Translated material
Russian "Sable" in the Andes
Latin American gun show opens
Yesterday in Chile, at the Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport near Santiago, the 15th International Aviation and Space Salon FIDAE 2008 opened. In Spanish, the name of the gun show is written like this: Feria Internasional del Aire y del Espacio. This exhibition, originally organized by the Chilean Air Force, takes place every two years. FIDAE was first held in 1980 and was timed to coincide with the half-century anniversary of the national Air Force. At that time, 80 companies from 13 countries held expositions. This was just the beginning. Over almost three decades, the salon has grown into the largest aerospace forum on the South American continent.In 2006, 379 companies from 45 countries took part in FIDAE. They presented 121 full-scale models of aircraft, including a firefighting version of the Russian Ka-32 helicopter. Then more than 40 thousand specialists and 134 thousand aviation enthusiasts “checked out” at the exhibition. Firms and enterprises from 45 countries are participating this year. In the traditional sections of the air show “Military Aviation”, “Civil Aviation”, “Space Technologies”, “Equipment for Airfields” and “Maintenance of Aircraft”, this year the section “Equipment for Security Forces and Civil Defense” was introduced for the first time - it has an impact “ fashionable" topic of terrorism and organized crime.
This year Rosoboronexport brought representatives of nine Russian defense industry enterprises to the exhibition. This is the Moscow Helicopter Plant named after. Mil, JSC ROSAT, OKB Novator, Research and Production Corporation Irkut, Tactical Missile Weapons Corporation from Korolev, Moscow Region, Ural Optical-Mechanical Plant from Yekaterinburg, Kazan Helicopter Plant, Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant and " joining them is the Russian Federal Property Fund. In total, visitors to the Russian pavilion will be able to see about 200 types of weapons and military equipment.
Among them is the multifunctional super-maneuverable fighter of the “four plus-plus” generation Su-35 . In its development, fifth-generation technologies were used, which ensure superiority over foreign fighters of a similar class. And the Su-35 itself, in its flight performance characteristics, is approaching a fifth-generation aircraft. This aircraft is equipped with a new phased array radar and an avionics complex based on a digital information and control system. The Su-35 is equipped with new thrust vectoring engines. On 12 suspensions, the aircraft can carry up to eight tons of combat load - guided and unguided weapons.
Presented at FIDAE 2008, it is the only helicopter in the world capable of performing landing, transport, and sanitary tasks. This helicopter can perform missions day and night, in hot climates and high altitudes. The continuation and development of the world-famous Mi-8/Mi-17 helicopters, of which there are already more than 4 thousand in the world, is the Mi-17V-5 military transport helicopter. It carries up to 36 paratroopers, or 4.5 tons of cargo. The Mi-17V-5 is effective in high altitude, desert, high temperature and humid conditions, which should attract Latin American military personnel.
For several years now, Rosoboronexport has been offering helicopter simulators produced by R.E.T. at exhibitions. Kronstadt", which allow pilots and engineers to acquire the necessary skills. Simulators save several times the cost of training specialists and reduce training time by half. Medium- and short-range air defense systems are also presented at the exhibition. In particular, the newest Tor-M2E and Buk-M2E. By the way, today they guard the skies of Athens and Helsinki. Why not do the same in Latin America?
The Russians are also showing a traditional set of conventional weapons here. These are T-90S tanks , BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles, the entire line of advanced Kalashnikov assault rifles, which is supplemented by the Nikonov AN-94 “Abakan” assault rifle. In addition, Rosoboronexport is demonstrating in Santiago guided weapon systems with Krasnopol, Kitolov and Gran projectiles and mines, which make artillery highly accurate. When using these means, ammunition consumption is reduced by 10-15 times. At the request of the customer, the Malachite automated fire control system can be supplied as part of the above complexes.
The frigate "Gepard 3.9" and the corvette "Tiger" presented at FIDAE can strengthen the navies of the countries of the Latin American region. Good export prospects, as experts note here, have the Zubr and Murena hovercraft and the Project 636 submarine with an integrated Club-S missile weapons system. Taking into account the geographical features of the Latin American region, attention is paid to ships of small and medium displacement. The Scorpion missile and artillery boat, the Mirage, Sobol, Svetlyak and Mongoose patrol boats are recognized as among the best in the world.
Rosoboronexport also offers an integrated coastal zone control system. It was first introduced three years ago in Thailand, but then the system did not work. And so Latin Americans became interested in her. The system integrates ship traffic control systems, coast guard, customs and rescue services. Total costs can be reduced by almost half. And the “highlight” of the coastal system could be the Russian coastal over-the-horizon radar station “Sunflower”. It can monitor sea and air objects at a distance of up to 300 km around the clock, regardless of weather conditions and optical visibility.