Russia’s combat helicopters to be improved after Syria operation experience

ZHUHAI /China/, November 8. /TASS/. The holding company Helicopters of Russia (an affiliate of Rostec) keeps improving and perfecting its combat helicopters that were tested in real action in Syria, the company’s chief, Andrey Boginsky, told the media on the sidelines of Airshow China.

“There are dozens of such amendments. They are different and concern the design of the aircraft, the weapons they carry, the onboard defense systems, the weapons control systems and the possibility of using unified weapons identical to those carried by Ka-52 and Mi-28N. Vast cooperation by Rostec’s holding companies is afoot,” he said.

Military specialists would like the weapons’ range to be increased and helicopters’ parameters improved, certain systems and components to be duplicated and the time needed to ready helicopters for flight reduced. Helicopters of Russia specialists have already responded to many of the Defense Ministry’s requests by revising the helicopters’ design, and not only that of future models, but of the ones already in service.

“Proceeding from the nature of conflicts amendments will have to be made to the tactics and the equipment and weapons the helicopters carry. We’ve split this work into three phases: short-term, medium-term and long-term,” Boginsky said.

He added that certain technical solutions would entail considerable changes to the design and require extra testing to be carried by the holding company itself and its subcontractors.