LE BOURGET, France, June 19 (AVN) - The Taganrog-based Beriyev aircraft research-technical enterprise, Irkutsk aircraft enterprise (IAPO), St.Petersburg-based Klimov plant and Ukrainian Motor-Sich JSO announced about the joint work on production of the BE-132MK new generation plane at the Paris Air Show.
The plane is aimed at airlifting passengers and cargo at the range of 300km to 1,500km on the airlines with small passenger trafficking which is normal for the majority of Russian regions and the CIS member states. Currently there are no Russian planes of such kind.
The plane is being produced by the Taganrog enterprise on the basis of the BE-32 plane which successfully underwent the complete number of tests and received the corresponding certificate. The new plane gained the reliable aerodynamic equipment and several construction components from its predecessor. The plane will have the hermetic cabin, new VK engines produced by the Klimov plant and serially produced at the Motor-Sich company. The engines capacity is up to 1,500hp which is to permit the plane to increase the people capacity from 16 to 22 or 24 passengers. The marketing researches carried out by the production participants proved that the regional passenger airline companies need the plane. The enterprises will also work out the headquarters and patrol variant of the plane aimed at partial replacement of the AN-24 Coke planes park which service life is to expire in the near future. The agreement signed between the Tagonrog enterprise, IAPO, Klimov plant and Motor-Sich envisages the production of the business plan and technical-economical ground for the project by late 2001 as well as holding additional marketing researches. The organisation variant of the project is based on the principles of risks division. The wide-scale implementation of the project will start after the companies receive a solid order.