MOSCOW, June 9 (AVN) - India will get the first production KA-31 helicopter in late 2001 and another four in 2002, Deputy Chief Constructor of the Kamov company Veniamin Kasyannikov said on Saturday.
Kasyannikov was asked by the Military News Agency to comment on results of the Russian-Indian military-technical co-operation commission's visit to the company. He said commission members were shown KA-226 Hoodlum, KA-32 Helix, KA-52 and KA-50 Hokum helicopters. Hokum made a demonstration flight for the visitors.
The commission also studied the KA-31 long-range radar and picket helicopter, whose prototype took off for the first time on May 16. The flight occurred near the town of Kimertau in the Bashkyrtostan autonomous republic. The aircraft plant located in the town has launched serial production of KA-31.
Kasyannikov confirmed that "Indian" KA-31 helicopters will be fitted with a modernised crew cabin and a Kabris global navigation and landing system developed by St. Petersburg's Kronshtadt company. The helicopter's piloting equipment was produced by the Rameskoye instrument engineering design bureau.
The Kabris system displays data on the radar situation together with information on naval and aerial targets. Navigation is carried out by means of an in-build GPS 12-channel receiver of satellite data.
The core of the radar and picket system is the on-board radar with the six-square-metre aerial reeled in in the air. The system detects up to 200 aerial targets at ranges of up to 150km and track 20 of them simultaneously. Surface ships are detected at ranges of up to 250km. Data on the tactical situation is transmitted to a ground or surface command and guidance centre via a telecoded communication channel.