Technological breakthrough: the Ministry of Defense chose the developer of a Russian advanced high-speed helicopter

The project of a prospective high-speed combat helicopter (PSV) for the Ministry of Defense of Russia will be implemented by the Mil design office. This was announced to journalists on Friday, November 23, by Andrei Boginsky, Director General of the Russian Helicopters holding company.

"The customer, having considered all the proposed technical options from the point of view of readiness, scientific and technical reserve, the possibility of cooperation, chose for itself a solution that involves achieving speed on the objectives of the TOR (technical assignment. - RT ) based on the Milev machine", - quotes Bohinsky Tass.

The head of the helicopter-building holding recalled that the contract for the formation of the concept of a high-speed combat helicopter was concluded on the fields of the International Military-Technical Forum "Army" in August 2017. At the same time, research work in this direction was carried out both by the specialists of the Mil factory and the employees of the Kamov design office. In particular, the results obtained using the flying laboratory of a promising high-speed helicopter with a new rotor were used.

“In order to enable our main customer to demonstrate the capabilities of both Mil and KB and Kamov's design bureau, we made a decision inside the holding (of course, we agreed with the customer) that two design bureaus take part in this work,” said Boginsky.

According to him, about ten concepts of a promising high-speed helicopter were proposed. Scientific and technical councils were held, where the materials provided were reviewed, an “internal defense” of the projects took place, after which a number of options for both design bills were submitted to the Ministry of Defense.

“No one oppresses anyone, just normal competition is going on ... There is internal competition, there are competencies to substantiate or prove the point of view of one of the two design bureaus. And the customer is already choosing the option that is more compliant with the requirements, ”the general director of Russian Helicopters added.

He urged not to forget that the Kamov Design Bureau is already working on the draft design of the fourth generation Minogue helicopter, which should replace the Ka-27 and its variants.

“The Kamov Design Bureau has always been strong, and these competencies have been preserved, we are multiplying them in the field of special helicopter production of coaxial schemes for use in certain conditions, and primarily in the fleet,” said Bohinsky.

Earlier, Boginsky reported that flight tests of a promising high-speed combat helicopter are expected after 2025. At the same time, the former commander-in-chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces noted that the new helicopter could reach speeds of up to 500 km / h (although the speed ceiling of existing Russian and Western samples of military equipment is 300–350 km / h).

Recently, the general director of the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute named after N.E. Zhukovsky (TsAGI) Kirill Sypalo said that the technology developed in conjunction with the Mile Design Bureau, which makes it possible to significantly increase the speed of helicopters, is based on the rotor of the latest design.

“If earlier we were flying at a maximum speed of 320–330 km / h, then here the line of 400 km / h and higher is already attainable,” he said.

At the same time, at the end of October 2018, the Defense Blog published the photos “merged into the Internet” from a closed presentation in the Kamov Design Bureau, which shows one of the concepts of a promising combat helicopter. It is clear that in addition to the classic "Kamov" coaxial rotor scheme, this project is equipped with a wing - thus, it is a hybrid of a helicopter and an airplane.

Russia accidentally leaks image of future high-speed helicopterhttps: //t.co/FmRw7nPF3gpic.twitter.com/m6hBYivX6r

"Absolutely new design"

According to the chief designer of KB-602 of the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI) Dmitry Dyakonov, the key task that designers of a promising helicopter have to solve is to create completely new materials, since the blades, shafts, and parts of the PSV housing will have to work with significant alternating dynamic loads. At the same time, the materials should be light and have practically unlimited resource.

“This, for example, is not an analogue of an airplane or an analogue of a helicopter with more powerful engines. This is a completely new design. Based on this, in addition to new materials, we will have new construction approaches in this area of ​​high-speed machines, ”said the expert.

The interlocutor RT noted that in conditions of increased vibration of the blades due to their limited stiffness, an additional damping system should be developed. Dyakonov added that the American company “Sikorsky” has a program of an ABC high-speed helicopter, and foreign experts are confronted with the fact that with huge vibrations the structure simply begins to fall apart.

“By and large, the materials themselves, which will be obtained in the course of this work, if later applied to existing helicopters and other screw systems, will already be a huge leap for the same Mi-8 and other machines,” the expert emphasized.

In this regard, he noted that even if the concept of a promising high-speed helicopter does not go into mass production, the results obtained from materials and the art of design, transferred to existing machines, will make them “absolutely competitive in the market of tomorrow”.

In turn, the military expert of the magazine “Arsenal of the Fatherland” Dmitry Drozdenko, in a conversation with RT, noted that the creation of a high-speed helicopter will allow the new class of vehicles to perform combat missions more quickly and, secondly, to spend less time under fire the adversary.

“When aiming from MANPADS, the homing head must seize the target, it takes on average about ten seconds of steady tracking ... The helicopter flies overhead very quickly, because it is pressed to the ground. If its speed is higher, then this time is further reduced. The same can be said about small arms ... Therefore, speed is important, ”Drozdenko said.

• Created on the basis of the combat Mi-24 helicopter laboratory during testing, 2015
• RIA News

“Give the helicopters new qualities”

Oleg Panteleyev, executive director of the AviaPort agency, also told the RT that the promising helicopters should have a higher flight speed (both cruising and maximum) in order to be able to respond as quickly as possible to the changes in the speed of military operations. situation and arrive in the area where to perform a particular task.

"As long-term practice has shown, achieving high speed for helicopters in the past decades was possible only due to a significant deterioration in other characteristics, in particular, carrying capacity or flight range ... Today, existing developments in the field of materials and aerodynamics allow us to create a design that would increase speed cruising up to 400 - 420 km / h without compromise in terms of flight range, payload mass. This makes it possible to give the helicopters new qualities, ”said the expert.

Panteleev noted that the scheme proposed by Mil Design Bureau was recognized as relatively budgetary in terms of costs, but the speed increase that will be provided for the next period will indeed be a great bonus for the helicopter operators.

“As we understand, it will not take much time before the developments, first used for military helicopters, can be used on civilian vehicles,” the expert stressed.

At the same time, in addition to the advantages that high speed characteristics will give the new helicopter in battle, Panteleyev also drew attention to the importance of the speed parameter for a number of other tasks, in particular for search and rescue operations.

“If it is necessary to evacuate the wounded, to arrive at the place of some accident, and such precedents, unfortunately, were during missions in the SAR, here speed is certainly a very important factor, in fact, quite often determines the success of one or another operations, ”the expert concluded.