MOSCOW. July 23 (Interfax-AVN) - The first BE-200ChS multipurpose amphibious plane will be handed over to the Russian Emergencies Ministry on July 31, chief of the ministry's aviation Lieutenant General Rafail Zakirov said on Wednesday.
"The Irkut research and production corporation is planning to hand over the first BE-200ChS multipurpose amphibian to the Emergencies Ministry on July 31. The ministry has ordered a total of seven planes," Zakirov told Interfax-Military News Agency.
"The transfer of the BE-200ChS and its demonstration flights, including the landing on Lake Baikal and take-off from water, will take place in the vicinity of the Listvyanka village in the Irkutsk region," he said.
The ministry's pilots who got special training at the Beriyev aircraft research and technical corporation in the town of Taganrog in spring this year will control the plane, Zakirov added.
Irkut is planning to hand over the second mass-produced BE- 200ChS to the customer in December, he went on. All the seven amphibians are to be supplied to the Emergencies Ministry's aviation units before 2005.
According to Zakirov, the ministry's main BE-200ChS detachment will be based at the Ramenskoye airfield in the Moscow region. It will fight lathe area fires in central European Russia up to the Ural mountains, as well as in northwestern European Russia. The second detachment is to be based in Siberia and be responsible for Russia's northern and eastern regions.
"BE-200ChS planes will also be involved in operations in southern regions in the framework of the Black Sea Economic Agreement. This document ensures coordination of environmental and humanitarian efforts of Black Sea nations," the general said.
The BE-200 two-engined turbojet amphibian has no analogues in the world as far as its specifications are concerned. The BE- 200ChS variety adjusted to requirements of the Emergencies Ministry is intended for search and rescue operations, delivery of rescue teams and special equipment to disaster areas, and evacuation of affected persons. It can use Class V airfields, with the length of the airstrip mounting up to 1800 meters; it can also land and take off from sea and river surfaces, with their depth being at least 2.6 meters and sea swell of up to three points. The plane has a crew of two.
Maximum take-off weight from the ground mounts up to 37,900kg, maximum speed is 710 kilometers per hour, maximum range is 3,600 kilometers (with an emergency fuel stock for one hour of flight), weight of water in one intake is up to 320 tonnes. The aircraft can carry 72 people or up to 7.5t of various cargo; the volume of the tanks is 12 cubic meters.
Several European, Asian and American countries are considering procurement of the BE-200. According to experts of Irkut and the European consortium EADS, up to 320 BE-200s can be sold to 25 countries in the next 20 years. Before the plane enters the global aircraft market, it will be certified in accordance with international standards.