Russian Helicopters reveal large helicopter orders

Russian Helicopters has announced a series of large helicopter orders, boosting the company's production backlog.

In late August, state-run defence export agency Rosoboronexport signed a deal with Chinese firm Poly Technologies to provide 52 Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant-built Mi-171E transport helicopters to China, for the country’s armed forces.
 
The first eight of these aircraft will be delivered by Russian Helicopters later this year, with the rest due to be delivered in 2013 and 2014.

The company also announced it had signed a deal with the NefteGazAeroCosmos research and production centre to provide 18 Ka-226TGs.

The Ka-226TG helicopters are scheduled for delivery in 2013-2014, with the buyer receiving the first six machines in 2013 and the rest the following year.

The Ka-226TG is a specialised version of the Ka-226 designed for operations in the Russian far north and on the Arctic shelf where visibility is limited and air temperatures can quickly fluctuate. The aircraft will be fitted with a new avionics suite and additional fuel tanks to increase the type's endurance. The variant is powered by a pair of Turbomeca Arrius 2G1 turboshafts.

The helicopters acquired by NefteGazAeroCosmos will later be transferred to Gazprom Avia, which plans to use them to monitor natural gas pipelines and other infrastructure owned by Russian oil and gas firm Gazprom. The helicopters will also be used for corporate passenger transport, repair work and cargo transportation.

The company has also signed a seven-year long agreement with the Ramenskoye Design Company (RDC) for deliveries of avionics equipment.

The first phase of the agreement will see RDC supply avionics packages for Russian Helicopters' Ka-52 Alligator attack helicopter and its advanced ship-based version - the Ka-52K - from 2013 to 2020. The two firms have also signed an agreement to modernise the pilot and navigation system for the ship-based Ka-27, Ka-27PS and Ka-29.

The systems for the Ka-27, Ka-27PS, Ka-29, Ka-28M and Ka-31M will be based on an updated version of the standardised cockpit instrumentation currently installed in the Ka-52 Alligator and the Ka-31 combat helicopters.