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Aviation History
1989
1989 - 2749.PDF
TUSHINO SHOW REVIEW Alan Postlethwaite reports from Moscow on developments within the Soviet aviation industry. Flight photographs by Janice Lowe from the Tushino show. in the West. The Soviet design bureau has yet to finalise proposals, but intends to approach firms later this year. Yakovlev says that it cannot speculate on a possible Western suitor, but appears to rule out Cessna, believing the US firm to be a future competitor rather than a partner. Gulfstream, which already plans a business-jet joint venture with Sukhoi, is to fly its new eight-seat Gulfjet next year—one of few Western aircraft of this size under development. Sukhoi has recently had talks of a "general character" in the USA with Piper officials, accord ing to bureau chief designer Mikhail Simonov, who says: "We would like to have contacts with Piper". Sukhoi is also talking to Dassault about a subsonic business-jet project, it is thought. The Soviet interest in business- aircraft joint ventures seems to indicate growing acceptance of the need for non-scheduled services within the Soviet Union, as well as a will to find new non- military and export markets. Further East-West links revealed by the Soviets are talks on powering the British Aero space 146 four-jet regional airliner with Lotarev D-36 turbofans, as used in the Yak-42 tri-jet. BAe officials say that the aircraft would fill a niche for Aeroflot until the Soviets develop a similar-size aircraft themselves. By contrast, Soviet officials say that talks have taken place with Rolls-Royce about a possible RB.211 powerplant for the Tupolev Tu-204 twinjet. The Soviets also say that Irish leasing company GPA visited Tupolev after the Paris Air Show to dis cuss the possibility of leasing the aircraft—the Soviet equiva lent of Boeing's 757—to Western operators. Soviet ? export agency Aviaexport claims that there is "great interest" from more than a dozen West European charter operators in the Tupolev Tu-334 100-seat twinjet. The aircraft will initially fly with turbofans, but may subsequently be fitted with Soviet propfans now under development. • Time against the Tu-334? Domestic sales prospects for the Tupolev Tu-334 medium-haul twinjet seem to be under threat from the urgency of state carrier Aeroflot's need to add capacity. Soviet sources suggest that Tupolev may not be able to deliver its new-technology First time on display for the Antonov An-72 Coaler STOL transport in Soviet Air Force grey: maximum payload is 10,000kg. An airborne early warning variant, the An-74 Madcap, has a fin-mounted rotodome BLACKJACK BIGGER THAN B-l Above Blackjack's retractable flight refuelling probe doors are visible just aft of the radome; asymmetrically arranged dorsal bumps aft are also visible. Right The Tupolev Tu-160 has a visual bomb aimer's posi tion under the nose, but the main arma ment is air-launched cruise missiles such as the AS-15 Kent and a short-range attack missile pos sibly carried on an internal rotary launcher as in the US Rockwell B-l bomber. airliner soon enough. Aeroflot may therefore press the Ministry of Aircraft Production to give the go-ahead for Yakovlev to produce a new version of its Yak-42 tri- jet, which would be available sooner. Any such move is likely to meet resistance, because the Ministry is understood to favour development of the Tupolev design. The 100-seat Tu-334 is considered a new aircraft but, to speed entry into service, incor porates many technical features and equipment of the 214-seat Tu-204, the most Nadvanced Soviet airliner yet. The Yak-42 derivative, desig nated Yak-42M, is planned to have a stretched fuselage fqr.156 passengers and innovations to improve fuel efficiency, including a new supercritical wing of higher aspect ratio with tipsails, and uprated engines. Yakovlev asserts that its 156-seater is better suited to Aeroflot's needs than is the smaller Tupolev design and will be cheaper and more reliable. The design bureau believes that Aeroflot has left it too late to order the Tu-334. • SOVIET NEWS IN BRIEF YAK-42 SALES Operators in India, Cuba, Italy, and China have each ordered two Yak-42 tri-jets for delivery next year. Certifica tion procedures are in hand. "NO NOTAR" The US NOTAR system which dispenses with the helicopter tail-rotor has yet to find favour in the Soviet Union. No such system has been tested; it would only be suitable for small helicopters, says Mil. Continued on P 30 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 9 September 1989 27
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