MOSCOW. Nov 10 (Interfax-AVN) - Russia's Interavia company will supply I-3 aerobatics planes to Finland, Interavia's CEO Sergei Yesayan told Interfax-Military News Agency on Monday.
"Most I-3s have been supplied into private property in the U.S. There were only four acquisitions in Europe," he said.
He recalled that the first batch of 50 I-3s was launched in the late 1990s at the Tushino Machine-Building Plant in Moscow. Later the production was transferred to a 3,000-sq.m. Interavia- Radonezh facility near Sergiev Posad, Moscow region.
Yesayan said that 25 of 50 planes had been sold, and another 15 were being assembled.
He went on to say that the I-3 program had been estimated at USD5m for designing, making five experimental aircraft, and preparing serial production. This account, however, did not include certification. In the U.S. the I-3 costs as little as USD85,000 to 90,000, compared to USD200,000 for the SU-29 of the same type, Yesayan said.
Being designed by the former Sukhoi Design Bureau staff, the I-3 has about the same characteristics as its counterpart. The plane is powered by a single 360-hp M-14P engine, has a takeoff weight for ferry missions (with two pilots) of 1,063kg, a limit speed of 450kmph, a maximum speed of 350kmph, and a service life of 2,000 flight hours or 15 years.
The aircraft is converted into a twin-seater within an hour by replacing the canopy and shifting the glareshield with the instrumentation console and a fuselage panel.
Interavia is a joint venture controlled by Eagle Aerospace, Switzerland.