Russia’s Defense Ministry is planning to buy 7 multirole AgustaWestland AW139 helicopters for 630 million rubles (about $20 million) this year, the Federal Agency for Arms Procurements said Monday.
“An open tender will be announced in February,” it said.
Russia started making AW139s at the HeliVert plant last year.
Italy's AgustaWestland and Russian Helicopters signed a preliminary agreement to manufacture AW139 helicopters in Russia at the Farnborough International Airshow in 2008. Final agreements on the establishment of the HeliVert joint venture were signed in summer 2011.
The joint venture is expected to build 15 to 20 helicopters annually.
The AW139 has a maximum cruise speed of 306 kilometers (190 miles) per hour, a maximum range of 927 kilometers (576 miles) and a maximum flight time of five hours. It is powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6C-67C turboshaft engines. The maximum take-off weight is 6,400 kilograms (14,110 pounds).
The helicopter is configured for one or two pilots and can carry up to 15 passengers, or six to eight passengers in a VIP/corporate transport configuration. (RIA Novosti)
Meanwhile, the Novosibirsk aircraft plant, part of the Sukhoi holding, delivered 5 multirole Su-34 strike aircraft to the Russian Air Force on Friday, the manufacturer said.
The jets will make a nonstop ferry flight from Novosibirsk to an air base in Voronezh, southwest Russia, a distance of over 3,000 kilometers (1,800 miles).
Six Su-34s were delivered to the Air Force in 2011, as part of an initial contract signed in 2008 for 32 aircraft. The Voronezh base received its first five Su-34 warplanes in late December.
Last year, the Defense Ministry said it would take delivery of 10 Su-34s in 2012, all of them to be deployed in the Western Military District.
The Air Force is due to get 92 Su-34s by 2020, in a contract signed in March 2012.
Together with the 2008 contract, the Air Force will eventually have a total of 124 Su-34s.
A two-seat derivative of the Su-27 fighter, the Su-34 can carry a payload of up to eight tons of precision-guided weapons over 4,000 kilometers.
The aircraft will eventually replace all of the ageing Su-24 strike aircraft in service with the Air Force and Navy.
The first Su-34s were manufactured in Novosibirsk in 2006, with series production starting in 2008.
Source: RIA Novosti
