IRKUTSK. July 28 (Interfax-AVN) - The Irkut research and production corporation will hand over two out of seven ordered BE- 200ChS amphibious planes to the Russian Emergencies Ministry before the end of the year and is planning to start exporting the aircraft next year, Irkut President Alexei Fyodorov said on Monday.
"We will hand over two out of the seven ordered BE-200ChS to the Russian Emergencies Ministry in July and December this year, and are planning to start exporting the unique amphibian in 2004- 2005," Fyodorov told Interfax-Military News Agency.
"The Emergencies Ministry is among the best state customers from the point of view of funding. This agency is extremely interested in the project and is taking necessary measures to fund it properly," he said.
According to Fyodorov, Irkut is planning to make a bit over 10 BE-200s a year initially.
"I will not disclose future plans, I will just say that additional facilities will be required for the amphibian's production if they are implemented," he stressed.
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.
Fyodorov also said that Urkut is working on improving the BE- 200 project. The work is in progress in Moscow, Taganrog and Irkutsk simultaneously.
"The BE-200 amphibian costs about USD25m at the moment, and the price is quite competitive on the global market," he stressed.
The BE-200 two-engined turbojet amphibian has no analogues in the world as far as its specifications are concerned. 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.
The plane is powered by two D-436TP turbojet bypass engines developing 7.5t each produced by the Motor Sich company in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia. Maximum take-off weight of its fire- fighting variety 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 capacity of the water tanks is 12 tonnes.