Russia’s new medium multirole Ka-62 helicopter made its maiden flight in May 2017, and its certification is expected to be finalized in 2020.

“We plan to start batch distribution of the Ka-62 helicopter by late 2020 to early 2021. As soon as we complete the certification process, we will start batch distributing them immediately,” CEO of Russian Helicopters Andrey Boginsky said, adding that production of the aircraft would take place in parallel with them being certified.

He added that the helicopters were currently undergoing factory tests.

Kamov Ka-62 is a civil version of the Ka-60 Kasatka military transport aircraft, a long-term project that was postponed for some time. Ka-62 has a redesigned fuselage with a high degree of composites, a larger cabin than the previous version and will be equipped with Turbomeca Ardiden 3G engines.

According to earlier reports, an initial batch of 16 helicopters was ordered by the Russian Ministry of Defense, while 12 others are meant for South American customer.