MOSCOW. March 22 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Be-200CHS amphibious aircraft will take part in the Portugal's tender for leasing an aircraft of the type. "The winning bidder will be announced this May," a source in the Russian defense industry told Interfax-AVN on Thursday.
According to him, Portugal is going to lease two fire-fighting amphibians for the term from June to September this year.
"The difficulty is that the aircraft that can be leased to Portugal are all in service with the Russian Emergencies Ministry (four aircraft), and will be required in Russian during the same period," he said.
He noted that one of the conditions of the tender is the availability of the type certificate of fire-fighting aircraft, and only the configuration of the aircraft that is in service with the Emergencies Ministry has such a certificate.
"However, we must participate in the tender at all costs, because a decision may be taken based on its results which aircraft to buy," he added.
He recalled that last summer a Be-200 of the Taganrog-based Beriev Aviation Scientific and Technical Complex, which is a division of the Irkut Corporation, participated in suppressing forest fires in Portugal, and earned a very good reputation. The aircraft was in experimental operation from July 1 to August 31 within the framework of a leasing contract between Beriev and the National Fire Fighting and Civil Defense Service of Portugal.
The demand for the Be-200 is estimated at about 50 fire-fighting aircraft, and 150-200 amphibians in passenger and search and rescue configurations. Russia needs a fleet of 40-50 such aircraft.