On Wednesday, Russian Defense Minister General of the Army Sergei Shoigu arrived at the Kubinka airfield near Moscow. Here he examined the aviation part of the exposition of the international military-technical forum "Army-2021".
The head of the military department was shown promising samples of aviation equipment and the latest weapons developed for the Aerospace Forces of Russia. In particular, the Minister was shown a modernized Ka-52M helicopter together with the "product 305"air cruise missiles.
He also inspected a promising field technical and operational part for performing military repairs of aircraft equipment and aircraft engines of domestic production. Then the Minister of Defense approached the Mi-26T2B helicopter equipped with medical modules, and also looked at the Ka-226T, Mi-28NM, Mi-28NM, Mi-8MTV5-M, Mi-38T helicopters, L-410 multifunctional aircraft of various modifications, the newest training aircraft UTS-800. Following the inspection, the Minister gave a number of specific instructions. In particular, he set the task to continue improving the onboard equipment of the Ka-52M Alligator helicopter. Shoigu explained that the crew should be able to solve combat tasks without entering the zone of destruction by enemy missiles, the range of which is increasing.
The commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces, Sergey Surovikin, reported to the minister that the Ka-52M presented in the exhibition is one of two machines that are being tested by the state. He noted that the helicopter pylons are prepared for the use of the Ataka, Vikhr and Vikhr-M missiles. "With a range of 4-6 kilometers - "Attack", 8 - "Vortex" and 10 kilometers - "Vortex-M". That is, the machine is capable of hitting the enemy with any unified means, " Surovikin said. The Minister asked when the Ka-52M will be equipped with Vikhr-M missiles. "In 2022, we are putting on a helicopter," the commander-in-chief replied.
During the inspection of the newest training aircraft UTS-800 of domestic production, Shoigu set the task to lift it into the air in November, and to complete the tests in 2022.
Ivan Petrov