ZHUKOVSKY, Moscow region, August 16 (Itar-Tass) —— The first day of the MAKS 2011 international aerospace show in Zhukovsky near Moscow is dedicated to Russian helicopters, Oboronprom General Director Andrei Reus said.
The Russian Helicopters Holding presents eleven helicopters outdoors and another two in a pavilion. Besides, new products of the holding are on display at the Russian Defense Ministry stand, which presents 17 planes and helicopters.
The Russian Defense Ministry presents aircraft and missile systems at the MAKS 2011 international aerospace show in Zhukovsky, the ministry’s press service told Itar-Tass.
Seventeen aircraft of the Russian Air Force, among them Tupolev Tu-160 and Tu-95MS, Ilyushin Il-76MD-90, Mikoyan MiG-29SMT, Yakovlev Yak-130 and helicopters Mil Mi-8MTSh, Mi-26 and Mi-28, Kamov Ka-52 and Ansat, are on display. Sukhoi Company presents Su-27SM, Su-30M2, Su-34, Su-35 and Su-25SM, as well as the fifth-generation fighter jet.
An experimental model of the heavy transport helicopter Mil Mi-26T2 will make its premiere. It has a new avionics set and a more powerful engine with a digital control system.
Air Force aerobatic teams – Russian Falcons, Russian Knights and Swifts – are taking part in the show, as well.
Almaz-Antei Concern presents over 20 samples of armaments, military hardware and civilian products. There is a broad range of anti-aircraft missile systems, among them S-300, Buk-M2E and Tor-M2K, a 3-D radar station and other armaments.
The Russian aerospace industry presents models of the prospective medium rocket carrier with the enhanced lifting capacity, which will be launched from the Vostochny spaceport, and the prospective manned spaceship.
“Visitors will see the newest light helicopters Mil Mi-44S1, Kamov Ka-226T and Ansat, medium helicopter Kamov Ka-32A11VS, new modernized super-heavy Mil Mi-26T2, combat helicopters Kamov Ka-52 ‘Alligator’ and Mil Mi-28N ‘Night Hunter’ and other modern helicopters,” Reus said.
He singled out the light Kamov Ka-226T with a U.S.-made medical module inside. “The Russian Helicopters Holding built this helicopter for broadening medical aid in emergency situations. Rescuers have taken an interest in this product,” Reus said.
More than 800 companies and organizations from 40 states are taking part in MAKS 2011.
More than 200 aircraft will be displayed at MAKS, and over 100 of them will take part in show flights from the airfield of the Gromov Flight Research Institute.
The Gromov Institute airfield has one of the longest runways in the world and the longest runway in Europe, 5,043 meters. The total area of the runway is 2.5 million square meters.
The runway was one of the possible landing spots for the Buran multi-use spacecraft. The airfield makes it possible to display piloting qualities of various types of aircraft.
A Mikoyan MiG-290VT fighter jet opened the show flight program of the MAKS 2011 international aerospace exhibition in Zhukovsky near Moscow on Tuesday.
The super-maneuverable jet with a thrust-vectoring engine spent about eight minutes in the air. Pilots from Ukraine, the United States and France presented show flights after that.
The world’s smallest two-seat jet, French CRI CRI, flew before the world’s biggest commercial jetliner, Airbus A380. Zhukovsky is the 133rd airport in the world and the second Russian airfield visited by the jetliner. It came to Russia in October 2009 for a stopover in Domodedovo en route from Toulouse to South Korea.
The plane, one of the five experimental Airbus A380, is not used on regular routes, it trains pilots and tests avionic prototypes.
A show flight of 24 Russian transport and military helicopters came next. The program also included flights of a Beriyev Be-200 amphibious plane, Sukhoi fighters, a Yakovlev Yak-130 combat trainer and a light multi-role Ilyushin Il-103.
MAKS 2011 will be one of the largest air shows in Europe and may draw up to 700,000 visitors, chairman of the show’s organizing committee, Moscow Regional Vice-Governor Pyotr Katsyv told Itar-Tass earlier.
A new road was built from Route M5 to the MAKS 2011 premises for increasing the transport accessibility of the show. “Shuttle buses will make trips at a one-minute interval, so visitors will feel comfortable even in peak hours,” he said.
For the first time in its ten-year history, MAKS 2011 presents show flights of up to ten WW2 aircraft, including I-15bis, I-153, I-16 and MiG-3 fighters, as well as two T-60 tanks, anti-aircraft weapons and a field kitchen of the war years.
The biggest commercial jetliner, Airbus A380, will be the main premiere of MAKS 2011, Katsyv said.
The total sum of contracts that may be signed at the MAKS 2011 international aerospace show in Zhukovsky may reach $3 billion, Russian Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said last Friday.
He said that would be both defense and civil orders, among them the orders for the new jetliner MS-21.
Aviasalon General Director Vladimir Borisov was more optimistic. He forecasted a total sum of MAKS 2011 contracts at more than $10 billion the day earlier.
President Dmitry Medvedev sent greetings to the participants and guests of the MAKS 2011 show, the Kremlin said.
“This years MAKS will once again present the best products of domestic and foreign design bureaus to the professional community and numerous visitors. Hopefully, the vast business program of the show will spur on the exchange of advanced experience, broaden international cooperation and promote domestic high-tech products on external markets,” the president said.