..:: India Strategic ::. Military Aviation: Russia and China to Build Advanced Heavy Lift Helicopter

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Editorial

Russia and China to Build Advanced Heavy Lift Helicopter

Published: October 2015

Moscow. Russia and China will jointly build a heavy lift helicopter, drawing its designs from the Soviet vintage but sturdy machine, Mi 26.

Deputy Chief Executive Officer for Sales at Russian Helicopters holding company Grigory Kozlov, said at the recently concluded Maks – 2015 air show that some basic work had been done by his company and the Chinese AVIC, and that the two were now trying to work out what the new machine will look like. This, he added, will be an advanced helicopter and newer capabilities.

The new machine is designated AHL for Advanced Heavy Lift, and an agreement should be likely by end-2015.

"We are going to build a helicopter from scratch making it a fundamentally new aircraft even though it will borrow some of the solutions from the existing Mi-26,” Kozlov said.

China itself seems to require some 200 heavy lift helicopters over the next 20 – 25 years.

The AHL helicopter will be powered by Russian engines, leveraging on the technology of the indigenously developed engine PD-14. The Perm aircraft designers are all set to launch this engine into mass production. One of the PD-14 prototypes actually was unveiled at the air show held here in August.

Notably, the Mi 26, which the Indian Air Force also uses, is still the heaviest lift helicopter in the world.