RUSSIAN-ITALIAN COOPERATION

Alenia to help Beriev market new amphibian

Alenia is to assist the Beriev design bureau in marketing its Be-200 amphibian,although Beriev already claims customers for over 100 aircraft. Beriev deputy chief designer Aleksandr Yavkin said at the end of 1994 that theUS$1.3 million cost of Alenia involvement in selling the Be-200 was to be paidfor by the European Union (EU) under its TACIS (Technical Assistance to theCommonwealth of Independent States) programme. Alenia is to help draw up andimplement a worldwide marketing plan. The Be-200 is a multi-role amphibian derived from the Be-40 ASW aircraft.Variants of the aircraft with Allied Signal avionics and Rolls Royce BR715-53 orUS Allison GMA-2100 turboprops with Hartzell propellers have been planned forproduction at the Irkutsk aircraft factory, beginning this year. The passengerversion of the Be-200 is to seat 64. Beriev's assessment of demand for its amphibians has been consistentlyoptimistic. The company has been claiming since 1993 that the Royal Air Forceintends to buy 40 Be-40 Albatrosses for the ASW role, and estimates total demandfor the Be-200 at 1,500 aircraft. Beriev currently claims an order has beenplaced by the Russian Federal Forestry Service for 60 Be-200s, and that theRussian Ministry of Emergencies intends to buy "10 or 15, including two or threein 1996".

Italy to use Russia's M-55 aircraft to explore upper atmosphere, saysMyasishchev

Italy plans to use pre-production models of Russia's Myasishchev M-55 Geophysicaaircraft to explore the upper layers of the atmosphere in polar regions,according to Myasishchev's chief designer Leonid Sokolov. Experts at the Myasishchev design bureau estimate the cost of re-equipping thehigh-altitude research aircraft and organising 12-17 test flights in Russia,Italy and Finland at 1.5m dollars. The money is to come from the Italiangovernment, Sokolov said on January 7. This could not be confirmed from Italiansources. Construction of five M-55s was begun in 1994 at the Smolensk aircraft factory,but has since been suspended due to lack of funds.

Russian fog dispersal system to be installed at Milan airport

A fog dispersal system using liquid nitrogen, which was developed at a Russiandefence research establishment, is to be installed at Milan's Linate airport,Russia's ITAR-TASS news agency reported from Rome. The system is to be used from autumn 1996, to cope with dense winter fog whichregularly leads to flight cancellations in Italy, the agency said. The cost ofthe project is estimated at three billion lire, and similar systems aresubsequently to be installed at Turin and Verona airports. Testing of the system at Alma-Ata airport has shown it to be effective in 87 percent of cases, ITAR-TASS quoted a senior Russian meteorologist as saying.

RUSSIA

Search continues for remains of Tu-154 passengers

One month after the December 7 crash of a Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft flying fromYuzhno-Sakhalinsk to Khabarovsk which killed an estimated 97 people [[see AIRFAXdated December 17]], accident investigators are still attempting to retrievepulverised human remains from the crash site and locate the cockpit voicerecorder (CVR). Colonel Sergei Ogloblin, spokesman for the Far Eastern regional centre of theMinistry for Emergencies, said on January 7 that "small fragments of aircraftand biological remains" had been found where they had been driven deep into theground by the high-speed impact on the slopes of the Bo-Dzhaus mountain in aremote part of South-East Siberia. Investigators have removed soil in the crasharea to a depth of one metre and sifted through snow to try to locate moreremains, but it was stated on January 9 that the largest identifiable humanremains found so far had been a hand. A total 300 kg of small fragments ofaircraft have so far been recovered. The flight recorder that has been located has already given a picture of thelast few minutes of the flight. Twenty-four minutes after take-off, the aircraftwas flying on automatic pilot and developed a critical 36-degree bank to theright. The automatic pilot was only switched off shortly before the aircraft hitthe ground in a near-vertical dive.

Rostov starts series production of Mil Mi-26TS, Arsenyev to step up productionof Mi-34

Series production of Mil Mi-26TS heavy-lift transport helicopters has begun atthe Rostov helicopter plant, Aleksei Samusenko, deputy chief designer atMoscow's Mil Helicopter Plant, told reporters on January 8. Samusenko said the new helicopter would be "in great demand both in Russia andabroad" despite its high cost of US$10-12 million. Negotiations on leasepurchase were under way with some Latin American and South-East Asian companiesand a preliminary agreement had been reached on selling one machine toAustralia, he said. Samusenko also said the Mil plant had had to shelve its plans to start seriesproduction of another new model, the Mi-46 heavy transport helicopter, toreplace the outdated Mi-6, on account of insufficient financing from the statebudget. Meanwhile Interfax news agency quoted an official at Mil Light Helicopters asstating on January 3 that the Arsenyev aircraft plant in Russia's Far East plansto build 50 Mil Mi-34 light helicopters in 1996. At the end of 1995 the plant built two of the type at about 0.5m dollars eachfor the Russian highway police, and it is currently refitting a third with a375-hp M-14V26 engine, the official said.

Components for Myasishchev aircraft could be imported

The builders of Myasishchev aircraft could start purchasing foreign-madecomponents in order to keep production costs down. A spokesman for the Myasishchev Design Bureau said on January 8 that because of"totally unjustifiable sharp increases" in the cost of Russian-made components,the price of the Myasishchev M-101 Gzhel light aircraft produced at the Sokolplant in Nizhniy Novgorod had risen from US$0.94-0.95 million to US$1.2-1.3million. "Therefore, the possibility of buying the components for the planeabroad at lower prices is not ruled out," the spokesman told Russian nationalradio. Meanwhile Interfax news agency quoted Myasishchev Chief Designer Yevgeny Charskyas saying that the Sokol plant had already assembled three Gzhel aircraft and isscheduled to build another five by mid-1996. Confusingly, Myasishchev iscurrently designing a 10-12 seater twin-engined aircraft designated the M-201Sokol, which according to Charsky should make its maiden flight within eighteenmonths. Sokol is Russian for Falcon.

Vnukovo Airlines planning to expand operations in 1996

Vnukovo Airlines intend to expand their international operations in 1996, thecompany's commercial director said on January 7. Sergei Komasko said the company intended to start regular flights to Athens andThessaloniki in Greece and to increase the frequency of its flights toYugoslavia. He said regular flights were planned linking Moscow with Podgoricain Montenegro and Belgrade, to be operated jointly with Aeroflot - RussianInternational Airlines (ARIA). Komasko also said the airline intended toincrease the number of charter flights to Bulgaria, Italy, Turkey, Spain and theCanaries. Vnukovo Airlines currently have regular flights to 37 cities and towns in theCIS and operate more than 10 international charter routes.

Zaire crash airline had been officially grounded

The Russian airline which owned the Antonov An-32 cargo aircraft which crashedin Zaire on January 8 was operating in breach of an official ban, the RussianTransport Ministry announced the following day. The aircraft killed an estimated 250 people when it crashed into a crowdedmarket square shortly after take-off from Kinshasa. The four pilots survived thecrash but narrowly avoided a lynching from the enraged crowd. They were takeninto custody and later said that they could not understand why the aircraft hadfailed to gain altitude after take-off. Moscow Air Lines had had its operations suspended by the Air TransportDepartment of the Ministry of Transport on January 3 for safety violations, aministry spokesman said. The suspension meant the airline had no right to carryout flights either in Russia or abroad, including with aircraft leased to otheroperators, as was the case with the Zairean An-32. A commission of Russian experts was to fly to Kinshasa on 10th January to jointhe investigation into the Antonov crash, the spokesman added.

An-24 crashes in Mordovia

An Antonov An-24B aircraft crashed in the early hours of December 29 as it waslanding at Saransk, the capital of the Russian republic of Mordovia. The aircraft hit the ground 1.5km from the runway, overturned, and its left wingand undercarriage were torn off. Of the three crew and two airport staff onboard, one crew member was concussed. The aircraft was on charter to the Tolyatti-based Volga Cable Works.

KAZAKHSTAN

Kazakh unit receives MiG-29s

An unidentified Kazakhstani Air Force unit stationed in Kzyl-Orda oblast hasbeen reinforced with eight MiG-29 fighters supplied by the Russian government.The aircraft arrived in Kazakhstan on December 19. The aircraft were supplied as part of the CIS collective security concept, astatement from CIS joint military headquarters said. The Russian Army's 'Krasnaya Zvezda' newspaper wrote that military cooperationagreements between the two countries also envisage the transfer of a number ofSukhoi Su-25 and Su-27 aircraft to Kazakhstan.

Flights from new Kazakh capital to Dubai

Flights have begun between the new capital of Kazakhstan, Akmola, and Dubai. TheAkmola Alem airline will be operating Tupolev Tu-154s on the route.

UKRAINE

Ukraine to launch production of Antonov passenger aircraft in Iran

Ukraine has won an international tender to organise the series production ofpassenger aircraft in Iran, according to the Ukrainian Ministry ofMachine-building, the Military-Industrial Complex and Conversion. Under a contract signed in December 1995, Ukraine is to launch the production ofAntonov An-140 aircraft at a factory in Esfahan. The value of the contract hasnot been disclosed, but a spokesman said that "a similar contract in the Westwould be valued at US$4 billion". Also taking part in the tender were British Aerospace, Fokker, Ilyushin andSAAB. The winning Antonov proposal, in cooperation with the Kharkov aircraftfactory and engine-maker Motor-Sich, covers production of 10 An-140s at theEsfahan plant each year from 1998. The An-140 can carry 52 passengers over 2,550km, the ministry said.

Ukrainian industry chiefs complain at lack of funding

Ukraine's aircraft and aeroengine manufacturers have presented a coordinatedappeal for state investment to the ministry responsible for their funding. A meeting at the Ministry of Machine-Building, the Military-Industrial Complex,and Conversion at the beginning of January heard representations from buildersand designers, including Petr Balabuyev of the Antonov Design Bureau, ChiefDesigner of the Zaporozhye Progress Engine Design Bureau F.M. Muravchenko, andDirector of the Ukrainian Scientific Research Institute of Aircraft Technology(UNDIAT) H.O. Kryvov. They complained that the programme for the development ofthe national aircraft industry which was adopted in 1992 had been jeopardised bythe government's failure to provide the necessary funding. State funding of theaircraft industry has fallen more than 200-fold since 1992, they said.Muravchenko added that in 1995 Progress had received only 3.8% of the budgetappropriations planned. Minister V.I. Malyev suggested to the petitioners that they "find mutuallyadvantageous types of bank crediting".

Ukrainian helicopters to remain in Bosnia

The Ukrainian helicopter squadron carrying out peacekeeping duties on Mi-8s inBosnia is to remain in position despite the withdrawal of the 240th IndependentBattalion from the peacekeeping forces, UNIAN news agency reported quoting aUkrainian Defence Ministry spokesman. The battalion is being withdrawn for financial considerations, the spokesmansaid.

BYELORUSSIA

Russian forces granted use of Byelorussian airfields

During a visit to Byelorussia in mid-December, Russian Defence Minister PavelGrachev announced at a press conference an agreement on joint maintenance anduse of the Byelorussian airbases of Bobruysk, Bykhov and Baranovichi. Grachev said close bilateral cooperation with Byelorussia was made essential bythe fact that the CIS collective security system "was not running smoothly". TheByelorussian air defences are Russia's first echelon of protection in theEast-West strategic axis, he said. Byelorussian air defence units will now be allowed to use the Kapustin Yarmissile test site for training launches, Grachev added.

Byelorussian airport installs automated flight traffic control system

Byelorussia's Minsk-2 airport has installed a new Spektr automated flightcontrol system, the Russian ITAR-TASS news agency reported. More than 200 air companies from 70 countries now use Minsk-2, the agency said.The new system is intended to ensure flight safety and better-quality aircrafthandling.

BALTICS

Estonia to accept foreign loan capital for air defence radar purchase

The Estonian government is to borrow DM13.5m to purchase early-warning radarsystems from Thomson-CSF of France, government spokeswoman Maarika Saarna-Siimanannounced on January 5. Of the total sum, DM9.6m is to come from Banque Paribas of France and DM3.9mfrom the Marubeni Corporation of Japan, with repayment to take six and a halfyears, with a six-month grace period. The Estonian government reached agreement with Thomson-CSF in October 1995 onthe supply and installation of radar to track targets on the Russian border.

BIA to lease RJ70s

Baltic International Airlines (BIA) has signed a protocol of intent withBritain's Avro International Aerospace, part of British Aerospace, for the leaseof three RJ70 aircraft for seven years. A spokesman for BIA said Latvia would be the first country in Eastern Europe tomake use of the short-range RJ70 transports, developed from the BAe 146. Thefirst of the 70-seater aircraft is due to fly out to Riga on January 21, hesaid.