RusAF news

To whom it may concern.


KA-52 TO BE FIELDED WITH RUSSIAN AIR FORCE



About 12 Ka-52 Alligator multirole combat helicopters are going to be
fielded with the Russian Air Force (RusAF) in the near future, according to
RusAF Commander-in-Chief Col.-Gen. Vladimir Mikhailov. The Ka-52 is a
twin-seat derivative of the Ka-50 combat helicopter that entered service in
1995. Both machines have been productionised by the Progress aircraft plant
in the town of Arsenyev.

At present, the Ka-52 is undergoing phase two of its acceptance trials (see
Air Fleet 5/2003, p.6). According to Col.-Gen. Mikhailov, the Ka-52
"retained the best capabilities of its predecessor, the Ka-50. At the same
time, the two-seat Ka-52 features more capabilities for night and adverse
weather operations. Nowadays, the machine can operate in a team and in
continuous contact with ground command posts. This is the only helicopter in
the world able to put up a fight to an air threat." The Ka-52 entering the
RusAF inventory will influence the final decision on going for the Ka-50-2
under the tender for a future combat helicopter for the Turkish Army (see
Air Fleet 5/2003, p.10).



FIFTH-GENERATION ENGINE KICKS OFF FLIGHT TRIALS

As was reported by Air Fleet (5/2003, p.6), the Sukhoi design bureau and
Saturn scientific production association are going to launch flight trials
of the AL-41F-1A fifth-generation engine prototype on board the Su-27M (side
number 710) flying testbed as early as this year. Here we a following the
successful completion of its rig tests in August 2003, the advanced engine
was sent in early November to the Sukhoi design bureau's Flight Test and
Operational Development Facility in Zhukovsky for installation on the
aircraft. The work is under way under the programme approved by the Russian
Aerospace Agency and Air Force command.



TU-160 CRASH



Investigation into the Tu-160 crash has revealed that the immediate cause of
the mid-air explosion was failure of the airframe midsection's fuel cell
drain system. As the fuel was being consumed, negative pressure emerged,
resulting in disintegration of the torsion-box integral fuel tank - the main
load-bearing element of the aircraft - and the ensuing fuel explosion well
before the aircraft hit the ground.



VALERY TORYANIN APPOINTED HEAD OF MIG CORP.



On 13 November 2003, the Russian government appointed Valery Toryanin
Director General/Designer General of the MiG Russian Aircraft Corporation.

The position of the MiG Corp. leader had been vacant since 4 November 2003
when Premier Mikhail Kasyanov, advised by Rosaviacosmos, relieved MiG Corp.
Director General/Designer General Nikolai Nikitin of his duties due to
cancellation of his contract.

Valery Toryanin was born in 1950 in Frankfurt-am-Oder (Germany) and had
remained on active duty service with the Soviet Armed Forces till 1986. In
November 1986, he was started working for the Main Engineer Department of
the State Committee for Foreign Trade of the Soviet Union (the organisation
preceding the Rosvooruzhenie state company - today's Rosoboronexport). In
1990-94, Mr. Toryanin worked at the Russian trade mission in Algeria. He has
a wealth of experience in military technical cooperation. Prior to his
November 2000 appointment as Sukhoi Aviation Military Industrial Complex
deputy director general, Mr. Toryanin had been director of the Air Force
Special Materiel and Service Department in the Rosvooruzhenie state company.



MIG-29 DOWN IN ARMENIA



At 12.53 Moscow time on 12 November 2003, a MiG-29 fighter from the 426th
RusAF Air Group in Armenia, garrisoned at the Erebuni airbase near the
Armenian capital city of Yerevan, crashed 18 km away from Russia's 102nd
military base in Gyumri (northwest part of Armenia) while doing aerobatic on
a training mission over mountainous terrain. The pilot, Maj. Konstantin
Kardash, regimental chief of combat and live fire training, Pilot 1st Class,
died in the crash.

The fighter's wreck was found only on the next day, at 0915 hours, due to
low cloud ceiling and mountainous terrain. At 1040 hours, the body of the
pilot was found 30-40 m away from the wreck.

According to preliminary information, the pilot crashed because he lost his
spatial orientation while pulling off aerobatics in low visibility
environment, flying into a rock at an altitude of 2,557 m. It looks like
Maj. Kardash had no time to eject, with the ejection seat kicking in after
the plane hit the rock.

The final report on what caused the crash is to be released following the
decoding of the fighter's black boxes found on site. The black boxes are
being decoded at the RusAF MiG-29 base in Armenia -Erebuni AB - where an
An-12 lab plane arrived on 14 November with dedicated equipment and experts
on board. The hardware and experts were provided by the Russian Defence
Ministry's 13th Research Institute for Aircraft Operation and Repair.