| The
Russians are aiming to make the MAKS airshow the Russian equivalent of
the Paris Air Show or the British Farnborough Air Show. This
means making it a showcase for the Russian aerospace industry, and a place
where business deals are made, or at least signed. This Tupolev-334
airliner is one of the aircraft on display for prospective customers, though
I doubt if this is the way they'll normally be used! Aeroflot
has already ordered the Tu-334, which is a 100 seat successor to the 76
seat Tu-134. |
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| Another
local aircraft is this prototype Yakovlev Yak-130 military jet trainer,
which was put through its paces along with a MiG "advanced trainer", also
a prototype. The Yak-130 was initially developed in a joint
venture with the Italian company Aeromacchi. As well as acting
as a trainer for pilots graduating up to the Su-27 "Flanker", the Yak-130
can be outfitted as a light attack aircraft or a ground attack trainer
and, as with many Russian designs, it can be used from unpaved airfields. |
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| Each
day's show was started by a trio of Sukhoi Su-25 ground attack aircraft,
which have the unfortunate NATO code name of "Frogfoot", which raises the
question when there are more than one of whether they're "Frogfoots" or
"Frogfeet". The Su-25 is the Russian equivalent of the A-10
Thunderbolt II. Like the A-10, the Su-25 has titanium armour
for the pilot and it has also been used in combat in Afghanistan, however
the Su-25 is faster than the A-10 and, somewhat surprisingly, is said to
be more maneuverable. Nicknamed "the comb" because of all of
the stores racks which extend out the front of the wing, the Frogfoot has
a 30mm cannon and can carry 4000kg (almost 9000lb) of ordnance. |
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| Here's
a Russian aircraft that I knew nothing at all about, from a manufacturer
that even most aviation enthusiasts have never heard of. The
Myasishchev M-55 Geophysica is a civilian version of the M-55 "Mystic"
high altitude reconnaisance aircraft. The Geophysica has been
doing stratospheric research in Europe, very similar work to NASA ER-2s
derived from the U-2 spy plane. |
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| I
made the trip from California to this show because I wanted to see Russian
aircraft types and it was great to see the Frogfoot and the Mystic, but
disappointing that none of the classic Russian bombers or transport planes
of the Cold War flew during the weekend. However it was good
to see several fighters, even if all of them were derived from either the
MiG-29 "Fulcrum" or the Su-27 "Flanker", including the one you see here,
an Su-27SMK. The Flanker was a Russian response to the American
F-15 Eagle air superiority fighter; the Su-27SMK is an export version with
in-flight refuelling capability and 12 hard points for ground attack work,
analogous to the F-15E Strike Eagle. |
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| The
Zhukovsky Air Field where the show is held is also home to the Gromov Flight
Research Institute, which is the Russian equivalent of NASA.
Here's one of their test aircraft, a Sukhoi Su-27P. Like the
Su-27SMK in the previous photo, this particular aircraft has appeared at
several airshows throughout Europe, including several trips to the UK. |
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| Here's
a more advanced version of the Flanker, an Su-30MK which is fitted with
a pair of small "canard" wings just behind the cockpit, as well as 8 hard
points which allow air-to-ground ordnance to be carried in addition to
the air-to-air weapons of previous versions, adding ground attack to the
Flanker's original pure air-to-air role. The Su-30MK has unbelievable
maneuverability because of the "thrust vectoring" feature which allows
it to direct the output of its two engines in slightly different directions.
This enables it to perform bizarre low speed gyrations which have been
dubbed the "cobra maneuver", the "bell" and the "somersault", in which
the plane flips 360 degrees without losing any altitude. These
maneuvers can be used to fool an enemy's pulse doppler radar, which relies
on movement of the target, making the Flanker disappear from the radar
screen, at least for a few seconds. |
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| This
MiG-29M2 "Fulcrum" also did a great demonstration. The MiG-29M2
has longer range than previous versions of the Fulcrum, thanks largely
to the in-flight refuelling equipment which you can see on the left hand
side of the nose just in front of the cockpit, and also has a "glass cockpit"
with LCDs rather than the "steam gauge" dials of earlier versions.
The new fly-by-wire system also makes it considerably more maneuverable. |
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| The
MiG-29M2 is more advanced than its predecessors, but this MiG-29OVT is
even more sophisticated, and the company insists that the improvements
are great enough to merit a new designation, the MiG-35. This
version of the Fulcrum was demonstrated in public for the first time just
before the show and has a new thrust vectoring system, which you can clearly
see in operation in this photo. Unlike earlier versions of
thrust vectoring on aircraft like the Su-27 and the American F-22 Raptor
which can only pivot up or down, the MiG-35 can vector up, down, left and
right. The MiG-35 can also move the nozzles further than earlier
versions, up to 18 degrees, to allow even greater feats of maneuverability
like the "double somersault" and "boomerang". |
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| The
helicopters which displayed were one of the highlights for me.
It would have been great to have seen an Mi-24 "Hind', the large helicopter
gunship which became so familiar in Afghanistan, but we had to make do
with this Mil Mi-8 "Hip", one of the most successful helicopters which
has ever been produced anywhere. It dropped a parachute display
team from altitude and picked them up afterwards. This photo
was shot from the crowd side on Friday afternoon, from where you could
see a tantalizing collection of MiG 25 Foxbats and other aircraft on the
other side of the runway. |
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My favourite Russian helicopters are those designed by the Kamov design
bureau, which specializes in helicopters with contra-rotating rotors, which
don't require the tail rotor needed to counteract the torque created by
a single main rotor. The tail rotor requires a significant
amount of power, anywhere from 10% to 25% of the total, so a contra-rotating
design is inherently more efficient, potentially allowing great lifting
capacity and speed, and the lack of a tail rotor is also a significant
benefit from the point of view of safety of people operating around the
craft.
Two different configurations of the Kamov Ka-226 Sergei light multi-purpose
helicopter were shown, this one hauling some drums and another one with
a rear cabin occupying the space behind the cockpit. The Ka-226
is an update of the Ka-26 "flying chassis" first delivered in 1965.
The detachable cabin can be used for medical evacuation or transport of
personnel, or other equipment can be fitted for agricultural or other commercial
work. |
| The
main business of Kamov during the Cold War was the design and manufacture
of military helicopters, particularly naval models like this Ka-31, which
has the NATO reporting name "Helix". This one is shown with
a large rotating "Oko" radar panel underneath the fuselage, which allows
the helicopter to act as a radar picket to warn the fleet of incoming aircraft.
Explosive bolts can be used to jettison the antenna in the event of a forced
landing. Kamov has succeeded in selling the "Helix" to Vietnam,
India and other countries. |
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| Here's
a real beast, another Kamov design called the Ka-50, which NATO knows as
the "Hokum" and which the company itself calls the "werewolf" or "Black
Shark", the latter name as a reference to its night-fighting ability.
There was indeed a Ka-50 in a black color scheme flying at the show, but
it did only a single pass each day, while this one in camouflage did an
extended display. The Hokum is a single seat ground attack
helicopter with several survivability features - armour plating to protect
the pilot from armour-piercing bullets and 23mm projectiles, rotors which
can withstand impact from ground fired automatic weapons, chaff and flare
dispensers, and a rocket-powered pilot ejection system. |
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| For
only the second time, the US Air Force sent a contingent to the show, this
time consisting of two F-16 Fighting Falcons, two F-15 Eagles, a KC-10
tanker, a KC-135 tanker and this B-1B Lancer bomber. The Lancer
gave a pretty ordinary display, but it was certainly an interesting sight
to see it flying over the Russian countryside. |
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| There
was other foreign participation at the show, including what might be the
last ever demonstration by an Italian Air Force G222 cargo plane, which
is due to be retired from service soon. This is always a remarkable
show, certainly not one you'd imagine a cargo plane is capable of, and
in Russia it at least ended without incident, unlike the
G222 accident at RIAT 2002 in the UK. The highlight for
me was the first ever performance in Russia by a French Armee de l'Air
Mirage 2000 fighter, which was the first delta-winged Mirage I'd ever seen
flying. |
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| The
foreign participation included jet display teams from France and Italy.
Surprisingly for a nation with such an active military aerospace industry,
the Patrouille de France flies trainers rather than fighters.
The Italian Frecce Tricolori (three-coloured arrow) also flies trainers
and does some similar maneuvers to the French, such as a synchronised takeoff.
They use far more smoke - too much at times, but they do very good close
formation flying. |
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| However
the Russians were the highlight of the jet display team demonstrations,
fielding no fewer than three separate teams! Each day's show
ended up with a performance by "Russ" flying the very attractive Czech
designed and built L39 Albatros jet trainer, which for many years was the
standard Soviet bloc military trainer. |
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| Russ
were good, but there's nothing better than a display team flying modern
military fighter jets! The "Swifts" fly MiG-29 Fulcrums in
6-ship deltas, 4-ship diamonds and various other arrangements.
The formations might not have been as tight as the US Navy Blue Angels,
but the novelty of seeing them fly and the raw noise and power from their
very smokey engines more than made up for it. The Russian crowd
were very vocal and enthusiastic, as they had been for other displays both
local and foreign, and it all worked together for a memorable show. |
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| The
"Russian Knights" also performed in their Su-27 Flankers, flying riveting
5 ship, 4 ship and solo maneuvers. Again, they weren't as tight
as some other teams, but it was an excellent show nevertheless. |
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| The
Russians have another trick up their sleeve, however - the Swifts and the
Russian Knights performing together! They did several passes
in this 9 ship formation before breaking apart for the teams to display
separately. It's interesting to see from this display just
how much larger the Sukhois are than the MiGs, and interesting also to
see the wingtip vortices which came off the MiGs during dives and tight
turns, always a nice touch during a display, even if it is less desirable
when in battle. |
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See
the
MAKS 2005 helicopter displays.
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