China is looking for a replacement for Russian aircraft and is developing its analogue GLONASS
On November 21, in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai, the eighth Airshow China 2010 exhibition ended - the largest in its history since 1996. About 600 companies from 35 countries took part in it. The salon did not start in the best way for Russia - on the day of the exhibition, participants from three Russian delegations suffered at once from local thieves. Thieves, two girls and an elderly man, stole expensive photographic equipment, purses with money and documents from the Russians. The police and security service of the exhibition assured that the thieves would be caught. But this was never done.
Military-technical cooperation with China is not developing very well for Russia either: immediately after the opening of the showroom, a representative of Rosoboronexport admitted that in military-technical cooperation with China, the emphasis has recently shifted from the supply of finished products to the provision of after-sales service for the supplied weapons and military equipment. … Indeed, over the past 15 years, China alone has sold about 280 "Su" aircraft "The market is saturated. The equipment has a warranty resource. The assigned service life is up to 30 years. We cannot supply new equipment every year,”said Sergei Kornev, head of the state mediator's delegation.
Although Russia continues to fulfill the contract for the licensed production of 200 Su-27 fighters in China, 105 sets have been supplied, and 95 remain. Some disagreements have arisen, they are now being settled, but the 1996 contract has not been suspended. Despite the provision of China with Su fighters, the first Russian export contract for the supply of the latest Su-35 fighters is still brewing. It can be signed by mid-2011, said the deputy director of the Sukhoi company and the head of its representative office in Beijing, opened back in 2005, Sergei Sergeev. In the press, China, Libya, and Venezuela were named among the main contenders for the purchase of the Su-35.
The Su-35 is a deeply modernized super-maneuverable multi-functional fighter of the "4 ++" generation. It uses fifth-generation technologies that provide superiority over fighters of a similar class.
At the same time, Sukhoi denied reports that appeared in the Hong Kong press about the resumption of negotiations with China on the supply of carrier-based Su-33 fighters. at the air show Sergei Sergeev. Negotiations have stalled over disagreements over the minimum party size. And these planes have not been produced for a long time. And in the PRC, two types of carrier-based fighters have already appeared. One of them was created on the basis of the Su-33 - on the basis of a prototype received from Ukraine at one time - the Soviet-era T10K aircraft.
In general, Ukraine is trying to gain a foothold in the Chinese arms market. In 2011, the Kiev aviation concern "Antonov" plans to open a representative office in Beijing. Ukrainian aviators flew to the exhibition in Zhuhai in a new An-148 (Russians - by public air transport). He made a demonstration flight here. This liner is being created in collaboration with Russian colleagues. Together they are negotiating with Chinese customers who are showing interest in the An-148.
For the first time - while in a static parking lot - a new Russian-Chinese training aircraft for initial flight training L-7 was presented to the world aviation community. In Russia, it was named Yak-152. It is the brainchild of two corporations - the Russian Irkut and the Chinese Hyundai. It can train both military pilots and civilian pilots. The machine is designed for overloading up to nine units.
Again, for the first time among all training aircraft of this class in the world, an ejection seat was used. Even before the end of this year, it is planned to lift the car into the air. According to the estimates of our and Chinese marketers, the market for the new aircraft is several thousand cars. The aircraft is included in the draft weapons program for the period up to 2020 for delivery to the Russian Air Force. It will also be purchased by the Chinese Air Force.
Russia plans to offer its Chinese partners a new military transport aircraft Il-476. Its production takes place in Ulyanovsk. It will be a deeply modernized Il-76 aircraft of the next generation. In parallel, consultations are continuing on the prospects for the joint creation of a heavy transport helicopter, but there is no real progress in this project yet.
Meanwhile, China itself is becoming a manufacturer of civil aircraft. Its own long-haul passenger liner C919, which is being built here, has found its first customers. Its manufacturer - China Commercial Aircraft Corporation COMAC - signed a contract at the exhibition for the supply of 100 aircraft. Among the customers are the leasing division of the American General Electric and three large Chinese airlines. The first flight of the C919 is scheduled for 2016. In total, in the next 20 years, COMAC plans to put on the market about 2 thousand. It is expected that in the future this aircraft will compete with the Airbus-320 and Boeing-737 aircraft.
In addition, at the air show, the Chinese showed the HO-300 amphibious aircraft, which made its first flight on November 10, 2010. The PRC also has its own Jian-10 (J-10) fighter, Hung-6 (H-6) bomber, Jian-Hong-7 (JH-7) fighter-bomber and KJ- 200.
It became known at the exhibition that China has recently acquired the third heavy helicopter Mi-26TS and intends to order another such helicopter. Currently, contracts for the supply of Mi-17 helicopters to China are being fulfilled, and by next year the Russian presence in China will increase to more than 300 helicopters. To service Russian helicopters in China, a special service center is being created in the city of Qingdao within the framework of the Sino-Russian Helicopter Service Company joint venture.
Moscow Machine-Building Enterprise named after V. V. Chernyshev delivered 100 RD-93 aircraft engines to China under the contracts previously signed by Rosoboronexport. As it was announced at the exhibition, work is now underway to prepare a contract under the second option. It also envisages the delivery of a batch of 100 engines. In total, China plans to purchase at least 500 of these engines from Russia.
The RD-93 was developed for the new Chinese fighter FC-1, intended mainly for export. A significant part of the development costs of this fighter (according to some sources, up to 50%) was covered by Pakistan, which plans to produce up to 250 of these fighters at its enterprises.
Rosoboronexport reported that a long-standing and painful problem had gotten off the ground - China announced in Zhuhai about its readiness to discuss issues related to the protection of intellectual property rights. Rosoboronexport plans to hold consultations with Chinese partners on this issue in the near future.
We are talking about the unlicensed copying of the PRC of Russian military equipment, in particular, combat aircraft and Kalashnikov assault rifles. According to experts, Russia annually loses up to $ 6 billion from deliveries abroad of non-patented samples of military equipment. The business reputation of Russia as a bona fide partner is being discredited.
China announced at the exhibition the start of work on the creation of the second generation national satellite navigation system "Beidou". By design, it is an analogue of GLONASS. In 2012, the new Chinese system will cover the Asia-Pacific region, and by 2020, when the constellation of navigation satellites reaches 30 spacecraft, the entire globe. Thanks to Beidou, China has become the third state, after the United States and Russia, to use its own satellite navigation system.
