MOSCOW. June 4 (Interfax-AVN) - The seven mass-produced BE- 200 amphibians that are being built for the Russian Emergencies Ministry will be fitted with new on-board equipment, a competent source in the aircraft building industry told Interfax-Military News Agency on Wednesday.
"The ARIA-200M on-board equipment set is different from the baseline ARIA-200 version in having new mathematical backing and expanded capabilities," the source said.
ARIA-200 was designed for the BE-200 jointly by the Moscow R&D Institute of Aircraft Equipment and the U.S.-based Allied Signal company (later renamed Honeywell), the source explained. It is a digital piloting and navigation system that has color multifunctional LCDs.
"The Irkut research and production corporation that mass- produces BE-200 amphibians has received the ARIA-200M set of piloting and navigation equipment for the first mass-produced BE- 200. All BA-200 aircraft that will be supplied to the Emergencies Ministry will get these sets," the source said.
ARIA-200M is mass-produced by its developer with the help of subcontractors that supply the Moscow institute with a lot of components.
"At the moment, the volume of ARIA-200M production is minimal, and most of the systems are made by the experimental facility of the Moscow-based institute. In the future, mass production of the asset will be launched at a regular instrument engineering plant," the source said.
Experts supervising the production of BE-200 planes have noted that the aircraft's avionics and engines work nearly flawlessly during the current flight tests, which is an extremely rare case in development of new planes. At the same time, there are not enough spare parts and appliances for the amphibians, and suppliers lack production backlogs.
The third BE-200 that will be handed over to the Emergencies Ministry later this month is the first mass-produced aircraft of the make. It is intended for combat duty within the Emergencies Ministry aviation, the source said.
"In the near future, a part of BE-200 planes is likely to fight fires in Russia, while others will be leased to foreign countries with the goal of getting money for further development of the BE-200 program," he noted.
According to the source, Italy, Greece, Algeria and France have applied for renting BE-200 planes.
"However Russia does not have enough planes of this make. It will only have four BE-200s by the end of 2003, two of them experimental and two mass-produced ones," he said.