The Dubai Airshow 2021 stamped a visible success in the export sales of the Russian aviation industry.
Held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Defense, Dubai Airshow 2021 took place at Dubai World Central (DWC), Dubai Airshow Site from the 14-18 November 2021.
According to the Rostec Corporation CEO Sergei Chemezov, the national arms trade dealer Rosoboronexport signed a number of contracts worth over USD 1.3 billion. The deals are for combat aircraft, helicopters, drones as well as the engines supply, he noted.
“For objective reasons, we cannot name the countries,” remarked Mr. Chemezov.
During the event Rosoboronexport received requests for the supply of various aircraft, helicopters and drones, worth of $ 2.5 billion, Rosoboronexport CEO Alexander Mikheev told reporters on the sidelines of the exhibition.
He noted that Rosoboronexport’s order book contains almost two hundred helicopters.
“To date, our portfolio for helicopters supply counts more than 180 combat vehicles being worth around 4 billion US dollars, and in general, the Air Force share is 42% while air defense part is 31%,” he said.
The Air show faced the largest ever presence of the Russian aircraft including the brilliant Russian Knights aerobatic team piloting 9 Sukhoi Su-27. The newborn Sukhoi Checkmate light combat aircraft (LTA) became a real show sensation. The vehicle is ambitiously claimed to repeat the MiG-21 success story as the world’s widely produced combat aircraft. The single engine «war bird» is mainly intended for export but once becomes operational with the Russian Aerospace Forces it will be designated as Su-75.
Among the novelties of the defense part of exposition were the Mil Mi-28NE Night Hunter and Kamov Ka-52 attack helicopters. Both gunships feature round-the-clock operation ability being armed with an impressive set of smart weaponry. For the first time the rotorcraft were shown with the latest guided missiles, namely Vikhr (Whirlwind) and A305E with firing range of 10 and 15 km respectively. The missiles were developed by the High Precision Weapons holding subsidiaries - Tula-based Shipunov KBP and Kolomna-based KBM.
The relatively smaller Russian Helicopters holding (RH) product Ka-226T also made an international premiere in UAE. The rotorcraft is intended for operations in the highlands and so has been nicked as the “Climber”. It features new airframe and fuselage design with increased aerodynamic characteristics. Being made of modern lightweight materials the Ka-226T is equipped with an impact-resistant fuel system to meet special safety requirements. The machine received up-to-date avionics package to ensure safe and cost efficient operations. The vehicle module design makes Ka-226 real “Jack of all trades” as passenger, transport, SAR or medical-evacuation work horse.
The Ka-226T versatile design draws interest of both commercial and military operators. The helicopters are in serial production at the Ulan-Ude Aviation plant in the Russian Far East and has been chosen for ambitious light helicopter program of the Indian Army aviation and Air Force to comprise 200 units in total.
The Russian product shelf was complemented by the Orion-E attack drone. The UAV export oriented version was shown with the scale of weaponry. It has been previously announced that the medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned combat vehicle (MALE UCAV) being tested in the anti-terrorist operations in Syria. According to Alexander Mikheev, the Rosoboronexport has already received “several export contracts being currently executed”. The vehicle is able to carry a combat payload up to 250 kg to loiter for 24 hours at altitudes of 9,000 meters. The Kronshtadt company, UAV manufacturer, is building new production facility in the Moscow region to produce “several dozen vehicles annually for both local and foreign customers in military and civilian versions”, as stated in the Company release. (Yury Laskin; Photo © LAGUK-Media: Mi-28NE Night Hunter with A-305E “fire-and-forget” missile”)
