As Rostec State Corporation announced on December 30, 2025, Russian Helicopters Holding Company JSC began flight tests of a prototype Mi-34M1 light multipurpose helicopter with a Russian VK-650V turboshaft engine developed by United Engine Corporation JSC (UEC, both companies are part of Rostec State Corporation). The flight duration was 10 minutes. The aircraft was lifted into the air by Sergey Barkov, a test pilot at the M. L. Mil and N. I. Kamov National Helicopter Center of the Russian Helicopters Holding Company.
The first prototype of the Mi-34M1 light helicopter (tail number "1712"), equipped with a new Russian VK-650V turboshaft engine manufactured by JSC ODK-Klimov, in its first "official flight". Tomilino, 12/30/2025 (c) Russian Helicopters JSC
Thus, the first prototype of the Mi-34M1 light helicopter (S-1, OP-2, tail number "1712"), equipped with a new Russian VK-650V turboshaft engine manufactured by UEC-Klimov JSC, completed its first full-fledged flight. According to available information, the first full-fledged flight of the Mi-34M1 was performed at the airfield of JSC "National Helicopter Center named after M. L. Mil and N. I. Kamov" JSC "Russian Helicopters" in Tomilino near Moscow on December 25, 2025, and on December 30 the first "official flight" was performed there.
The Mi-34M1 helicopter is an upgraded version of the Mi-34C family of light helicopters equipped with piston engines. The first flight prototype of the Mi-34M1 helicopter (S-1, OP-2, tail number "1002", now changed to "1712") was converted in 2024 at the National Helicopter Center named after M. L. Mil and N. I. Kamov from the second prototype of the modernized Mi-34C1 helicopter with a piston engine. The M9FB, which made its maiden flight on August 4, 2011, but was discontinued in 2013 and has been in storage ever since. In addition to the new VK-650V engine, the helicopter has a modified BP-34M main gearbox. On October 15, 2024, the first prototype of the Mi-34M1 with a VK-650V engine made its first flight in Tomilino in hover mode, but after that flight tests were interrupted for more than a year - according to a number of reports, due to a critical failure of the VK-650V.
UEC announced in June 2024 that it would transfer the first VK-650V engine prototypes to Russian Helicopters for testing in production of upgraded helicopters (also Ka-226 and Ansat). The development of the VK-650V (initially claimed take-off power of 650 hp, emergency power of 750 hp) has been carried out by UEC-Klimov UEC (St. Petersburg) for a long time. On July 29, 2025, flight tests (in hover mode) of a prototype of the Ansat-M import-substituted light helicopter with two VK-650 engines installed (instead of Pratt & Whitney Canada PW207K engines) began at the Kazan Helicopter Plant, and on September 2, the Ansat-M prototype made its first full flight. It is reported that the VK-650V engine also had a critical failure during tests on the Ansat-M prototype. Flight tests of the Ka-226 helicopter with VK-650V engines have not yet begun, although they were previously announced to begin in 2025.
Despite the practical lack of testing in the air, the VK-650V engine received an official type certificate on December 28, 2024 for clearly political reasons, and the initial life of the engine was determined in it at only 74 hours. The operating modes of the engine are also prescribed with great restrictions - for example, the time of continuous "continuous" operation at a power of 590 hp (434 kW) is limited to 20 minutes (according to ICAO requirements, 60 minutes are required), significant restrictions have been introduced on the operating temperature of the turbine and outdoor air. The maximum continuous operating mode of the engine is stated at 460 hp (338 kW), the weight of the dry engine, according to the certificate, is 129.5 kg.
Thus, the refinement of the supposedly "certified" VK-650V engine to the minimum condition suitable for actual operation, as well as the gearboxes for it, will take several more years. Now the serial production of VK-650V is planned from 2027 in the cooperation of ODK-Klimov and ODK-Salyut. In 2025, the latter stated that it had developed and implemented the necessary technologies to launch mass production of the main components of this engine, and on October 1, 2025, it announced "readiness to enter production volumes."
The Mi-34M1 program itself, which equips the Mi-34 helicopter with a VK-650V engine, was launched and is being implemented without widespread publicity. In general, the project is in line with the main direction of the current activity of the Russian aviation industry, which is experiencing serious difficulties with the development of new types of structures and prefers to engage in endless upgrades and resuscitations of Soviet models, even such unsuccessful ones as the Mi-34. In the context of the increasing international isolation of the Russian Federation, this process is only getting worse, and the Mi-34M1 program was launched by Russian Helicopters after the collapse for political reasons of the program to create a promising VRT500 light helicopter, which was carried out with broad international cooperation and with the expectation of foreign markets.
The serial production of the Mi-34M1 is expected to be conducted at the Kazan Helicopter Plant of Russian Helicopters.
In December 2023, Mikhail Korotkevich, Director General of the Russian Helicopters National Helicopter Center, announced that three modifications with a capacity of four to eight people were planned to be created under the Mi-34M1 program. At the first stage, a new gearbox for the VK-650V engine will be developed and the fuel system will be redesigned. "We are not touching the main airframe systems, with the exception of passenger accommodation and the luggage compartment," Korotkevich said. The take-off weight of the motorized vehicle will be 1.55 tons.
At the second stage (designation Mi-34M2), in order to increase passenger capacity, it is planned to completely redesign the airframe of the helicopter, redesign the landing gear, fuel system and tail rotor blades. The take-off weight of the six-seat modification will increase to 1.75 tons. For the most spacious eight-seat version with a take-off weight of two tons, the main rotor and the hub of the skewer machine will be redesigned.
The first prototype of the Mi-34M1 light helicopter (tail number "1712"), equipped with a new Russian VK-650V turboshaft engine manufactured by JSC ODK-Klimov, in its first "official flight". Tomilino, 12/30/2025 (c) Russian Helicopters JSC
Presumably, the airframe of the prototype Mi-34M2 helicopter of the "second stage of modernization" is being manufactured at the Kazan Helicopter Plant (c) Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation
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