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Aviation History
1997
1997 - 0966.PDF
ROMANIA IAR has a seven-year upgrade contract for Romanian Pumas Transylvanian transformation Bell's interest in IAR could haul the Romanian manufacturer from a difficult future ANDRZEJ JEZIORSKI/BRASOV BRASOV IS A picturesque Transylvanian town known for its architecture, its loca tion in the Carpathian mountains, and its proximity to the semi-legendary castle now known - for the benefit of tourists - as "Casde Dracula". Although the much-feared, but respected historical leader Vlad die Impaler, in whose memory die castle has been named, apparendy spent little time diere, he would no doubt be flattered diat he is remembered - not only in tourist attractions and vampiric legends, but also in the name of a military helicopter pro gramme crucial to the future of Romania's defence forces and its aerospace industry: the AH-1RO Dracula. The helicopter looks set to be die latest in a line of machines to be licence-produced at the IAR factory just outside Brasov, which main tains a tradition of aeronautical construction begun in 1925. Between the World Wars, die company had licence-produced aircraft such as die Savoia- Marchetti 79B, Fiesler Storch Fi 156 and Messerschmitt BF-109G. It also built what was dien acknowledged as one of die best fighters in the world, the Romanian-designed IAR 80. Political decisions taken by the post-war Communist Government relegated IAR to buildingtractors, aldiough a small team of engi neers, lead by Losif Silimon, continued to design and build light aircraft. Then, in 1968, the factory returned to mainstream aircraft con struction under die name ICA Brasov, starting out widi licence production of Pilatus Britten- Norman Islander subassemblies and manufac ture of metal gliders. Since 1971, however, IAR has focused on helicopter work, fulfilling one of then-Pres ident Nicolae Ceausescu's ambitious dreams of industrial expansion. IAR began production of the IAR-316B Alouette III under licence from Aerospatiale, eventually building 230 units. The company later moved on to licensed pro duction of the IAR-3 30L Puma in 1976, to meet a Romanian Army requirement for a troop car rier and tactical support helicopter. To date, IAR says it has produced some 160 Pumas, but production has slowed to only one or two units per year. For now, die company is working on a seven-year programme for a com bat upgrade of die helicopter for die Romanian army, which IAR president Neculai Banea says will be fitted with state-of-the-art avionics, manufactured "widi die support of Aerostar [in Bacau] and Elbit [of Israel]", and a new weapons package. The aircraft is to be capable of night missions, and will have a high degree of com monality widi the Dracula, says Banea. The first prototype of the upgraded Puma is to come off die production line this year, possi bly even before the Paris air show in mid-June. Banea says diat die company will at least display a mock-up of die helicopter in Paris. In the mid-1980s, IAR was pursuing a light attack and training helicopter called the IAR- 317 Airfox - a derivative of die Alouette III with a revised, armoured tandem cockpit which first flew in April 1984. IAR says diat development of this helicopter-which had been intended for die Romanian armed forces - was cancelled by die Government of Ceausescu, dien struggling with a crippling national debt. Work on licensed production of die Kamov Ka-126 turboshaft version of die Ka-26 heli copter, announced in 1985, has now also been halted. The first Romanian-built Ka-126 was flown in 1989, and although IAR says it still has some airframes and components at Brasov, Kamov, and the rest of the world, appears to have lost interest in the programme. "Everybody is looking towards the West," says IAR marketing manager Stefan Paunescu. AIRCRAFT MANUFACTURE The company is also developing die IAR-46 very light aircraft, which it hopes to certificate by die middle of diis year. The two-seat, 750kg maximum-take-off weight aircraft has a 60k W (80hp) Rotax 912 F3/A3 flat-four engine dri ving a two-blade Hoffman constant-speed pro peller. Several prototypes have been built, and Paunescu says that certification has so far been delayed by lack of financing and by "difficulties in establishing a certification agenda widi the Romanian audiorities". However, die company still sees "huge" potential for die aircraft, esti mating a market for 1,000 units worldwide — and "particularly in die United States". The factory at Brasov now employs about 2,400 people, including some 300 engineers. This staff has been cut from 4,000 in 1990, and is still excessive for IAR's reduced workload. Now, after long-running negotiations, the company appears to be on the brink of a major ity takeover by US manufacturer Bell Helicopter Textron. 30 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 9 - 15 April 1997
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