part of its international roadmap for the Super Hornet.

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South Korea plans to acquire four in-flight refuelling air-

craft for induction into its air force by 2017, with the value of the programme expected to exceed W1 trillion ($900 million).

Bidding will commence in February 2015, with a contractor scheduled to be selected by Seoul’s Defense Acquisition Pro-gram Administration by October the same year, according a report carried by the official news agen-cy Yonhap.

The primary candidates for the requirement are likely to be the Airbus Military A330 multi-

role tanker transport and the Boeing KC-46.

Despite having an active fleet of more than 400 combat aircraft, South Korea’s air force currently has no air-to-air refuelling capa-bility. According to the report, the introduction of tanker air-craft would allow the nation’s fighters to spend more time oper-ating over a series of small is-lands in the Sea of Japan that are the source of a territorial dispute with Tokyo.

PROCUREMENT

Seoul seeks tankers to close its capability gap

DEVELOPMENT DAVE MAJUMDAR WASHINGTON DC

USN clips wings of UCLASS conceptDilution of requirements prompts fears programme could be cut as retired admiral savages stealth and endurance reductions

The X-47B is the precursor to an operational UCAS

US

Nav

y

Read more about unmanned air vehicles and their development: flightglobal.com/uav

Follow the latest military fleet news from across the world at flightglobal.com/defence

DEFENCE


For free access to Flightglobal’s Defence e-newsletter visit flightglobal.com/ defencenewsletter

A US Air Force Accident Inves-tigation Board (AIB) has con-

cluded that an internal fire caused by electrical arcing due to a chafed wire led to the loss of a Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor at Tyndall AFB, Florida, during a training flight on 15 November 2012.

According to the report, a chafed positive generator-feeder wire arced and burned through an adja-cent hydraulic line, which in turn caused the generator to go offline.

“When the [pilot] attempted to restart the generator, the ensuing arc ignited the misting hydraulic fluid and started a fire in the left airframe-mounted accessory drive bay,” it says. “The fire compro-mised critical electrical and hy-draulic systems that control the F-22A flight control surfaces, and led to an unrecoverable situation.”

The AIB also found that weath-er contributed to the loss, as cloud cover did not allow for the fighter’s pilot to fly a visual traffic pattern. The pilot ejected safely, before the aircraft crashed about 0.2nm (0.4km) east of the unmanned air vehicle runway at Tyndall.

The pilot survived the inci-dent, but his aircraft – tail number 00-4013 – was a complete loss. The total cost was just under $150 million, the AIB says. The USAF now possesses 184 production Raptors and two test airframes.

INVESTIGATION

Chafed wiring downed Tyndall F-22, says USAF

Russia’s Rostvertol has per-formed the first flight of a

dedicated trainer version of the Mil Mi-28 attack helicopter, with the UB-model aircraft due to be exhibited for the first time in the static display at this month’s MAKS Moscow air show.

Flown at the company’s Rostov-on-Don site on 9 August, the new development features “a dual con-trol system that can be used in Mi-28NE pilot training, while at the same time retaining all the functionality of an attack helicop-ter”, says Russian Helicopters.

Beyond the integration of a dual

hydromechanical flight control system, the UB model differs from previous Mi-28s by having had the size of its instructor cockpit and canopy increased. Crashworthy seats have also been installed as part of the project.

“The new Mi-28UB will im-prove significantly and render more effective training of pilots of Mi-28NE Night Hunter helicopters, which are supplied to the Russian air force,” the company says. Mos-cow is understood to have signed a letter of intent for the possible ac-quisition of between 40 and 60 ex-amples to equip its units, with

deliveries expected to be made be-tween late 2014 and 2020. The new variant also will be offered to po-tential export users.

Flightglobal’s Ascend Online Fleets database records the Rus-sian air force as having a current active inventory of 63 Mi-28s, with a further 34 on firm order. Kenya is now flying four examples from a 16-unit order, while Iraq has ordered an initial 12 examples from a planned 40-aircraft acquisi-tion. Ascend also lists letters of intent as having been signed by Algeria and Venezuela, for 42 and 10 of the aircraft, respectively.

DEVELOPMENT CRAIG HOYLE LONDON

Rostvertol takes Mi-28UB combat trainer for a spinVariant offering dual flight controls and larger instructor cockpit set for display at MAKS show

Russia

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www.cmcelectronics.ca

P UTT I N G WHAT,S WANTED, P R E C I S E LY WH E R EIT,S N E ED E D

Fighting a battle, preventing a war or bringing relief. Your kit has to come a long way, fast, and you want it precisely where you need it. Even if your only runway is short and unpaved. That's when you need the A400M. And it's a tanker for helicopters, fightersand transports. A400M - challenging old standards.

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A I R TO A I R R E F U E LL I N G airbusmilitary.com

SHOW REPORT


For a round-up of our latest online news, feature and multi-media content visit flightglobal.com/wotw

Held in Washington DC between 12 and 15 August, the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems Interna-tional’s annual exposition and convention attracted an estimated 8,000 visitors from more than 40 countries interested in autonomous and robotic technologies. Among the hot topics on the show floor were the effects of budgetary constraints imposed by Congressional sequestration, and an ongoing effort to ease the integration of unmanned air vehicles into US airspace. Report by Craig Hoyle, Kristin Majcher, Dave Majumdar and Zach Rosenberg. Pictures by BillyPix

AUVSI 2013

Individual privacy concerns about unmanned air systems

were in the spotlight, as the Aero-space States Association (ASA) unveiled a list of preliminary considerations for states working through legislation on imple-menting their use.

“Last year, when Congress mandated that the Federal Avia-tion Administration create a plan to integrate UAS in the national airspace. I don’t think anyone an-

ticipated that their progress could be so long delayed by widespread concern over privacy rights,” says Alaska’s Lt Governor Mead Tread-well, ASA chairman.

The association’s list includes six points for states to consider when implementing UAS. Among them is the consideration to require warrants for individual surveillance when a person is tar-geted in advance without permis-sion. The ASA also asks states to

consider prohibiting the use of data captured from surveillance without warrants for other pur-poses, and to consider prohibit-ing UAS from carrying weapons in commercial airspace.

Treadwell points out the bene-fits of UAS for applications such as agriculture and search and res-cue missions, and says that the recommendations are designed to give “informed, thoughtful and balanced references” to states as

they implement new laws.“The paper, I believe, strikes a

fine balance between protecting individual privacy rights as guar-anteed by the Fourth Amend-ment, and exploiting the signifi-cant economic and humanitarian benefits of UAS technology,” says Treadwell.

Four US states have imple-mented legislation on UAS inte-gration so far, while it remains pending in 35 more.

Titan Aerospace has revealed plans to fly its Solara 50 and

Solara 60 high-altitude, solar-powered unmanned air vehicles, which the company describes as “atmospheric satellites”.

The aircraft are designed to be flown to an altitude of 65,000ft (19,800m), where they will be sus-tained by a 50m or 60m wingspan and a single large battery-powered propeller, driven by energy gath-ered by thousands of high-effi-ciency solar cells placed on virtu-ally every possible surface.

Each Solara air vehicle will be launched using a catapult and cruise at 65,000ft at a maximum speed of around 52kt (97km/h), carrying a 31.8kg (70lb) payload for potentially up to five years,

before landing gently on its Kev-lar-coated belly.

However, the aircraft’s payload capacity will vary greatly, de-pending on the amount of availa-ble sunlight. Operations during the longest days of the year could allow for up to an additional 45kg

to be carried, supplied with 100W of electricity overnight and rang-ing into kilowatts during the day.

Solara follows designs such as the AeroVironment Global Ob-server, Boeing Vulture concept and Qinetiq Zephyr.

“We’ve been developing this

for a number of years,” says Max Yaney, who oversees technology aspects of the programme. “There are some very exciting programmes that have been at-tempted over the years. This is the holy grail of edge-of-space access. We’ve taken the lessons learned from all of those pro-grammes. There are fantastic ad-vances in composites that allow us to meet the strength and weight requirements. We employ the entire spectrum.”

A customer has reserved two Solara 50 aircraft to carry com-munications relay packages, but Titan declines to identify the cli-ent. The first example is under construction, and is expected to be rolled out in 2014.

Solar cells drive the aircraft’s battery-powered propeller

TECHNOLOGY

Titan unveils ‘atmospheric satellites’Catapult-launched, high-altitude, solar-powered Solara 50 and 60 set for first flight ahead of planned roll-out in 2014

Privacy concerns slow UAS use in civil airspaceLEGISLATION


Discoverer II designed to perform maritime dutiesSHOW REPORT P22

AUVSI 2013SHOW REPORT

Sikorsky has unveiled its Matrix optionally-piloted testbed,

which will allow the company to study autonomous helicopter oper-ations. The programme currently uses an older S-76 and will add a UH-60M Black Hawk in the coming months, but the “platform-agnostic” system will also be applied to addi-tional, undisclosed platforms.

The modified S-76 has made five flights so far in autonomous mode, and Sikorsky intends to demonstrate unpiloted capabili-ties before the end of this year.

“We really think that the ro-torcraft world is ready for autono-my in a big way, and that the op-portunities that exist in our particular flight regime, which is the obstacle-rich environments

and very challenging conditions in particular, lend themselves to autonomy and intelligence,” says Mark Miller, vice-president of re-search and development.

The innovations lie in platform portability and contingency man-

agement – major issues in prior platforms. Sikorsky’s goal is to build a working programme so a ground-based operator need only decide a task to accomplish and a rough location; everything else will be handled by the aircraft.

Buoyed by the recent receipt of type certification approval

to support oil exploration activi-ties off the coast of Alaska with its ScanEagle unmanned air system, Insitu is looking to increase its provision of surveillance services to civilian customers.

The Boeing subsidiary on 19 July received certification from the US Federal Aviation Administra-tion to perform ice-flow monitor-ing and wildlife observation flights, using a stock of four ship-based 20.4kg (45lb) ScanEagles. A first flight could be conducted as soon as early September, accord-ing to Jim Williams, director of the FAA’s UAS integration office.

“With the certification, now we can start to responsibly introduce UAVs into the national airspace,” says Ryan Hartman, senior vice-president, Insitu programmes. An-other potential application is with the US Coast Guard, which has tri-alled the use of a ScanEagle from a National Security Cutter vessel.

Meanwhile, Insitu’s RQ-21A small tactical UAS is set for initial operational test and evaluation for the US Marine Corps from late Oc-tober, with initial operational capa-bility due in the second or third quarter of 2014, says PMA-263 pro-gramme manager Col Jim Rector.

Insitu is under contract to pro-duce 36 RQ-21A systems for the USMC and US Navy, comprising 180 air vehicles.

HELICOPTERS

Matrix takes autonomous rotorcraft to another levelModified S-76 performs five autonomous flights as Sikorsky aims for 2013 unpiloted sortie

A selection of Chinese un-manned air vehicles was ex-

hibited in the USA for the first time, as Wuhan, Hubei Province-based Hubei Ewatt moves to step up its production activities.

Models on show included the vertical take-off and landing EWZ-I (pictured) and EWZ-8 Octocopter. Hubei is building what it says is the

largest UAV manufacturing facility in China, with an initial capacity to produce 200 aircraft per year, but the option to scale up to 1,000.

Its product range includes the 120kg (265lb) payload SVU-200: the brainchild of Dennis Fetters, former owner of the now-defunct Revolution Helicopters, and larg-er systems are in the works.

SURVEILLANCE

ScanEagle set to spread wings to civilian sector

Ambitious China makes US UAV debutINDUSTRY

Sikorsky has been using an older S-76 as a testbed for the Matrix



AUVSI 2013SHOW REPORT

Flightglobal’s team produced three issues of Unmanned Daily News at AUVSI, and they can all be downloaded here: flightglobal.com/auvsi

Unmanned Daily News

Europe’s Unmanned Systems Group gave a debut to its Dis-

coverer II tactical unmanned air vehicle, with the design already involved in flight testing.

Shown with an electro-optical/infrared sensor installed beneath its fuselage, the Discoverer II has been designed to accommodate the Selex ES Seaspray 5000E mari-time search radar, says chief exec-utive Michael Olofsson. With a maximum take-off weight of 250kg (550lb), the air vehicle, which boasts endurance of more than 16h, could alternatively carry sensors such as the Selex PicoSAR synthetic aperture radar as part of a payload totalling up to 70kg.

Potential applications could in-clude performing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance tasks for military operators, or pro-viding a border monitoring and coastguard capability for civilian customers, the company says.

Headquartered in Switzerland and with its fixed-wing develop-

Lockheed Martin has raised the flight endurance of its Stalker

XE from 8h to nearly 13h, by using larger propane tanks to supply the unmanned air vehicle’s fuel cells.

“We’re still using the same Ultra ANI-based fuel cell,” says Lock-heed programme manager Tom Coontz. “We simply put in a larger [3.2 litre liquid propane] tank.”

The Stalker is used in an impro-vised explosive device detection capacity for the US Army and US Marine Corps in Afghanistan.

“The feedback has been great” from operations, Coontz says. “They haven’t asked for any chang-es to the airframe; they’ve just been putting hours on it. They’re flying it two to three times per day, every single day. We’re matching the en-

Textron Systems has intro-duced its tube-launched Bat-

tleHawk unmanned air vehicle, with a weaponised variant to act as a miniature loitering cruise missile that can be carried by in-fantry platoons, says company programme manager Cathy Loughman. A surveillance ver-sion is also under development.

With a range of 2.7nm (5km), the armed version carries a 40mm focused-fragmentation grenade as its warhead, which Loughman says results in a very low collateral damage system. Removing the gre-nade will extend the endurance of the surveillance variant beyond the current 30min, she adds.

Textron hopes to win a contract to supply the US Army with the BattleHawk, Loughman says.

ment activities centred on Linköping, Sweden, Unmanned Systems Group last month merged its capabilities with those of Swiss UAV, whose products include the vertical take-off and landing Neo S-350. It has also forged a relationship with Kuwait Aerospace Technologies, through which it has tested its equipment in the Middle East.

The company also has begun

testing an innovative tip-jet pro-pulsion system for its vertical take-off and landing Atro-X de-sign, says business development director Phil Hoole. By channel-ling hot air from the aircraft’s small turbojet engine along and out through a rigid rotor, the 350kg aircraft will not need a gearbox or tail rotor, contribut-ing to an expected 120kg pay-load capacity.

durance to the mission require-ments of our customer.”

Several potential international sales are under negotiation, Coontz says.

Lockheed also is flight-testing a new version of its Fury UAV, which “improves certain areas

that our specific customers want-ed to have in terms of capability”, says Jay McConville, director of business development for un-manned integrated systems. Im-provements include noise signa-ture reductions and a sleeker aerodynamic profile.

DEBUT

Maritime surveillance role envisaged for Discoverer IIFlight-test activities already under way for 250kg air vehicle which boast endurance of 16h

Lockheed fuels Stalker XE enduranceUPGRADE

WEAPON

Textron on target with BattleHawk

It’s warhead is a 40mm grenade

Unmanned Systems says the UAV offers a total payload of 70kg

The system is used by the US Army and US Marine Corps

Principal sponsor

TOTAL AIR, GROUND AND MARITIME NEWS COVERAGE

UNMANNED ISSUE 1 TUESDAY 13 AUGUST 2013

03 CEO’s welcome message

12 Governments hold up UAS

14 UCLASS gets too simple for its own good?

19 Selex Falco EVO cutaway

TODAY’S AGENDA A full run down of key events to catch

China display a first

Healing the sick: iRobot’s RP-VITA

The UAVs have Artom Astafurov of Titan Aerospace beaming

TITAN’S SOLAR FLAIRThe Solara UAVs can fly at 65,000ft for weeks powered by efficient cells

More in tank for stalker


SHOW REPORT


Neither Brazil’s stagnant economy nor even a winter chill failed to stop the industry and the public from again flocking to São Paulo’s Congonhas airport for the 10th Latin American Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition (LABACE). Embraer and Gulfstream displayed their entire product portfolios in the static display, while all helicopter and business aviation manufacturers except Airbus maintained a presence. Stephen Trimble reports

LABACE 2013

Helibras expects to start build-ing Eurocopter EC225s in

Brazil in 2015 or 2016, after re-ceiving final approval from French the authorities to transfer the production certificate.

The move allows the firm, which is jointly owned by Euro-copter and the state of Minas Ge-rais, to add another product line to its Itajubá factory, with the eventual goal of designing and building new helicopters for the Latin American market.

“It’s our plan to build [new] hel-icopters in Brazil,” says François Arnaud, vice-president of sales and marketing for Helibras.

Late last year, the company began delivering the first of 50 EC725s as part of a tri-service order for Brazil’s armed forces. Assembly of the EC225s, the

civil variant of the EC725, can begin after military production winds down and clears space, Arnaud says.

Helibras is aiming the 11t 19-passenger helicopter at Bra-zil’s booming oil and gas indus-try. Thirteen EC225s are already in service in the Brazilian heli-copter fleet. Helibras, meanwhile, signed a memorandum of under-standing last year with Belo Hori-zonte-based Líder Aviação to buy up to 14 more Super Pumas.

Helibras also sees opportunities to sell other helicopter types to the Brazilian military. The navy has requirements for more helicopter trainers and light utility aircraft, for which Helibras is offering the AS350 B3e Ecureuil and EC645, respectively, Arnaud says.

Although the Brazilian govern-

Two new entrants in the super-light business jet segment by

Cessna and Embraer are starting to come together in final assem-bly ahead of first flight events scheduled to take place over the next six months.

The three fuselage sections of the first Legacy 450 have been joined at Embraer’s factory in São José dos Campos.

The wing will be mated to the fuselage in September and the aircraft remains on track to fly by the end of the year and enter serv-ice in the first half of 2015, says Embraer Executive Jets president Ernest Edwards.

The development of the Legacy 450 trails the larger Legacy 500 by about a year. The latter is due to enter service in the first half of

2014. Both aircraft feature fly-by-wire on all major control surfac-es. Meanwhile, recent software-related delays affecting Cessna’s M2, new Sovereign and new Ci-tation X jets have not spilled over into the Latitude develop-ment programme.

Cessna senior vice-president of sales Kriya Shortt confirms the first fuselage has been completed in final assembly and it remains on track for its maiden sortie in early 2014.

The Latitude shares the wing, tail and engine structure of the slightly larger Sovereign aircraft, but not the fuselage.

Both Cessna and Embraer re-leased the updates at LABACE in Brazil, which is a key market in the superlight sector.

PROGRAMMES

Cessna, Embraer advance on first flights of new jetsFinal assembly work gathering pace on two new entrants to superlight sector with maiden sorties due in coming months

ment offers tax incentives to de-fence contractors with 60% local ownership, Arnaud says that Helibras has no plans to change its ownership structure.

The voting shares are split be-tween Eurocopter (70%), the Minas Gerais government (25%) and Brazilian investment group Bueninvest (5%).

Helibras gears up for civil Super Puma productionROTORCRAFT

Assembly work is focussed on EC725s for Brazil’s armed forces

AB

AG

Helib

ras


LABACE 2013SHOW REPORT

NASA lifted as new launcher clears design review hurdleSPACEFLIGHT P27

Five years after it entered serv-ice, Embraer has unveiled the

first major upgrade package for the entry-level Phenom 100 jet, adding an inboard, multi-function ground spoiler and speed brake, as well as several interior improvements.

The addition of the spoiler gives the Phenom 100 a feature previously reserved for the larger Phenom 300, but is not expected to affect the company’s ongoing initiative to receive a common type rating for both aircraft.

Embraer displayed the first Phenom 100 equipped with the

new flight control surface at Sâo Paulo’s Congonhas airport, where the longest runway is a relatively short 1,940m (6,360ft).

Safety concerns originally led Embraer to test a ground spoiler three years ago. In two incidents ultimately attributed to pilot error, the aircraft’s brake-by-wire system failed to stop Phenom 100s from overrunning the runway.

But a survey of Phenom 100 operators found that a ground spoiler was deemed less impor-tant than a speed brake, so Em-braer decided to combine the

functions into a single device. The ground spoiler works by

increasing drag and dumping lift after landing. The speed brake is activated to increase the aircraft’s sink rate on approach.

Although it improves the air-craft’s performance on short run-ways, Embraer is not offering the system with a performance credit. At the same time, the combined spoiler and speed brake will be in-stalled as a standard feature at no extra cost for Phenom 100s deliv-ered in 2013. The company is yet to set prices for 2014 models.

Embraer is also rolling out a collection of 11 new interior themes, with each replacing com-posite laminates with wood ve-neers. Another upgrade replaces the fixed club seating in the cabin with three moving chairs. The fourth chair remains fixed be-cause it is located next to the cab-in’s emergency exit door.

The Phenom 100 upgrades are revealed only a few months after Embraer rolled out improvements to the Phenom 300, including touchscreen displays on the Garmin G3000-based Prodigy flightdeck and increased take-off and zero fuel weights.

Canadian manufacturer Bom-bardier has launched a push

to regain market share in Brazil by restoring a long-dormant alli-ance with the country’s largest sales agent.

Belo Horizonte-based Líder Aviação introduced the first Lear-jet aircraft in Brazil in 1968 and served as a sales agent until 1999, when the company switched to represent Raytheon Aircraft before it became Hawker Beechcraft.

The demise of Hawker-series production earlier this year as a

result of bankruptcy, left Líder free to search for new OEM partners.

In the meantime, Bombardier had lost ground in the fast-grow-ing Brazilian market, especially at the top-end of its business jet fam-ily. Over the last five years in the Latin American market, Gulf-stream has shipped three times as many G550s as Bombardier deliv-ered Global 6000s, and twice as many combined G450s and G500s as Bombardier’s Global 5000.

“We are catching up very quickly,” says Fabio Rebello,

Bombardier’s regional vice-presi-dent for Latin America. “We do expect Líder to help.”

In addition to acting as a local sales agent, Líder has an exten-sive presence in the country as a maintenance provider, fleet man-ager and charter operator.

Líder is now working to be ap-proved as an authorised service centre for Bombardier aircraft, in-cluding the Global, Challenger and Learjet fleets. Líder also oper-ates its own fleet of more than 100 general aviation aircraft, which

opens the possibility of acquiring Bombardier aircraft to augment its fleet, says president Eduardo de Pereira Vaz.

At the same time, Líder is maintaining its status as the local sales agent for Beechcraft’s fami-ly of King Air turboprops and the airframer’s piston-powered Bo-nanzas and Barons.

Líder views the two product lines as complementary, allowing King Air customers to move up to Bombardier light or midsize jets over time, Vaz says.

The rapidly growing market for business jets in Latin America

will be the next sales focus for Nextant Aerospace.

Demand for the Nextant 400XTI remanufactured light business jet in North America and Europe caught the Cleve-land-based company’s manage-ment by surprise, says Jay Heubl-ien, vice-president for global sales and marketing.

As a result, the company has not shipped any aircraft nor re-ceived any orders from Latin American countries, despite the XTI’s predecessor, the 400XT having made a debut appearance at LABACE 2012, Heublien says.

Nextant intends to overcome that omission in 2014, he says, and is in discussions with two companies to serve as a local sales representative in Brazil.

It earlier appointed Cygnus Aviation as its exclusive sales agent for Venezuela, Colombia and the Caribbean.

The company is in talks with more than 30 potential customers for the re-engined Hawker 400.

Meanwhile, Nextant is still stud-ying potential options for remanu-facturing other business aircraft.

MODIFICATIONS

Client feedback puts safety first in Phenom 100 updateEmbraer introduces package of measures to enhance light jet’s short-runway performance

Bombardier goes local to regain lost Brazil salesAPPOINTMENT

STRATEGY

Busy Nextant makes time for Latin America

The upgrade features a combined ground spoiler and speed brake

Ste

phen T

rim

ble

/Fl

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lobal

Read about the region’s growing business aviation sector at:flightglobal.com/latinambizav

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Be part of the only dedicated aircraft interiors event in the Americas region, taking place in Seattle the hub of aviation, October 1-3, 2013.

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Money moves, MRO goesBUSINESS P28

SPACEFLIGHT

NASA’s proposed Space Shuttle replacement – the Space

Launch System (SLS) – has passed its preliminary design review stage, a crucial step for the new rocket.

The review applies to the ini-tial version of the launcher, dubbed Block 1A, which will use a Rocketdyne RL-10-powered Delta Cryogenic Upper Stage and solid rocket boosters adapted from the Space Shuttle.

The 1A, which will be capable of lofting 70t into low Earth orbit (LEO) will make one flight in 2017 before it is replaced by the next it-eration, the 1B. Changes to the lat-ter will include a Rocketdyne J-2X-powered upper stage and as-yet unselected advanced boosters. It is scheduled to fly in 2021.

“This may be the most impor-

tant review we go through, and I say that because now’s the chance to make any changes we’d like to make without significant cost to the programme,” says Gary Lyles, SLS chief engineer.

“Coming out of this review, we feel good; we’re ready to go for-ward with the margin to do any of the design reference missions.”

Eventually a Block 2 version is planned to enter service, capable of lifting 130t.

Subsystem and component-lev-el design reviews have been ongo-ing for some time; the core stage, the main part of the launch vehicle, reached that point in December 2012, followed by the interim solid rocket boosters in April 2013.

Adapting previously designed and built components has allowed

the SLS team to move faster through reviews than predecessor programmes.

SLS is designed specifically to launch the in-development Lock-heed Martin Orion capsule on crewed journeys beyond LEO, the first such flights since the Apollo moon landings.

Although the 2017 flight will be uncrewed, it is likely to launch Orion on a cislunar flight to test its equipment.

Orion is scheduled for a first flight in 2014 atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket. Although incapable of launching the heavy capsule beyond LEO, its re-entry from a highly ellipti-cal orbit will allow it to achieve speeds simulating a return from lunar orbit.

The 2017 flight is likely to in-volve entering a retrograde orbit around the moon before making its return.

A consortium of companies has been commissioned by the

European Space Agency (ESA) to investigate the potential for a re-usable spaceplane to be used to launch satellites from the begin-ning of next decade.

Although ESA has already an-nounced the baseline configura-tion for Ariane 6, the next genera-tion of its flagship heavy

launcher, it is also now funding a study into the viability of the pro-posed Reaction Engines Skylon rocket plane.

Reaction will head the group under ESA’s €1 million ($1.55 million) Skylon-based European Launch Service Operator (SELSO) study, which has been issued by ESA’s Launcher Directorate.

The work will examine Sky-

lon’s ability to fulfil ESA’s launcher requirements “in terms of cost, flexibility and respon-siveness, from the early 2020s,” says Reaction.

To be concluded by the end of the year, the evaluation will fea-ture contributions from a number of other companies. Key among these will be that of Thales Alenia Space in Italy, which will exam-

ine the specification of a poten-tially re-usable system for satellite deployment in geostationary Earth orbit.

Qinetiq Space in Belgium will study payload carrier options within the vehicle’s cargo bay to “ensure maximum mission flexi-bility”, says Reaction.

Further work will identify the business case for Skylon and also detail any modifications required to ESA’s existing spaceport facili-ties in Kourou, French Guiana.

Skylon is envisaged as an 84m (275ft)-long unmanned space ve-hicle capable of lofting payloads of up to 15t into low Earth orbit. It will be powered by Reaction’s de-velopmental air-breathing SABRE rocket engines, which in July re-ceived £60 million ($98.2 mil-lion) in funding from the UK Space Agency.

Reaction is working to begin flight testing of the powerplants from 2020.

Study to examine launcher role for Skylon conceptROCKET PLANE

Visit the Hyperbola blog for expert spaceflight analysis: flightglobal.com/hyperbola

The system will eventually loft 130t into a low Earth orbit

Skylon is envisaged as an 84m-long space vehicle, powered by air-breathing rocket engines

DEVELOPMENT ZACH ROSENBERG WASHINGTON DC

NASA lifted as new launcher clears design review hurdleAgency still working towards first flight of SLS in 2017, with heavier versions to follow later

NAS

A

React

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BUSINESS


Good week

Bad week

Aircraft finance is among the sectors covered by our premium news and data service Flightglobal Pro: flightglobal.com/pro

Good week

Bad week

CYTEC INDUSTRIES The

materials specialist,

which supplies resins to

Boeing for its 787, has

seen its stock downgrad-

ed to almost junk status

by ratings agency

Standard & Poor’s on the

back of a perceived

overreliance on its aero-

space materials seg-

ment. Cytec’s rating now

sits at triple-B-minus,

just one level above junk

territory. S&P says the

move brings Cytec more

in line with its aerospace

and defence peers. In

July, it revealed a 15%

fall in Q2 profit.

AURIGNY Faced with the

disappearance from

spring 2014 of competi-

tor Flybe on routes from

London Gatwick to the

Channel Islands, the gov-

ernment of Guernsey

– known as the States –

has given its backing to

plans by locally based

airline Aurigny to expand

capacity on services to

the UK. The loans or

guarantees provided by

the States will enable

the carrier to buy new

aircraft. The first of these

will be a 120-seat

Embraer 195, due for

delivery in 2014.

MAINTENANCE ELLIS TAYLOR SINGAPORE

Money moves, MRO goesFor one Melbourne workshop, the pressure is on whether the Australian dollar is high or low

As everyone in aviation is well aware, almost everything is

priced in US dollars – so for any company not based in the USA, the dollar exchange rate is a criti-cal factor in business health.

There is rarely, though, a sim-ple link between up or down cur-rency movements and the bottom line. As Australian maintenance, repair and overhaul operator John Holland Aviation Services is find-ing, the complexity of that rela-tionship can demand a funda-mental rethink of strategy.

With the Australian dollar above parity with the US dollar in recent years, Australia-based air-lines have had extra buying power abroad, so the company has found itself increasingly hav-ing to compete against shops in New Zealand and Asia for heavy maintenance work, where much of the cost is in labour.

JHAS’s response has been to move out of heavy maintenance, and it has recently begun wind-ing down its Boeing 737 and Em-braer 190 heavy programmes at Melbourne’s Tullamarine airport, shedding 40 technical and engi-neering workers.

As JHAS general manager Ross Alexander puts it: “The actual heavy checks themselves were a line of C-checks and modifica-tions as part of a programme which at the time everybody went into hoping it would work.

“From a product point of view, it worked, but from a cost point of

Is the dollar cheap down there?

One W

orld

gatw

icks

teve

Boein

g

view I don’t think it met custom-er’s expectations compared to what they could get overseas.”

Alexander says the high cost of labour in Australia makes it hard to compete. “Especially for the larger C-checks that extend up to four weeks and are in excess of A$1.5 million and 70% of it is la-bour, it is purely on the labour cost, which drives the economic choice,” he says.

However, with the Australian dollar now trading below $0.90 and expected to head lower in the coming months, Alexander says the differential between its rela-tively high labour costs and the total costs, including fuel, of fer-rying an aircraft overseas for maintenance has fallen by ap-proximately 15% in dollar terms.

He adds that if the Australian dollar continues to fall and settles around the $0.80 mark, it may make sense for airlines to keep heavy maintenance onshore.

“If that happens, medium and longer term, then that may open up possibilities for us to get back into heavy maintenance,” says Alexander. “Although we can’t compete on rates, we can com-pete on productivity, utilisation and technology in Australia.”

AND THEN AGAIN...Although he is largely positive about the recent currency move-ments, Alexander says a falling Australian dollar will also put cost pressures on big customers such as Qantas and Virgin Australia, which may have implications for JHAS.

“It may have a broader impact in that the airlines themselves will suffer from the falling dollar and that in turn puts cost pres-sure on them,” he says. “If we’re part of that value chain, then that pressure will come [to] us also.”

With that uncertainty, the com-pany has made the strategic deci-sion to focus its efforts on win-ning work that has to be completed in-country. That in-cludes its growing line mainte-nance operations at a number of airports in the country, as well as overnight and A-level checks at its Melbourne facility.

“As long as we focus on the things that need to be done in-country, then we start to insulate ourselves from the risk on the Australian dollar,” he says.

JHAS presently provides over-night checks on Jetstar’s Airbus A320s and A321s based at Tul-lamarine and line maintenance on Virgin Australia’s A330s, as well as for a number of interna-tional airlines at stations in Syd-ney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane.

For international line mainte-nance clients, it competes against firms such as IASA Global and Air-craft Maintenance Services Aus-tralia, a unit of SIA Engineering.

“If we can’t compete with Asia, that means that we really need to focus on the maintenance activi-ties that are required to be done in-country,” says Alexander.

“Line work is always going to be required by the international organisations flying in here.” SOURCE: Reserve Bank of Australia

US$ per A$1

AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR EXCHANGE RATE

0.80

0.86

0.92

0.98

1.04

1.10

Jul2013

Jan2010

BUSINESS


Russia’s returnSPECIAL REPORT P31

COLLINS SNAPS UP ARINC TO REBALANCE BUSINESSACQUISITION Avionics specialist Rockwell Collins is to buy aeronau-

tical communications company Arinc for $1.39 billion from investor

The Carlyle Group. Rockwell Collins describes the acquisition as “a

natural fit” and says the transaction, once complete, will mean com-

mercial activity accounting for 54% of its business, with government

operations making up the balance. The two sides have reached a

“definitive agreement” regarding the purchase. Rockwell Collins

says it will combine Arinc’s networks and services with its own avion-

ics and cabin technology systems, and that it will “expand our oppor-

tunities beyond the aircraft”. It adds that the acquisition will be

accretive in terms of earnings per share once transaction and inte-

gration costs have been absorbed.

LOSSES GROW AT KOREAN CARRIER ASIANAAIRLINE Asiana Airlines’ net loss widened to W80.1 billion ($71.9

million) in the second quarter from a loss of W37.4 billion in the

same period a year ago. For the period, the South Korean carrier’s

revenue fell by 4.1% to W1.37 trillion. The airline posted an operat-

ing loss of W29.9 billion, a reversal from an operating profit of

W38.9 billion a year earlier. For the first half, its net loss widened to

W128 billion from a loss of W39.3 billion.

COMMERCIAL SEGMENT BUOYS EATONFIRST HALF At component manufacturer Eaton, aerospace sector

sales grew slightly to $446 million in the quarter to 30 June, up from

$436 million in the same period a year earlier. For the first half of the

year, sales rose to $880 million from $866 million in 2012. Profit

also nudged up marginally in both periods, to $67 million and $129

million from $59 million and $119 million respectively. “Aerospace

markets in the second quarter continued their modest growth, with

strongest growth in the commercial OEM market,” says Alexander

Cutler, chairman and chief executive.

FIRST UK AEROSPACE BURSARIES GRANTEDEDUCATION A UK government scheme to boost the country’s aero-

space sector has recruited its first intake of students with the award

of 100 bursaries. These have been granted to employees and gradu-

ates to study Masters (MSc)-level degrees in aerospace engineering.

The scheme is jointly funded, with industry and government each

pledging £3 million ($4.6 million) over three years to help recruit 500

people who want to build careers in aerospace, but need financial

backing to study at Masters level.

BRISTOW HITS NEW HEIGHTS DESPITE ABSENT EC225SROTORCRAFT Helicopter operator Bristow Group turned in a record

first-quarter performance in the period ended 30 June. Operating

revenue rose 12% to $359 million from $320 million a year earlier.

Adjusted EBITDAR grew to $102 million from $84.3 million and net

income hit $26.9 million, up from $23.7 million. “This was a record

first quarter for Bristow, with excellent top-line growth,” says William

Chiles, president and chief executive. This was achieved despite the

continued absence of its Eurocopter EC225 fleet, adds Chiles.

FLIR EXPANDS WITH $14.9 MILLION PURCHASEOPTICAL Imaging specialist FLIR Systems has acquired certain as-

sets of DigitalOptics’ micro-optics unit for $14.9 million. Included in

the purchase are fabrication equipment and more than 200 patents

associated with the design and production of complex optical sur-

faces, substrates and low-cost components.

BUSINESS BRIEFSPEOPLE MOVESAustrian Airlines, Europrop, MTU, Rolls-Royce, Zero Gravity

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“The Export-Import Bank is an example of everything that is

wrong with Washington today”

Utah Senator MICHAEL LEE is not

a fan of the export credit agency

and is resisting its reauthorisation

Martens: MTU COO

Mlnarsky-Bständig: HR role

Michael Wiskerchen, whose NASA career included serving as programme scientist on Space Shuttle mission STS-9 and on the international team behind the operational design of the International Space Station, has joined biotechnology company Zero Gravity Solutions as VP spaceflight operations. Ian Crawford has been appointed president of Europrop International, to manage the TP400 engine programme that powers the Airbus Military A400M. He joins from partner company Rolls-Royce and replaces Simon Henley, who will return to R-R.

MTU Aero Engines has extended for five years the contract of chief operating officer Rainer Martens; he has been on MTU’s management board since 2006, having originally worked for the Munich-based company from 1997 to 2001, when he headed up the turbine blade/vane production centre, before transferring to Airbus, where he was production manager at the company’s Bremen plant before rejoining MTU. At Austrian Airlines, Sabine Mlnarsky-Bständig is now VP human resources, succeeding Michael Ruplitsch, who has taken a job outside the Lufthansa group.

MTU

Austr

ian A

irlin

es

of everythinwrWto

Book your presence online or call our dedicated hotline +44 (0) 1252 532 800

Touch down!Established as a must attend international B2B event, BIAS consistently delivers unrivalled high level, cost effective business opportunities to the global aerospace industry. The third edition will run for three days from 16 – 18 January 2014.

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In association with

20 August-2 September 2013 | Flight International | 31

RUSSIASPECIAL REPORT

Slowly, Russian aerospace is regaining the reputation it had in Soviet times. It has taken painful restructuring, but the country is creating aircraft – often

with Western help – with wide appeal in export markets. In this special report ahead of MAKS, we assess the industry’s confidence and prospects

RUSSIA’S RETURN

CONTENTS32 Back from the brink Overview 36 Getting there Superjet

38 Back in business Irkut’s MC-21

42 New Frontiers Helicopters

44 Lease of life IFC’s new trio 46 Relaunch required Spaceflight 48 Bear market MAKS preview



MURDO MORRISON MOSCOW

Few saw potential for the Russian aerospace industry to recover from its post-Cold War slump, but it is proving the doubters wrong with a new-found confidence

BACK FROM THE BRINK

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Since the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, experts have been writing obituaries of the Russian aerospace industry. When the Cold War ended,

plummeting defence budgets and the loss of a captive market for its civil airliners in the Communist world meant a once-mighty sec-tor was left starved of funds and burdened with ageing, legacy programmes unable to compete with more modern Western rivals. An industry which boasted some of the bright-est engineering brains and with a history of breakthrough technologies was left in appar-ent terminal decline. “In the 1990s, a lot of people went to the funeral of Russian aero-space,” recalls Oleg Demchenko, president of Irkut and a veteran of the Soviet-era industry.

Today, those death notices are being ripped up and, although change has been gradual rather than dramatic, there is a new-found confidence about Russian aerospace. This was seen in the number of exhibitors and pro-grammes on display at June’s Paris air show in what the organisers dubbed “the return of the Russians”. However, it is the home event, MAKS, which will see a show of force from Russia’s newly-confident industry.

Two all-new civil airliners – the Sukhoi Superjet and the Irkut MC-21 narrowbody, designed and built in Russia, but with sub-stantial involvement of Western partners – were launched in recent years, and renewed defence spending by Moscow has given a boost to key military programmes such as the Irkut Yak-130, the Sukhoi PAK-FA stealth fighter, fourth-generation Su-35 and Su-34

long-range bomber, and the latest versions of the Mikoyan MiG-29.

The Su-35 and Yak-130 – as well as the in-service Superjet and a host of military and commercial rotorcraft – were among the types which made an appearance at Paris. The crea-tion in the mid-2000s of three state-controlled but independently-managed holding groups designed to consolidate all aerospace assets under one central management – United Air-craft Corporation for all the military and civil fixed-wing aircraft, Russian Helicopters and United Engines – has helped streamline the once fragmented and dispirited industry and given it strategic focus. The mergers have given the various units scale to commit to ambitious projects such as the Superjet and MC-21, im-proved the link between design bureaux and production plants as well as allowed for more coherent marketing messages.

SHAKY STARTAfter the collapse of Communist control 22 years ago, the industry’s prospects were not helped by a top-down structure designed to fit the needs of a command economy and allow the government to keep tight reins on the de-fence and security infrastructure. Design bu-reaux, based almost exclusively in Moscow, pitched products to the central planners, who in turn awarded contracts. Aided by a network of research centres and specialist universities, these bureaux – named after the fathers of So-viet aerospace such as Sukhoi, Ilyushin, Tu-polev and Beriev – branded the programmes,

Yak-130: Irkut is now delivering the jet trainer to the domestic customer



which were produced to order by factories in the far-flung regions. However, without direc-tion from Moscow and with little in the way of budget, these organisations were largely cast adrift into the free market and forced to scrap for what work they could get.

Russia’s economic and political turmoil in the 1990s created stasis in the industry. With a few exceptions, the country’s civil aircraft output dwindled to a handful of units a year. Even military programmes were struggling, although export sales did keep that part of the industry off life-support. Similarly, foreign demand for its top-selling, highly-specialist medium and ultra-heavy Mil and Kamov heli-

copters provided a lifeline for that sector. However, even as rising prosperity led to air travel slowly returning to 1980s levels, Rus-sian carriers, including Aeroflot, chose to re-place creaking fleets not with home-grown types but with Western airliners. The irony of flying on an Airbus belonging to a state-owned Russian airline cannot have been lost on those hoping the industry could be revived.

PUTIN’S EMERGENCEAll that, however, began to change about a decade ago, as a number of factors came into play. The emergence of the nationalist-mind-ed Vladimir Putin as president meant Russia’s

RAC MiG is a “dynamically developing” company, says its general director

ALTHOUGH RAC MiG’s glory days of

producing hundreds of fighter aircraft

for the Soviet and other air forces

may be behind it, the Moscow-based

United Aircraft subsidiary is pressing

ahead with plans to upgrade and

export its existing aircraft models, of

which the iconic MiG-29 lightweight

combat aircraft is the flagship.

“We are a dynamically developing

company,” says general director

Sergey Korotkov, who, contrary to the

belief that RAC MiG is simply a de-

sign bureau, insists that it is a “full-

cycle” business, able to develop,

test, manufacture, sell, maintain and

upgrade its products.

The MiG-29 was developed in the

late-1970s and went into service

with the Russians in 1983. Around

800 remain in service in 24 coun-

tries around the world, and Korotkov

says the company’s priority is to

“maintain the status” of that and

other RAC MiG types still in opera-

tion by offering revamped versions

to existing and new customers.

The MiG-21 is arguably the

longest-produced combat aircraft

in history, with the first model go-

ing into service in 1959 and man-

ufacturing only stopping in 1985.

India is among its operators and

Korotkov visited the country in

May to celebrate its 50th anniver-

sary of service with its air force.

“They will continue to fly it until

2020, which is a vivid example of

its performance,” he says. “Of

course, it has had many upgrade

packages. I cannot think of many

programmes that have had so

many upgradings.”

Serbia is another long-time MiG

operator, which is looking to re-

place six of its older MiG-29s with

the newer MiG-29M/M2 variant.

“We recently demonstrated the

latest version of the aircraft there

and we have a great chance,” sug-

gests Korotkov.

Another major project is an up-

grade of around half of the Russian

air force’s 122 MiG-31 interceptors

to MiG-31BM standard. The pack-

age includes multi-mode radar, multi-

function cockpit displays and ability

to use Vympel’s RVV-BD long range

air-to-air missile. Although the air

force commander has suggested

that the MiG-31s may all be re-

placed by 2028, Korotkov says the

upgrade enhances their effective-

ness and life considerably. “The

MiG-31 is a unique aircraft that still

holds a lot of world records,” he

says. “ I hope it will be with our air

force for a long time.”

FIGHTERS

RAC MIG REVEALS REVAMP ROADMAP AS IT EXPLAINS ‘FULL-CYCLE’ APPROACHU

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aerospace industry was once again treated as a strategic pillar of the economy as well as a crucial part of the country’s security. Defence budgets began to be channelled towards new product development. At the same time, Putin and his ministers realised that the legacy structure of the industry – competing design bureaux and a fragmented and newly inde-pendent network of production plants – was unsustainable. Consolidation and coordina-tion under a single umbrella organisation was the solution, and United Aircraft – dubbed the EADS of Russia – was set up in 2006. Russian Helicopters and United Engines followed.

United Aircraft president Mikhail Pogosy-



“We should integrate all the best technologies from the international market”MIKHAIL POGOSYAN President, United Aircraft

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an rules over the $6 billion-turnover or-ganisation – known by the acronym OAK in Russian – from an unprepossessing, Stalin-era office block in central Moscow while a new corporate campus outside the city is being planned. Bringing together Russia’s diverse aircraft designers and production plants has not been easy – design bureaux have a long history of independence and are run by engi-neers fiercely loyal to the brand – whereas fac-tories are tied into the local economies in the regions they are based. “The process of con-solidation is long and complex,” says Pogo-syan. “But by now, we have received all the assets and centralised the management and are producing consolidated accounts.”

The decline of Russia’s civil aircraft sector in

The PAK-FA, which flew at MAKS 2011, will enter operational testing in 2014

the 1990s meant United Aircraft inherited an industry very much weighted towards defence production. “Two years ago 90% of our sales were military, but we are moving to a more bal-anced structure,” says Pogosyan, who was pro-moted to his current role after running Sukhoi for many years. “This year, transport and civil will be 20%. Between 2020 and 2025, they will get to 50%.” Helping the company towards that goal will be the two new commercial pro-grammes which United Aircraft is banking on for strong export sales, the Superjet and MC-21. It expects to sell 70% of the aircraft outside Russia. Both programmes come under the aus-pices of United Aircraft, although Italy’s Alenia Aermacchi has a 25% share of Sukhoi Civil Aircraft and markets the Superjet in the West-ern hemisphere.

Pogosyan also plans an organisational re-structuring effort to create an entity modelled on EADS in Europe. So far, the consolidation has left the legacy businesses largely intact, but with closer integration between design bureaux and factories, a central management structure and one set of accounts. “The main restructur-ing will be over the next five years,” Pogosyan notes. That stage involves bundling the assets into divisions which reflect the four main mar-kets: military, commercial, transport and spe-cialised. The latter two include niche products from Antonov, Ilyushin and Beriev, ranging from outsized freighters to water bombers. However, this will not mean an end for the fa-mous names. “These have their value and place and future,” says Pogosyan. “We won’t be marketing aircraft under a single brand.”

SEEKING STEP-CHANGEHe is confident that new military programmes for Russia and its main overseas partner India, robust defence export sales and upgrades of existing aircraft, as well as, in particular, the success of the civil programmes should see United Aircraft’s turnover top $7 billion this year, hit $10 billion by 2015 and double that figure by the end of the decade. While the new airliners could provide that step-change, it is United Aircraft’s military portfolio that has kept Russian industry in business over the past two decades and is now looking to a new generation of aircraft as well.

These include the PAK-FA, a fifth-genera-tion stealth fighter being developed with India and intended as a replacement for the Su-27 and MiG-29. It flew in public for the first time at Moscow’s MAKS air show in 2011, and will enter operational testing in 2014 and service two years later. The aircraft has been launched on the back of commitments from Russia and India but has “good export potential” in coun-tries that operate Sukhoi and MiG fighters. “It will complement future versions of these air-craft,” says Pogosyan.

The Su-35, a development of the Su-27

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Flanker and a type Pogosyan describes as the “world’s best fourth generation fighter, de-spite the fierce competition”, made its over-seas debut at Paris and will be on display at MAKS. Another upgraded version of the Su-27, the Su-30MKI, continues in produc-tion, largely helped by a deal in 2000 by India to licence manufacture 140 of the aircraft. Ex-port customers for other Sukhoi aircraft in-clude Indonesia, which will take delivery of four more Su-30MK2s by the end of the year, taking its fleet to nine and total Sukhoi inven-tory to 16. Another evolution of the Su-30MK with enhanced avionics and other equip-ment, the Su-30SM, has been in flight testing since last year.

With the Yakovlev and RAC MiG brands also in its portfolio (see box-outs), Pogosyan is con-fident that United Aircraft’s military business will remain strong. However, he is aware that Russian industry – unlike the Soviet Union during the Cold War – cannot do it all itself. While design and manufacturing alliances as well as supplier deals are often necessary on the defence side – as with the PAK-FA – in its civil business, Russian industry has gone out of its way to secure foreign programme involve-ment. “Partnerships are a strategic imperative,” says Pogosyan. “We should integrate all the best technologies from the international mar-ket. In return, we are able to offer our partners things that no one else can.”

The Su-35 impressed during its overseas

debut at Paris 2013

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THE YAK-130 will be at MAKS after

appearing at June’s Paris air show

for the first time since the 1990s,

the decade in which Yakovlev devel-

oped the advanced trainer and light-

weight combat aircraft with its then

Italian partner Aermacchi. Yet Irkut,

the United Aircraft subsidiary which

now owns the Yakovlev brand, has

only just begun delivering the aircraft

to its domestic customer.

“For many years, we were orient-

ed to the export version of the air-

craft until we finally got an order from

our MoD in December 2011,” says

Irkut president Oleg Demchenko.

The company has delivered the first

18 examples of 55 aircraft, with all

due to go into service by 2015.

Other countries flying the Yak-130

include Algeria, but Demchenko

hints at two further deals and was

hoping to sway additional potential

customers at Paris.

Although the Yak-130 was devel-

oped alongside the (now) Alenia

Aermacchi M-346 in what

Demchenko says was the “first con-

tract between Russia and the West

to create an aircraft together”.

However, the two companies parted

ways at the end of the 1990s, with

the Italian company deciding to de-

velop an advanced trainer, and their

Russian partner a more conven-

tional combat aircraft.

Although the two types look al-

most identical externally and have

“a lot of features in common”, they

follow different design philoso-

phies, says Demchenko. “We re-

main friends but we chose different

paths.” The Yak-130’s key quality is

that it is “simple to fly, even for ca-

dets with very little experience,” he

says. “You cannot spin it, even if

you wanted to. This is a most im-

portant feature for young pilots.”

TRAINERS

YAK IS ON TRACK AFTER PARIS COMEBACK

MIG-29 ORDERS

Nation Inventory On order

Algeria 34

Azerbaijan 13

Bangladesh 8

Belarus 38

Bulgaria 15

Cuba 3

Eritrea 5

India (air force) 68

India (navy) 20 25

Iran 16

Kazakhstan 39

Malaysia 10

Myanmar 15 17

North Korea 35

Peru 19

Poland 32

Russia (air force) 250

Russia (navy) 24

Serbia 4

Slovakia 12

Sudan 11

Syria 48

Turkmenistan 24

Ukraine 80

Uzbekistan 39

Yemen 24

Syria 24

SOURCE: Flightglobal’s MiliCAS database

flightglobal.com

turn the domestic civil aviation industry to the strong position it held in the 1970s and 1980s, creating a product line which can com-pete with those of other major manufacturers.

United Aircraft wants to double its overall civil output to 40 aircraft this year. President Mikhail Pogosyan admits the target is “rather ambitious” but insists: “We’ll handle it.”

“Firm orders for the Superjet aircraft give us the confidence to increase production,” he says. The company’s immediate strategic tar-get is to build at least 17 in a year, while putting in place measures to cut production costs. United Aircraft also wants to improve the type’s fuel consumption and performance, and lower cabin noise, having gathered data from the operation of early aircraft.

Pogosyan is optimistic that the production rate for the Superjet will reach three per month over the second half of this year and increase further next year to enable the air-framer to turn out a total of 40 in 2014.



DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON

United Aircraft has put its faith in the Superjet to play a lead role in Russia’s civil ambitions, and despite a lack of recent orders, Sukhoi is confident it can deliver

GETTING THERE

Superjet In

tern

ational

Sukhoi’s civil aircraft division will head into the MAKS air show, the main event on its home territory, aiming to lift an order book which

has largely been dormant for over a year.Russian carrier Transaero was the last cus-

tomer to sign for the type in any firm capacity when it opted for up to 16 Superjets in June 2012 – an unusual decision for an airline which had operated Boeing types almost ex-clusively, limiting its Russian-built comple-ment to a handful of Tupolev Tu-214s.

Transaero’s decision means that three of Russia’s top five airlines are set to have Super-jets in their fleets, but Sukhoi is still facing a battle to strengthen the type’s backlog.

United Aircraft presented its annual report to shareholders at the end of June, which stat-ed that the Superjet had 170 orders from Rus-sian and foreign customers – although the de-tails of the backlog remain opaque.

Russian lessor Ilyushin Finance has been negotiating for 20 and appeared to move clos-er to a firm agreement during the Paris air show as it signed a preliminary pact for the aircraft, for delivery from 2015.

Ilyushin Finance is intending to take 15 of the basic Superjet variant, configured for cus-tomers in Southeast Asia and the Middle East,

A more significant delivery took place during the Paris air show when Mexican carrier Interjet formally received the first of 20 Superjets

as well as five of the new long-range version.The long-range aircraft emerged earlier this

year and Sukhoi has been aiming to achieve certification before the MAKS show.

Russian energy firm Gazpromavia is in line to take the first example by the end of this year, and crew training for the carrier on the type has already started.

Sukhoi has also been working to obtain cer-tification for Category IIIa landings, an effort interrupted in mid-July when one of its proto-type aircraft, 95005, suffered a gear-up touch-down at Reykjavik’s Keflavik airport during a series of approach tests. Despite the setback, the airframer remained confident that the ap-proval will not be held up.

CIVIL TYPESUnited Aircraft is relying on the Superjet to support its efforts to become a stronger player in the civil aircraft sector. It says about a third of its backlog of 740 aircraft are civil types.

It produced 12 Superjets last year – more than half its output of 22 civil airframes – the others comprise four Tu-214s and Tu-204s, four Antonov An-148s and a pair of Ilyushin Il-96s.

Chairman Vladimir Dmitriev says the reve-nue share of civil aircraft exceeded 10% and that production of Superjets has developed at a “good pace”, more than doubling that of 2012.

Dmitriev says the company intends to re-

Aeroflot’s sixth Superjet was delivered in early March 2012, carrying the livery of global alliance SkyTeam

flightglobal.com

firm Pininfarina. It aims to give passengers the “crucial” impression of spaciousness and com-fort compared with other aircraft in the same category, says president Paolo Pininfarina.

Hours before the prototype Superjet accident at Keflavik, the first Interjet aircraft passed through the airport on its delivery flight to Tolu-ca. One of the airline’s pilots, on board the ferry flight, described the aircraft as “amazing”.

Interjet plans to begin revenue flights with the aircraft around August, with the aircraft having to perform 100h of non-revenue serv-ice to satisfy Mexican regulations.

Chief executive Jose Luis Garza says the air-line will have all 20 Superjets in its fleet by the end of next year, serving “mid-density routes” in Mexico which, he states, the aircraft “perfectly matches”. However, he adds that the type could also be used for US services with flights to Arizona and Texas.

“It means our aircraft will be seen flying to and from the USA, which is an important pro-motion for us in that market,” says Pogosyan.

Italian entities have been closely involved with the Superjet programme since 2005, most prominently through Alenia Aermac-chi’s shareholdings in the airframer as well as Superjet International.

However, tensions between the two sides


Superjet In

tern

ational

“Firm orders for the Superjet aircraft give us confidence to increase production”MIKHAIL POGOSYAN President, United Aircraft

For more analysis of the history of Sukhoi’s Superjet programme, visit flightglobal.com/superjet

As part of its production drive, the compa-ny has commissioned a new facility in Kazan, Tatarstan, which will start producing compos-ite structures for Superjets this year.

United Aircraft is establishing centres of competence for new aerostructure require-ments and the facility, KAPO-Kompozit, will also be adapted to handle the manufacturing of components for the Irkut MC-21.

Sukhoi has progressed with efforts to smooth its production process, delivering in May the first Superjet to Aeroflot to be config-ured with an upgraded cabin sought by the carrier.

Aeroflot, which ordered 30 Superjets, took its initial 10 in a lightweight layout, but is in-tending to swap them out as the newly-fitted aircraft arrive. The enhancements include a more advanced flight-management system and weather radar, as well as video cameras, cabin lighting controls and an extra cabin crew working position.

ADDED EXTRASSukhoi adds that the cabin is fitted with addi-tional passenger ventilation outlets, extra oxy-gen masks, and the aircraft has three lavatories and four galleys installed.

However, a more significant delivery took place during the Paris air show when Mexican carrier Interjet formally received the first of 20 Superjets. The initial handover was performed by Sukhoi’s Italian joint venture Superjet Inter-national, which was established to take on the task of marketing the jet to Western customers.

It has been fitted with 93 seats, at Superjet International’s Venice facility, with a part of the cabin interior developed by the Italian design

surfaced during the Paris air show when Ale-nia parent Finmeccanica denounced their re-lationship as “difficult” and “expensive”.

“We signed an agreement [regarding the Superjet] which has been implemented in an unsatisfactory way for quite a long period of time,” said Finmeccanica’s new chief execu-tive Alessandro Pansa.

Most of the Superjets delivered have gone to Russian and Asian customers, and the In-terjet handover follows frustrated efforts to place the aircraft with Italian operators.

Pansa suggested the relationship should be “reviewed and restructured”, but stopped short of threatening to withdraw. Meanwhile, Alenia chief Giuseppe Giordo diplomatically stated that the programme is “important” and “strategic” and – with the Interjet delivery – was starting to generate results.

The friction echoes an earlier rift between the Russian and French sides – Saturn and Snecma – in the PowerJet engine joint venture, which builds the SaM146 for the Superjet.

PowerJet has turned out 64 engines and, by the beginning of June, 39 had been shifted to operational service. The company claims a despatch reliability of 99.89%.

It intends to produce 52 engines this year, adding that its production rate is being deter-mined “according to the needs of [Sukhoi]”.

As part of the work to enhance the engine, Snecma performed a series of tests in June to examine an alternative fuel for the SaM146, using a 90:10 blend of regular Jet-A1 fuel and a sugar-based product known as farnesene.

Further Western exposure is crucial to the firm’s strategy



Serious competition from Russian air-framers may not have troubled mar-ket forecasters in Toulouse or Seattle for many years, but do not suggest to

Oleg Demchenko that his countrymen are novices when it comes to producing airliners. The president of Irkut – owner of the Yakov-lev design bureau and now part of United Air-craft – insists Russia has an impressive tradi-tion and a big potential future in the civil sector. “Although we have been quiet for 20 years, we are not rookies,” he insists. And while Irkut and its fellow airframers are un-likely to become as mighty as Airbus or Boe-ing in decades to come, he firmly believes they can secure a place in the global market with a new generation of aircraft.

The company is behind Russia’s first mod-ern mid-range narrowbody, the MC-21, a pro-gramme which he says is progressing fast to first flight in June 2015 and certification two years later. The aircraft – which Demchenko refers to as his “favourite baby” – has its roots in the Yak-242, an all-new twinjet programme shelved in the late-1990s in the days when customers and state funds for Russia’s civil

Irkut knows competition in the civil sector is tough, but it has high hopes for Russia’s new narrowbody, the MC-21, and has not been shy to look West for expertise

BACK IN BUSINESS

The MC-21’s origins can be traced back to a shelved twinjet concept from the 1990s


Irku

t

aerospace industry had all but dried up. In the early 2000s, however, the government issued a new tender for a passenger jet and the new-ly-formed Irkut – a merger of Yakovlev, fellow design bureau Beriev and the Irkutsk produc-tion facility – began work on the design.

Moscow has provided 75% of the funding for the MC-21 – including roubles (Rb) 12.4 billion ($378 million) allocated by the trade and industry ministry for the current year – something Demchenko acknowledges has been vital to getting the programme through the design stage to its current phase, with four prototypes about to be built, one for static tri-als and three for flight test. “If we did not have government support, we would not have been able to continue,” he says. Russia’s Sverbank is also a “strategic investment partner”, con-tributing more than $1 billion to the project.

Irkut has been carrying out aerodynamic testing on scale models since 2009. Earlier this year the programme began to physically take shape. In February, fatigue tests began on the aircraft’s centre fuselage at the TsAGI Central Aerohydrodynamics Institute at Zhukovsky, near Moscow. The composite wing – built at Irkut’s new Aerocomposit centre of excellence at Ulyanovsk – wing-



box and empenage have begun an 18-month test regime and “we are receiving the results we expected”, says Demchenko. Irkut claims to have 256 commitments, of which 135 are firm, for the MC-21, which will be offered in two variants, a 150-seat -200 type and 181-seat -300 type.

Like all Russian aerospace manufacturers, Irkut’s predecessor companies had a lean 1990s. Set up as a partly private entity in the early 2000s – with shares listed on the stock exchange – Irkut’s role in the commercial sec-tor has been that of a supplier of aerostruc-tures to Airbus as well as Gulfstream’s Israeli-assembled business jets. It became part of the

United Aircraft consortium when that was set up in 2006. Irkut’s other main programme is the Yak-130, a military jet trainer which has been in development since the early 1990s, but was recently given a fillip through an order from the Russian ministry of defence.

Although the MC-21 is being designed and built in Russia, like its fellow entrant in the commercial aviation sector, the Sukhoi Super-jet, the narrowbody draws extensively on West-ern expertise, with Rockwell Collins avionics and, most notably, Pratt & Whitney’s PW1000G geared turbofan engine. UTC Aerospace Sys-tems (formerly Hamilton Sundstrand) and Zo-diac are also suppliers. Demchenko is confi-dent that its international genes will win it customers beyond the former Soviet Union. “There is no point in this programme if we are just aiming for local sales,” he says.

The supplier to Airbus will soon be taking on its customer – and rival Boeing – as a direct competitor, something that does not faze Demchenko. “Do you know of any market that does not have tough competition? We are talk-ing to all the major airlines and we feel that the market is certainly big enough for another player,” he says. “I certainly intend to get my share of this business.”

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“Although we have been quiet for 20 years, we are not rookies”OLEG DEMCHENKO President, Irkut

A cabin concept for the MC-21



the Mi-171A2, the latest variant in the ubiqui-tous Mi-8/17 family, the medium, multirole Ka-62 – the company’s first helicopter to be produced in “close collaboration with inter-national companies” – and the Mi-38, an all-new medium transport helicopter.

In-service models taking part in the flying display include the Ka-226, a light multirole coaxial helicopter pitched at the medevac market and designed to perform in adverse weather conditions and high altitudes. The aircraft will feature prominently at the Winter Olympics in Sochi. A theme of Russian Heli-copters’ airborne display will be counter-ter-rorism and fire-fighting operations, with the Mi-26, Mi-17-V5 and Mi-8AMTSh military helicopters all featuring.

Also taking to the skies will be the Ka-52 Alligator, another coaxial type, which is used as a scout helicopter by the Russian military. In June, it made its first appearance at the Paris air show in 12 years and impressed in the air display.

Russia’s helicopter types may lack the ele-gance and style of some of their Western rivals – only a mother could love the firefighting co-axial Ka-32A for its looks – but what they lack in terms of aesthetics, they make up in terms of engineering ingenuity.

The country leads the world in many heli-copter technologies. The 4t Ansat – which is

T he Soviet Union placed great store in its military helicopter capabilities and the end of communism led to Russia’s manufacturers emerging as powerful

players in the global market, particularly in the ultra-heavy and medium/heavy categories.

Following the consolidation in 2007 of the country’s two design houses – Mil and Kamov – and five assembly plants under the Russian Helicopters banner, the group will be at MAKS to promote its extensive range of estab-lished and in-development military and com-mercial rotorcraft.

The strategic priority for chief executive Dmitry Petrov is to boost Russian Helicop-ters’ penetration of both the export and civil markets. Although the company claims to represent 14% of the global helicopter fleet – with more than 8,500 helicopters operated in over 100 countries – Russia represents half that share.

Its business has also been skewed towards the military, which stands at 70% of sales. However, Petrov believes that once a slew of new models becomes available during the next few years, the civil/defence split will even out.

Russian Helicopters products on show in prototype or mock-up form at MAKS include

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NEW FRONTIERSbeing certificated in hydraulic flight control guise – was originally developed as a fly-by-wire helicopter. However, certification prob-lems led to that version being put on hold. “Our opinion is that we were a bit ahead of our time,” admits Petrov. “The market was not ready, but the future belongs to helicopters with fly-by-wire.”

FLYING VISITThe Mi-38 is a new programme crucial to the group’s fortunes on the export market, partic-ularly in Europe. With a 15.6t take-off weight and designed to carry an external sling pay-load of 7t, the model will slot below the heavy-lifter Mi-26 in the product range. Pow-ered by a Klimov TV7-117V engine and built by Russian Helicopters’ Kazan production plant, three prototypes have been produced and ground runs started in May.

The helicopter is expected to make its pub-lic flying debut at MAKS. “Everyone is anx-ious to see it fly at last,” says Petrov. A fourth and final prototype is being assembled in close-to-production configuration – with a crashworthy fuel system and expanded win-dows – and Russian Helicopters is targeting a 2015 certification.

The aircraft, which will compete with AgustaWestland’s AW101 and the Sikorsky S-92, fits several missions, from special mis-sion and paratroop carrier to search and res-cue and offshore transport.

A mock-up of the Kamov Ka-62 was on show at Le Bourget, but the prototype proper,

Russian Helicopters is developing a raft of models as it looks to boost its presence in the civil and export markets

The Ka-52 Alligator is used in a scout role by the Russian military



Australia this year, where Petrov says “feed-back has been good”.

China is also a strong potential market for the model – which has the ability to preci-sion hover over a blaze. The rapid growth of high-rise cities has created a need for the au-thorities to be able to respond rapidly to fires in tall buildings.

Six years after its establishment as the United Aircraft of the Russian rotorcraft sec-tor, the Russian Helicopters name is becom-ing better known. However, Petrov says there is no danger of “extinguishing our design brands or those of our production facilities”, some of which date from the birth of the So-viet helicopter industry. Instead, the Mil and Kamov designations will remain on the heli-

“The market was not ready, but the future belongs to helicopters with fly-by-wire”DMITRY PETROV Chief executive, Russian Helicopters

which is currently in final assembly, is expect-ed to be at MAKS. The 12- to 15-passenger transport, powered by French Turbomeca Ar-diden 3G engines, is described by Petrov as the “first time in Russian history that a helicopter has been designed and built as a result of a huge international co-operation”. He adds: “Doing it this way involved risks, but the pro-gramme should be a success and the best in its class.” Two more prototypes are scheduled for this year, with flight testing beginning in Octo-ber and certification slated for 2015.

The Mi-171A2 is the latest version of the venerable Mi-8/17, often claimed as the most widely-operated helicopter ever. A prototype has been in flight testing since the end of 2012 and a second version will appear at MAKS. Petrov describes it as a “deep upgrade of the Mi-171” with updated avionics, gearbox and engine, as well as composite blades and an X-shaped tail rotor, which “improves the flight performance considerably”.

The company expects to get approval for the variant – which it says is designed based on “feedback from operators and the exten-sive operating experience of these helicopters around the world” – in 2014.

A niche product which Russian Helicop-ters is also determined to push more widely is the coaxial Ka-32A11BC. Although it is in operation as a firefighter in Canada, South Korea and Brazil, among other countries, Petrov admits: “We have perhaps not promot-ed it to the best of our abilities.” However, the model was showcased and certificated in

copters, while Russian Helicopters will be the “umbrella brand, like Finmeccanica or UTC”, says Petrov.

Russian Helicopters was set up as a divi-sion of Oboronprom, which also controls the country’s consolidated aero engine industry. Oboronprom, in turn, is part of Rostec, a state-controlled investment fund.

However, the company is keen to attract ex-ternal investment. Although an earlier attempt at an initial public offering was abandoned, Petrov says the company uses “all the finan-cial tools, including loans and bond place-ments” to raise capital.

An IPO is “not necessary to move forward” he says, but the company continues to moni-tor the market. “Once they are ready to value us to our true worth, we will be ready for placement,” says Petrov.

PART PROBLEMOne of the biggest challenges for Russian Heli-copters in expanding its overseas footprint is its lack of a developed parts support and main-tenance infrastructure outside the CIS. Petrov acknowledges this is a difficulty, but the com-pany is addressing it: “We have a programme of expanding aftersales.”

The firm signed a deal with Denel to pro-vide support in South Africa. A service centre in Brazil is in the offing and “we are looking at offers elsewhere in Latin America and Asia”, he says. “Delivery of spare parts around the world is still a problem, but we are working on it. By 2015 you will see results.”

Consolidation created a company with a wide variety of offerings (clockwise from top left): the Ka-32A11BC, the Mi-28NE, the Ka-52 and the Mi-171E

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IFC’s fleet expansion and global outlook reflect how far the Russian leasing firm has come, and it is ready to play a vital role in the country’s aerospace comeback

LEASE OF LIFE

The firm believes that its decision to order Bombardier’s CS300 could boost the MC-21’s prospects, thanks to commonalities between the types

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That a Russian finance house set up to promote the domestic leasing of home-grown types, such as the Ily-ushin Il-96, in the industry’s darkest

days should end up as one of the largest cus-tomers of the Bombardier CSeries illustrates how much the country’s aviation industry has changed. It also highlights the ambitions of Ilyushin Finance (IFC). The Moscow-based company is determined to become a major player in the global leasing business and could play a vital role in the revival of Russian aerospace.

In June this year, the firm – established in 1999 by the renowned design bureau Ily-ushin and former banker and current chief executive Aleksandr Rubtsov – confirmed an order for 32 CS300 aircraft with options for 10 more. It followed a letter of intent signed at the MAKS air show in 2011. The larger variant of the CSeries will be one of three main types in IFC’s new-look portfolio, sitting between the smaller Sukhoi Superjet and the Irkut MC-21 narrowbody. Deliveries of the Canadian aircraft will begin from the third quarter of 2015 at a rate of around 10 a year.

When we spoke to Rubtsov in a Moscow restaurant shortly after his shareholders had inked the CSeries deal, he admitted that the

decision to opt for the CSeries had been un-popular with elements of the Russian media, which had castigated IFC for its lack of “patri-otism”. However, Rubtsov – one of the few Russian aviation leaders to speak fluent Eng-lish – is adamant that the CS300 is not only perfect for airlines seeking the most economi-cal option on flights of up to 5,000km, but that having a Bombardier aircraft at the core of the IFC fleet could actually boost the prospects of Russian types.

Airlines opting for the CSeries will find it easy to operate it alongside the 170-seat and above MC-21, one of two Russian programmes IFC will add to its fleet later this decade, says Rubtsov. IFC has orders for 50 of the twinjet

type, its biggest commitment to date. Not only do the Bombardier type and the MC-21 share the same Pratt & Whitney geared-fan engine, they have similar Rockwell Collins avionics and share many other components. “They have 60% commonality,” says Rubtsov, who has also secured a deal with Bombardier to provide aftersales support for its MC-21 cus-tomers; one of the biggest challenges for Irkut will be to establish a maintenance and service infrastructure.

Rubtsov – who expects to take delivery of his MC-21s from 2018 at a rate of about 10 a year – is confident of finding buyers for the single-aisle airliner in Russia and beyond. In fact, he predicts that seven in 10 of the air-craft will go to foreign operators. A total of 28 of the 50 MC-21s ordered will be powered by the PW1000G engine, with the “door open” for rival Russian engine maker Aviad-vigatel to make a push for its PD-14 alterna-tive for the remaining 22. However, Rubtsov says his compatriots would have to make “a proposal we could not refuse” for IFC to switch from the PW1000G. “The price and the performance will have to be very com-petitive,” he adds.

The third prong of IFC’s fleet strategy is the Superjet, produced by IFC’s sister company within the United Aircraft group, Sukhoi. The leasing company signed a tentative deal for 20 of the regional jets at the Paris air show which

IFC’S CURRENT FLEET AND ORDERS

Fleet

Ilyushin Il-96-300 7

Ilyushin Il-96-400T 4

Tupolev Tu-204/214 24

Antonov An-124-100 3

Antonov An-148 13

Antonov An-158 6

Orders

Irkut MC-21 50

Superjet 100 20*

Bombardier CS300 32*Provisional



IFC

sian state development bank. Lebedev and Rubtsov own most of the remaining shares. A shake-up is being proposed, with United Aircraft exiting and Lebedev’s 25% share being offered to investors. At that point, a re-branding which would see the legacy Ilyushin name being dropped may be consid-ered, says Rubtsov.

A finance house set up to find homes for Russian types is now on the road to becom-ing a serious player in the global leasing mar-ket with aspirations well beyond its domestic market. Rubtsov makes no bones about the fact that IFC’s customers are “second tier” airlines, but there are plenty of these which are growing fast to meet the demands of do-mestic markets. “We are pushing outside the CIS and have made inroads into Asia,” says Rubtsov. “We are about to open a Berlin sales office to establish a presence in Europe. Our priority in the next few years is to truly inter-nationalise ourselves.”

A growing presence on the world stage is helping bring Rubtsov’s company to the at-tention of more airlines beyond IFC’s tradi-tional sphere of influence within Russia and the CIS.

der Lebedev became a major investor, as did the Russian government. IFC’s present share-holding composition sees a 48% stake held by United Aircraft and a 21% stake by a Rus-

would open the door to deliveries at a rate of three or four aircraft a year from next year. The deal could be formally inked at MAKS. Rubts-ov expects to facilitate further expansion by two of the early customers of the Sukhoi twin-jet – Indonesia’s Sky Aviation and Lao Central of Laos – which have taken delivery of Super-jets this year.

IFC is also considering other Russian and CIS types. It has already secured customers for 13 Antonov An-148s, and may order more of the Ukrainian regional jet. The lat-est version of the Tupolev Tu-204, the Tu-204SM, is also a possibility “if the price is right”, says Rubtsov. IFC has already placed 24 examples of earlier variants of the air-craft. The future of the Aviadvigatel Ps-90A2-powered, medium-range airliner, which was certificated by the Russian au-thorities last month, is uncertain, however. The only airline to show a serious interest in the 194-passenger jet, Red Wings, had its fleet grounded over safety concerns earlier this year.

IFC’s status as a part-subsidiary of United Aircraft remains in flux as well. As the com-pany expanded in the 2000s, tycoon Alexan-

“We are about to open a Berlin sales office to establish a presence in Europe”ALEKSANDR RUBTSOV Chief executive, IFC

flightglobal.com



According to official Russian govern-ment news agency Itar-Tass, a spe-cial commission is expected by the end of September to present its plan

for restructuring the country’s space industry. Those plans, said deputy premier Dmitry Rogozin, must be carried out in full. Rogozin stressed that following an unacceptable and long series of failures, the condition of the rocket and space industry “requires broader and detailed consideration”.

Heritage makes for nice history, but it could be said that a rocket-launching operation is only as good as its last launch. If that is the case, then a space industry rightly famed for the first satellite (Sputnik, 1957); first man into orbit (Yuri Gagarin, 1961): first landings on the Moon, photos from the Moon’s surface, orbit of the Moon and sample-return missions (Luna programme, 1959-70); and first modular space station assembled in orbit (Mir, 1986-2001) may be better thought of today in terms of the giant

fireball in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, that ended, after a few wobbly seconds, a 2 July 2013 at-tempt to orbit three navigation satellites.

Investigation into that Krunichev Proton M incident is still under way, but early indications point to engine failure, premature lift-off and upside-down installation of angular velocity sensors, which are key parts of the rocket’s guid-ance system. The fact that more than 10% of Proton M launches fail, and that those have been scattered throughout its 74-flight history, point to a persistent quality-control problem.

HISTORY REPEATINGA similar pattern dogs Russia’s Yuzhnoye- designed Zenit rockets, the vehicle used by US-based Sea Launch. A spectacular 2007 failure on the floating pad led to bankruptcy for Sea Launch, which is now a subsidiary of one of the leading lights of Russia’s space in-dustry, Energia.

Further pointing the finger at a pervasive quality-control problem was the late-2011 fail-ure to leave Earth orbit of the Zenit-launched

Phobos-Grunt sample-return mission to the Martian moon Phobos. Its cause – the mission ended with an uncontrolled crash into the Pa-cific – was found to be computer malfunction thanks to the use of components not qualified for spaceflight.

But commentators on Russia’s space indus-try invariably praise sound if not excellent en-gineering. And Russia is not standing still. A flexible family of launchers, called Angara, is in development by the Khrunichev State Re-search and Production Space Centre to replace Proton, Zenit, Rockot and Kosmos. Angara will use kerosene and liquid oxygen fuel, and will bring an all-Russian character to an indus-try that is currently reliant on a lot of Ukranian technology and vehicles based on Cold War-era intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The modular concept bears much similari-ty to the US Air Force’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle, which gave rise to the Delta IV and Atlas V, or indeed to the European Space Agency’s Ariane 6, although the latter will be all solid fuel in the main stages.

Signs from Russia are that Angara develop-ment is not urgent but that it is ultimately of strategic importance. Angara will hasten Rus-sia’s withdrawal from Baikonur – to Plesetsk and Vostochny. The Baikonur cosmodrome is geographically advantageous, sitting in the most southerly part of the old Soviet Union, but is not in Russia itself.

Meanwhile, Energia is developing a new manned spaceship, to fly by 2018-2020. The capsule has been described by Roscosmos as “a universal spacecraft” capable of bringing six astronauts home from orbit.

Russia remains dedicated to international collaboration in spaceflight. A 10 July 2013 Tass report outlined plans by Roscosmos and its counterparts in Kazakhstan and Ukraine to develop a new launcher called Bayterek, a modernised version of Zenit.

What cannot be overlooked is the fact that Russian space technology is an integral part of many US and European launch programmes. When budget wrangling in Washington forced NASA last year to tell ESA it had to pull out of the 2016 and 2018 ExoMars missions, Roscos-mos stepped in to save the day.

The original ExoMars plan was for NASA to provide the Earth-to-Mars transportation for an ESA-built orbiter and descent module demon-strator in 2016 and an ESA-built rover in 2018. But Proton launches for both legs of the mis-sion are now agreed, and Russia is also provid-ing some extra scientific instrumentation.

A more immediately visible Russian role in Western spaceflight is the venerable Soyuz rocket, which has, since NASA retired the Space Shuttle fleet in 2011, been the only ride to the International Space Station for US and European astronauts.

Soyuz also figures prominently in ESA’s

Although recent rocket failures have highlighted quality control issues, Moscow is still a spaceflight superpower

RELAUNCH REQUIREDDAN THISDELL LONDON

The Soyuz rocket is the only ride to the ISS

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unmanned programme, since it adopted the launcher to give itself a medium-lift offering between its heavyweight Ariane 5 and new, lightweight Vega vehicles.

CONTINUED APPEALESA built a copy of the Soyuz launch pad in Baikonur at its spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, with the first launch taking place in October 2011, carrying to orbit the first two of Europe’s Galileo navigation satellites to orbit to build the Galileo constellation and place other payloads aloft. One high-profile event on the manifest highlighting Soyuz’s flexibility is the 25 October launch of ESA’s Gaia astrometry mission, which with a Fregat upper transit stage will be taken 1.5 million km to orbit the Sun and make a record, in unprecedented detail, of 1 billion stars in the Milky Way.

The Soyuz launch site is actually a small distance from Kourou, at Sinnamary. The site was chosen for geological reasons, to accom-modate the exhaust ports needed to match Soyuz’s home pad at Baikonur. But by remov-ing Soyuz activity from the Vega and Ariane 5 sites, which sit very close together at Kourou,

ESA has also satisfied some security concerns. A Soyuz launch brings in about 100 Russian technicians, a presence that may have unset-tled American Ariane 5 customers, were they too close.

Therefore in the long term ESA may like to have a home-grown alternative to Soyuz, but that is not likely to come any time soon. Ariane 5 is to be replaced by Ariane 6 from about 2020, by which time Vega will be well-established and, possibly, being readied for a new, all-Eu-ropean restartable upper stage – to replace the RD-869 restartable engine built in Ukraine and also used as the third stage on the Dnepr launch vehicle and its predecessor, the SS-18 intercon-tinental ballistic missile.

Germany’s aerospace research agency, DLR, is keen to work with Italian counterpart ASI – which leads the Vega programme – to develop such a stage. But cost and caution mitigate against speed in the space business, so do not expect change any time soon. And, when that change comes, do not be too surprised if Russia is a participant.

The Angara family of launchers is of strategic importance to Russia

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For analysis of the latest news on space programmes around the world , visit flightglobal.com/hyperbola

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F or six days in late August, the 11th biennial MAKS air show will be-come a platform for the world to as-sess the health and progress of a Rus-

sian aerospace industry that is still searching for success in the commercial market while striving not to lose pace on the military side.

This year’s event finds the industry taking a collective breath. It is two years after the flying debut of the Sukhoi T-50 stealth prototype and at least two years before the first appear-ance of the Irkut MC-21 narrowbody. No Rus-sian-built design of similar scale and signifi-cance for the future of the Russian aerospace industry is likely to command the same level of attention in the flying display.

The crowds arriving on Zhukovsky air base will have fewer diversions to distract their attention from the increasingly heated rhetoric about the fate of the Russian indus-try. That is not to suggest that the public,

however, should come away altogether dis-appointed by a lack of attractions.

MAKS air show, after all, will feature only the second public appearance of the Sukhoi T-50 and the first since the 10th MAKS air show two years ago. MAKS is the world’s only venue for one to catch a glimpse of Rus-sia’s most sophisticated fighter prototype on public display this year.

As with so many other venues, the Chi-nese are only too happy to capitalise on the absence of a US government presence. As the US Air Force’s sequestration problem pre-vents the return of a Boeing F-15E Strike Eagle to the flying display, the Chinese air force’s “1 August” display team of Chengdu J-10 fighters sporting Russian-made NPO Sat-urn Al-31 engines will take its place in the skies above Ramenskoye.

The J-10 display will be joined by other distinguished foreign visitors in the flying circus, including a Swiss air force Boeing F/A-18A and a French air force Dassault

Rafale. Although not as audibly forceful as the fighters, the presence of the Airbus A380 will certainly not go unnoticed and its pres-ence will carry even more weight with the absence of Boeing’s 787.

The aircraft may be the stars of the air show, but even the dazzling choreography of the T-50 and the Sukhoi Su-35 cannot completely distract observers from the current plight of the Russian industry.

MAKS air show comes at a critical time for Russian commercial aircraft manufacturing. Only two years ago, Sukhoi unveiled the first production Superjet 100 aircraft at the show, the first all-new commercial aircraft pro-duced by Russian industry since the Soviet era. The Superjet 100 greeted the public with great hope for a fast production ramp-up and entry into new markets.

Two years on, production has not advanced beyond a trickle – 26 will be built this year – pushing the civil aircraft division of Sukhoi deep into debt. Dragged down by development

BEAR MARKETAlthough doubts persist about some parts of its industry, Moscow’s MAKS air show will allow Russia to demonstrate the fact that it remains very much an aerospace powerhouse

Russia’s air force has ordered 124 Sukhoi

Su-34 fighter-bombers

STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC



costs and discounted prices of early Su-perjet 100 deliveries, the company is Rb70 bil-lion ($2.1 billion) in debt. Last year Vnesheconombank opened a $1 billion credit line to fund the programme, however Sukhoi is still examining ways of restructuring its debts and improving liquidity.

As the financial situation plays out, the Su-perjet programme will no doubt put on a brave face at Zhukovsky. Last year, Embraer displayed its airliner-derived Lineage 1000 VIP aircraft at Jet Expo in Russia, with no an-swer from the equal-sized Superjet pro-gramme despite a launch order by Comlux dating from October 2011.

However, Sukhoi comes to MAKS this year prepared to answer the challenge, with plans to unveil the Superjet’s VIP configuration for the first time.

CRISIS OF CONFIDENCEThe rarity of a VIP aircraft unveiling in Russia, however, is unlikely to break the crisis of con-fidence gripping Russian manufacturers. For more than a decade, Russia’s state-owned and private airlines have defected to Western-built aircraft. The 737 and Airbus A320 are now short-haul mainstays, whereas Tupolev has been developing its modernised Tu-204SM - and achieved certification last year - orders for the twinjet have been virtually nonexistent.

The issue has been building for years, but the noises coming from the Kremlin appear to attaining a new level of intensity ahead of this edition of the show.

In a series of tweets fired off in late July, Russian deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin took state-owned airlines to task for failing to buy Russian aircraft for their fleets. He also said that he will be holding a meeting on 14 August with Russian aircraft producers and customers to discuss the problem.

To be sure, Russia’s civil aircraft industry still has some reasons for celebration at MAKS despite all the political and financial concerns. Irkut officials indicated at the Paris air show that it expects to confirm two con-tracts for as many as 40 MC-21 single-aisle aircraft during MAKS this year, and other press reports have linked Irkutsk-based re-gional carrier IrAero to firming up a commit-ment for 10.

Engine manufacturer Aviadvigatel, mean-while, is expected to unveil the first detailed cutaway of the PD-14 turbofan engine, which is in development as an alternative power-plant for the MC-21 and Russia’s best hope for relevance in the commercial turbofan market. The MC-21 will be delivered first with Pratt & Whitney PW1400G geared tur-bofans, but the Russian-built PD-14 could become a secondary option for airlines.

Russia’s military aircraft designers have taken the air show circuit by storm with the

export of the Su-35 flying display outside the country for the first time earlier this year. It may be several years, however, before the MAKS audience sees an all-new Russian fighter make a debut. The T-50 prototype re-mains in an extended development phase.

Russian officials have recently disclosed plans to develop a replacement for the MiG-31 and Tupolev has acknowledged receiving a contract to design a next-generation bomber, but the public unveiling of either aircraft could be years away.

HELICOPTER HOPESA more promising prospect for air show surpris-es lies in the Russian rotorcraft industry. State-owned Russian Helicopters is in the midst of a transition from a military-oriented business to a balanced portfolio of civil aircraft.

It remains possible that MAKS will witness the debut appearance and public flying dis-play of the Kamov Ka-62, a light-twin-engined derivative of the 6,500kg (14,330lb) class Ka-60 military transport powered by Tur-bomeca Ardiden 3G powerplants. Another development from Russian Helicopters ex-pected at MAKS is the first appearance of the VIP version of the venerable Mi-171 and the

Airbus

modernised Mi-171A2 that slots into the booming super-midsize helicopter market.

On a smaller scale, start-up Russian manu-facturer Berkut plans to follow up on the launch of the light single-engined, co-axial rotor helicopter at MAKS 2011 with the air-craft joining the flight display this year. Rus-sia’s domestic market has not often been kind to new entrepreneurs, but the Berkut design promises to attract interest beyond Russia’s borders as a new alternative to the hot-selling Robinson R66.

For foreign visitors, MAKS is always an opportunity to catch up on new advances in Russian technology, whether it’s a new glimpse of the feared Vympel RVV-BD long-range air-to-air missile, an update on the manned Rus spacecraft development project or the industry’s progress in developing glo-bally competitive unmanned air vehicles.

In the last of these categories, Russia’s leading UAV developer Transas plans to take a big step at the show by unveiling a medi-um-altitude, long endurance drone for the commercial market.

Airbus will again display its superjumbo at MAKS on the back of orders from Transaero

Russian Helicopters is trying to reduce its reliance on military rotorcraft production

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For full coverage and pictures from Russia’s flagship MAKS air show from 26 August, go to flightglobal.com/maks

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This periodical is sold subject to the following conditions: namely that it is not, without the written consent of the publishers first given, lent, re-sold, hired out or in any unauthorised cover by way of trade, or affixed to, or as part of, any publication of advertising, literary or pictorial matter whatsoever. No part of the content may be stored electronically, or reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the Publisher.

ISSN 0015-3710

EDITORIAL +44 20 8652 3842 Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey, SM2 5AS, UK [email protected]

Editor Murdo Morrison FRAeS+44 20 8652 4395 [email protected] Head of Strategic Content/ Flight Daily News Editor Andrew Doyle +44 20 8652 3096 [email protected] Managing Editor Dominic Perry +44 20 8652 3206 [email protected] Air Transport Editor David Kaminski-Morrow +44 20 8652 3909 [email protected] Business Editor Dan Thisdell +44 20 8652 4491 [email protected] Defence Editor Craig Hoyle +44 20 8652 3834 [email protected] Operations/Safety Editor David Learmount +44 20 8652 3845 [email protected] & General Aviation Editor Kate Sarsfield +44 20 8652 3885 [email protected] Magazine Enquiries Dawn Hartwell +44 20 8652 3315 [email protected]

FLIGHTGLOBAL PRO Editor Airline Business Max Kingsley-Jones +44 20 8652 3825 [email protected] Flightglobal Pro Graham Dunn +44 20 8652 4995 [email protected] Editor Niall O’Keeffe +44 20 8652 4007 [email protected] Content Editor Alex Thomas +44 20 8652 3184 [email protected] Transport/MRO Reporter Michael Gubisch +44 20 8652 8747 [email protected] Reporter Oliver Clark+44 20 8652 8534 [email protected]

AMERICAS Americas Managing Editor Stephen Trimble +1 703 836 8052 [email protected] Americas Air Transport Editor Ghim-Lay Yeo+1 703 836 9474 [email protected] Air Transport Reporter Edward Russell+1 703 836 1897 [email protected] & Spaceflight Editor Zach Rosenberg +1 703 836 7442 [email protected] Reporter Dave Majumdar +1 703 836 4706 [email protected] and Air Transport Reporter Kristin Majcher+1 703 836 8053 [email protected] Transport Reporter Jon Hemmerdinger+1 703 836 3084 [email protected]

ASIA/PACIFIC Asia Editor Greg Waldron +65 6780 4314 [email protected] Reporter Mavis Toh +65 6780 4309 [email protected] Reporter Ellis Taylor +65 6780 4307 [email protected] Australia Correspondent Emma Kelly

EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST Israel Correspondent Arie Egozi Russia Correspondent Vladimir Karnozov

FLIGHTGLOBAL.COM Editor Stuart Clarke +44 20 8652 3835 [email protected]

EDITORIAL PRODUCTION Head of Design & Production Alexis Rendell +44 20 8652 8127 [email protected] Chief Copy Editor Lewis Harper+44 20 8652 4958 [email protected] Copy Editor, Flightglobal Asia Sophia Huang+65 6780 4320 [email protected] Copy Editor, Europe Dan Bloch+44 20 8652 8146 [email protected] Copy Editor George NortonGlobal Production Editor Louise Murrell +44 20 8652 8139 [email protected] Global Production Editor Rachel Kemp

Commercial Aviation Steven Phipps +44 20 8564 [email protected] Defence & GA John Maloney+44 20 8564 [email protected]

PUBLISHING MANAGEMENT Publishing Director Melanie Robson Publisher Mark Pilling

READER SERVICES Subscriptions Jenny SmithFlight International Subscriptions, Reed Business Information,PO Box 302, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 3DH, UK

Subscription Enquiries +44 1444 475682Fax +44 1444 445301 [email protected]

Subscription Rates1 Year 2 Years 3 Years £137/$219/ £232/$372/ £328/$525/€169 €287 €405Only paid subscriptions available. Cheques payable to Flight International

Production Assistant Lizabeth DavisGlobal Digital Producer Jerome Joyce+44 20 8652 8849 [email protected] Digital Producer Damion DiplockDigital Production Editor Colin MillerWeb Production Editor Andrew CostertonDesigner Lauren MillsSenior Editorial Artist Tim Bicheno-Brown Consulting Technical Artist Tim Hall

DISPLAY ADVERTISEMENT SALES Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey, SM2 5AS, UK.

Group Display Sales Manager Stuart Burgess [email protected] Sales Support Gillian Cumming +44 20 8652 8837 [email protected]

EUROPESales Manager Shawn Buck +44 20 8652 4998 [email protected] Sales Manager Mark Hillier +44 20 8652 8022 [email protected] Display Account Manager Grace Hewitt+44 20 8652 3469 [email protected]

NORTH & SOUTH AMERICA Vice-President, North & South America Rob Hancock +1 703 836 7444 [email protected] Regional Sales Director Warren McEwan +1 703 836 3719 [email protected] Sales Executive Kaye Woody +1 703 836 7445 [email protected] Sales Manager Steven Kulikowski +1 630 288 8034 [email protected] Reed Business Information, 333 N.Fairfax Street, Suite 301, Alexandria, VA 22314, USA

ITALY Sales Manager Riccardo Laureri +39 (02) 236 2500 [email protected] Laureri Associates SRL, Via Vallazze 43, 20131 Milano, Italy

ISRAEL Sales Executive Asa Talbar +972 77 562 1900 Fax: +972 77 562 1903 [email protected] Talbar Media, 41 HaGiva’a St, PO Box 3184, Givat Ada 37808, Israel

ASIA/AUSTRALASIA Sales Manager Michael Tang +65 6780 4301 [email protected] Fax: +65 6789 7575 1 Changi Business Park Crescent,#06-01 Plaza 8 @ CBP, Singapore 486025

RUSSIA & CIS Director Arkady Komarov [email protected]/Fax: +7 (495) 987 3800 World Business Media, Leningradsky Prospekt, 80, Korpus G, Office 807, Moscow 125190, Russia

CLASSIFIED & RECRUITMENT +44 20 8652 4900; +44 20 8652 4897Group Sales Manager Lucinda Quigley +44 20 8652 [email protected] Account Manager Edward Longmate+44 20 8652 4900 [email protected] Key Account Manager – Asia Michael Tang +65 6780 4301 Sales Executives Daniel Brooker, Katie Mann

ADVERTISEMENT PRODUCTION Production Manager Sean Behan +44 20 8652 8232 [email protected] Manager Classified Alan Blagrove +44 20 8652 4406 [email protected]

MARKETING Senior Marketing Manager Ben Colclough+44 20 8564 6722 [email protected] Head of Marketing Georgina Rushworth+44 20 8652 8138 [email protected]

DATA TEAM Head of Data Pete Webber +44 20 8564 6715 [email protected]

For a full list of events see flightglobal.com/events

EVENTS27 August to 1 SeptemberMAKS Zhukovsky, [email protected]

12-13 SeptemberFlight Safety [email protected]

16-18 SeptemberSpeedNews 14th Annual Aviation Industry Suppliers Conference Toulouse, Francespeednews.com

16-18 SeptemberWorld Low Cost Airlines CongressSofitel Heathrow, [email protected]

24-26 SeptemberHelitech InternationalLondon, UKhelitechevents.com

22-24 OctoberNBAA Business Aviation Convention & ExhibitionLas Vegas, Nevadanbaa.org

29 October to 3 NovemberSeoul Air Show Seoul, South Koreaseoulairshow.com

6-8 NovemberSppedNews 18th Regional & Business Aviation Industry Suppliers ConferenceScottsdale, Arizonaspeednews.com

17-21 NovemberDubai AirshowDubai World Centraldubaiairshow.aero

19-20 NovemberSafety in Aviation – North AmericaMontreal, [email protected]/safetyna2013

16-18 JanuaryBahrain International Air ShowBahrainbahraininternationalairshow.com

11-16 FebruarySingapore AirshowChangi, Singaporesingaporeairshow.com

25-30 MarchFeria Internacional del Aire y del Espacio (FIDAE)Santiago, Chile fidae.cl

15-17 AprilAsian Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition (ABACE)Shanghai, Chinaabace.aero

20-22 MayEuropean Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE)Geneva, Switzerlandebace.aero

20-25 MayILABerlin, Germanyila-berlin.com

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52 | Flight International | 20 August-2 September 2013 flightglobal.com

CLASSIFIEDTEL +44 (0) 20 8652 4897 FAX +44 (0) 20 8652 3779 EMAIL [email protected] may be monitored for training purposes

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£65,950 all inclusive*

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D a u p h i n Parts Specialistsw w w . a l p i n e . a e r o Helitech 2013 Booth E51 September 24-26, Excel, London

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Courses and tuition

Tenders

Tender NoticeName of the Tender : Dry lease of Nineteen (19) new A320

aircraft with Sharklets, powered byCFM56-5B4/3 PIP engines

Tender Number : HMM/14/A320Lease/ENQ-001Tender Date : 5th August 2013Closing Date : 3rd September 2013Date of opening of Technical Bids : 3rd September 2013Availability of Tender Document: Tender is available for download on Air India’swebsite www.airindia.in

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State of Kuwait Ministry of Finance

Notice of Civil Aviation Tires Sale

Ministry of Finance hereby ANNOUNCES the sale of used Tires of Kuwait Amiri Fleet Aircraft

(B747-400 9K-ADE) by a sealed envelope auction process as per following details in AS IS

condition:-

1) Place of receiving auction conditions documents and participation request

Bayan palace, Tender & Follow-Up department effective from this announcement issuance

date till 19th September 2013. The Auction Conditions Documents and Participation

Request will be delivered against non-refundable fees of KWD 5 to be deposited into the

Amiri Diwan Treasury.

2) Tires physical Inspection Date/Venue

Date: 20 Business days from 25th August 2013 to 19th September 2013 during KAC

official working hours.

Venue: Kuwait International Airport, Kuwait Airways Company (Engineering Department)

Material Section EJ.

3) Bid submission Date/Venue and envelope opening

• Offers must be submitted between 10AM to 12PM on 9th October 2013 to the Ministry

of Finance, Ministries Complex, Block 12, Third floor, General Storage Affairs

Department, Central Sale Section, noting that no offers will be accepted after 12PM.

• The sealed envelope will be uncapped and auction shall be held at 12:30PM on 9th

October 2013 at the Ministry of Finance, Ministries Complex, Block 12, First Floor,

Room 17.

• Successful bidder must submit his bid value in an endorsed cheque issued by a Kuwaiti

local bank in favor of The Amiri Diwan.

4) Special Conditions

• The Tires will be sold to local and foreign companies only and not to individuals.

• Payment and offer must be made in Kuwaiti Dinars.

• The bidder must physically attend on the auction process.

• Applicable International laws will be observed throughout the subject Tires sale

transaction.

• Ministry of Finance, the Amiri Diwan and Kuwait Airways Company shall be deemed free

from any legal liability in association with the subject Tires sale transaction during the

sale process and thereafter.

• The successful bidder shall commit to be legally liable for any subsequent Tires sale that

is not in accordance with applicable International laws.

• The Tires at R-00 worn levels.

� Auction Conditions Documents and Participation Request can be collected from Mrs.

Tahani Al-Qandi. Tel. 00965 25391826

� Aircraft Physical Inspection is to be coordinated via Capt. Abdulmohsen Al-Fagaan.

Tel. 00965 24736374. Email: [email protected]


Notice of Aircraft Spare Parts Sale

Ministry of Finance hereby ANNOUNCES the sale of spare parts of Kuwait Amiri Fleet Aircraft

(B727, MD 83, G4, G3) by a sealed envelope auction process as per following details in AS

IS condition:-



date till 20th October 2013. The Auction Conditions Documents and Participation

Request will be delivered against non-refundable fees of KWD 5 to be deposited into the

Amiri Diwan Treasury.

2) Spare parts physical Inspection Date/Venue

Date: (7) Business days from 6th October 2013 till 20th October 2013 during KAC official

working hours.

Venue: Kuwait International Airport, Kuwait Airways Company (Engineering Department)

Material Section EJ.

3) Date and place of bid submission and envelope opening

• Offers should be submitted from 10AM till 12PM on 21st October 2013 to the Ministry


Department, Central Sale Section. No offers shall be accepted after 12PM.

• The sealed envelopes will be opened and the auction shall be held at 12:30PM on 21st


Room 17.

• Successful bidder must submit his bid value in an endorsed cheque by a Kuwaiti local

bank in favor of The Amiri Diwan.


• The spare parts shall be sold to local and foreign companies only and not to individuals.



• Applicable International laws will be observed throughout the subject spare parts sale

transaction.


from any legal liability in association with the subject spare parts sale transaction during

the sale process and thereafter.



� Spare Parts Physical Inspection is to be coordinated via Capt. Abdulmohsen Al-

Fagaan. Tel. 00965 24736374. Email: [email protected]


Notice of Civil Aircraft Sale

Ministry of Finance hereby ANNOUNCES the sale of Kuwait Amiri Fleet Aircraft (A300C4-620

MSN 344 9K-AHI JT9D-7R4H1) by a sealed envelope auction process as per following details

in AS IS condition:-



date till 5th September 2013. The Auction Conditions Documents and Participation

Request will be delivered against non-refundable fees of KWD 300 to be deposited into

the Amiri Diwan Treasury.

2) Aircraft physical Inspection Date/Venue

Date: 20 Business days from 11th August 2013 till 5th September 2013 during KAC official

working hours.

Venue: Kuwait International Airport, Kuwait Airways Company (Engineering Department) -

Aircraft Maintenance Section MU.

3) Bid submission Date/Venue and envelope opening

• Offers must be submitted between 10AM till 12PM on 8th October 2013 to the Ministry


Department, Central Sale Section noting that no offers will be accepted after 12PM.

• The sealed envelope will be uncapped and auction shall be held at 12:30PM on 8th


Room 17.

• Successful bidder must submit his bid value in an endorsed cheque issued by a Kuwaiti

local bank in favor of The Amiri Diwan.


• The aircraft will be sold to local and foreign companies only and not to individuals.



• Applicable International laws will be observed throughout the subject aircraft sale

transaction.


from any legal liability in association with the subject aircraft sale transaction during the

sale process and thereafter.

• The successful bidder shall commit to be legally liable for any subsequent aircraft sale

that is not in accordance with applicable International laws.

• The aircraft has only One Engine.

• The aircraft will be sold in total (WHOLE UNIT) and not partially.



� Aircraft Physical Inspection is to be coordinated via Capt. Abdulmohsen Al-Fagaan.

Tel. 00965 24736374. Email: [email protected]

Sale of Parts

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flightglobal.com/jobsEMAIL [email protected] CALL +44 (20) 8652 4900 FAX +44 (20) 8652 4877

Getting careers off the ground


LAME B2 AVIONIC ENGINEER(Macau based)

REQUIREMENTS:

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B1.3 HELICOPTER ENGINEER(Macau based)

REQUIREMENTS:

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“A MEETING OF EXPERIENCE”

We are seeking two motivated AircraftSales Representatives

To be based at Cotswold Airport, Kemble. Must have experience ofdelivering high levels of service to key customers and also a knowledge of

Light and Executive aircraft. Current PPL Highly desirable.

If you are interested in a new challenge with an initiative driven teamplease send your CV to: [email protected]

C2 Aviation is a member of the MIDAIR Group

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Successful applicants will receive full training and a competitive benefits package.

Requirementss� Hold or have held JAA/EASA

ATPL(H) with IR(H) or CPL(H) with IR(H)

s� Have at least 1,000 hours flying experience as a helicopter pilot

s� Have at least 350 hours flying experience as a pilot of multi-pilot helicopters

Preferences s� Previous Instructional

Experiences� S-92 or similar ratingss� Search and Rescues� Offshore Operations

Competitive Salary and Benefits For information or to apply, visit Careers at flightsafety.com, or call +44 (0) 1252 554 500. Equal opportunity employer/M/F/D/V

A Berkshire Hathaway companyflightsafety.com

EASA Instructors for Sikorsky S-92FlightSafety International, Farnborough, UK seeks Ground and Simulator Instructors for the Sikorsky S-92 program to instruct Initial, Recurrent and Enrichment Pilot Training courses.

The CHIRP Charitable TrustUK Confidential Human Factors Incident Reporting Programme

Deputy Director (Engineering) - Part TimeKEEN TO USE YOUR ENGINEERING EXPERIENCE TO IMPROVE AVIATION SAFETY?

THE ROLE

CHIRP receives safety-related reports fromaviation personnel, which we follow up on aconfidential basis and, where possible,identify the safety lessons. Selected reportsare published in the CHIRP FEEDBACKjournal.

We are seeking a part-time Deputy Director(Engineering) as the incumbent will beretiring. You will be responsible for theanalysis, co-ordination and administration ofmaintenance and engineering relatedconfidential reports. You will also beresponsible for the co-ordination of the UKMaintenance Error Management System(MEMS) initiative and the management ofthe MEMS database. The post-holder willreport to the Chief Executive.

THE DESIRED PROFILE

- Established reputation as an engineeringmanager with a strong safety ethos.

- Experience in the application of bestpractice in safety management in anengineering organisation.

- Good knowledge of the organisation andregulation of aircraft maintenance.

- Good interpersonal and communicationskills. Ability to communicate effectivelyat all levels. Good written English.

- Competent in Microsoft Office andpreparation/delivery of presentations.

The appointment will be based on a time commitment of about eight days per month andwill require some attendance at our office at Farnborough, Hampshire, combined withdistance/home working on a mutually agreed basis.The remuneration package will reflect the expertise required, but a keen interest inimproving aviation safety will be the main motivator.

APPLICATIONS

To apply, please send your CV by e-mail to [email protected] or by mail toThe Chief Executive, The CHIRP Charitable Trust, 26 Hercules Way, Farnborough,Hampshire, GU14 6UU. For further details, please phone 01252 378 947.

The closing date for applications is 6th September 2013.

HEAD OFFICE, BALAKA, KURMITOLA, DHAKA-1229, BANGLADESH, PHONE: 8901600-14, 8901680-94, FAX: 88-02-8901558,www.biman-airlines.com

Advertisement for Recruiting Agency

Biman Bangladesh Airlines is looking for Recruiting Agency fora period of 02 years to help recruiting high quality expatriateprofessionals in various positions as per Company requirement.

The Agency should meet the following selection criteria:

1) Mandatory

Minimum 05 years experience Experience with more than 02 reputed airlines Track record of providing successful professionals

2) Desirable

Working experience with Asian Airlines Experience of providing pilot or other operational staff.

Biman will pay ‘Fee’ for the recruited candidate only. Noother fees are acceptable. The applicant must mention theexpected ‘Fee’. Interested Agency fulfilling the aboverequirements are requested to send proposal along withsupporting documents to email ID [email protected] or before 14 September 2013.

A. H. M. Shafiul BariManager Employment

Human Resource DepartmentBiman Bangladesh Airlines Limited

Balaka Bhaban, Kurmitola, Dhaka1229Bangladesh. www.bimanairlines.com

HELICOPTER CAPTAIN

We currently have an exciting opportunity for a suitably

qualified and experienced rotary pilot to join the

JCB corporate aviation team. For further details visit

www.jcbcareers.com

Zenon Recruitment is one of Europe’s fastest growingspecialist suppliers of skilled personnel to the aviation industry

We currently require a

MAINTENANCE MANAGERfor a helicopter maintenance operation based in

Eastern EuropeZenon Aviation are also assisting a leading operational supplierto the airline and business aviation market in their search for a

REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENT –OPERATIONS

For more information on these and other current vacancies,please visit www.zenon.aero +44 (0) 1483 332000


www.ctcaviation.com/ctcflexicrew

CTC FlexiCrewHigh flyers, on demand

Seeks Type Rated PilotsLocations UK & Worldwide

Flexible & Permanent Positions

Email: recruitment@sigmaaviationservices.comwww.sigmaaviationservices.com

Tel: +353 1 669 8224Fax: +353 1 669 8201

Email: recruitment@sigmaaviationservices.comwww.sigmaaviationservices.com

Contract and Permanent recruitmentfor the Aviation industry

David Rowe, Alastair Millar, Jodie Green, Ian Chapman

Tel: +44 (0)1737 821011Email: [email protected]

www.cbsbutler.com

GCT GroupWorldwide specialist for Aerospace Engineering, Certification & Management Servicese: [email protected]: +49 (0) 8153 93130w: www.garner.de

The preferred company for Stress (Fatigue & DT), GFEM,Composites), Aeronautical Research. Business units:Contract staff, Workpackages, Innovation and New

Concepts, Aeronautical Research.www.bishop-gmbh.comContact [email protected]

Tel 0049-(0)40-866-258-10 Fax 0049-(0)40-866-258-20

To advertise in this Employment Services Index

call +44 (0) 20 8652 4900fax +44 (0) 20 8261 8434

email [email protected] note that calls may

be monitored for training purposes

Flight International

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WORKING WEEK

flightglobal.com

What was your introduction to aviation? During college, I was part of a team building a Teenie Two air-craft powered by a converted VW engine. I built wing frames and worked on the modifica-tions required to introduce a dual ignition system. I was hooked from then.Where did your career go from there? I joined the Royal Air Force as a flightline mechanic and started working on the “Mighty” Jaguar as it was affectionately known. To me the buzz of a very busy flightline of fast jets was exciting and I wanted to do everything and anything that meant I was close to aircraft operations and maintenance. Never restricting myself to my primary job, I got involved with all of the single aircraft trades at the time. These experiences helped me decide the path I was to take, which was avionics. Having covered on-air-craft and depth maintenance, as well as bay maintenance to com-ponent level on complex multi-operator sensor suites and elec-trical and hydraulic antenna

systems, I drew on my wealth of experience in many roles and be-came an instructor. Further pro-motion led me to become a sup-port engineer in the defence logistics support organisation. It was here that I became involved with industry before returning once again to a teaching role, eventually taking the post of chief instructor and manager.What does your current role involve? I take great pride in being in-volved in the sustainment of a significant and proven UK de-fence systems capability that is saving lives. As cost account

manager and head of training for ASTOR Training Support Servic-es, I am responsible for all train-ing provision for Sentinel R1 flight and mission crews, aircraft maintenance and ASTOR ground station operators and maintenance teams. I’m also a maintenance human factors fa-cilitator as well as the Raytheon UK Airborne Solutions training discipline lead. How important has your experience within the RAF been for how you do your job now?Invaluable. The RAF has invest-ed a lot of time and money in me and even though I am no longer

serving, that investment is still being repaid. Having lived the life, I am able to understand MoD requirements and respond quick-ly with solutions, and even antic-ipate their needs in some cases.What will have made it a good week for you come Friday evening? While customer focus is key, a knowledgeable and confident stu-dent ultimately leads to a happy customer and a happy boss. Bring-ing people on in an engaging way is an achievement in itself and if I can put two of the three away each week then I am content.What advice would you give to a young person looking to end up with the sort of career you have had?Money is a byproduct of doing something you love. Don’t ac-cept anyone saying “you are/were only a” – enjoy what you do and give your best. Take every opportunity that comes your way and even if things don’t go well straight away, someone will notice and recog-nise you for your abilities. ■

“Don’t accept anyone saying ‘you are/were only a…’ – enjoy what you do and give your best”

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Martin Johnston is top instructor for Raytheon UK’s ASTOR Training Support Services business providing tutoring to the Royal Air Force’s Sentinel R1 flight and mission crews, alongside maintainers and ground station operators

Repaying a nation’s investmentWORK EXPERIENCE MARTIN JOHNSTON


Johnston chose to specialise in avionics after working in numerous areas

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