The involvement of Western suppliers in upgrades of Russian equipment is leading to charges of piracy by the Russian industry

Published: 6/22/1999

In recent interviews with the management of the Mil helicopter plant, one of the recurrent themes was the suggestion that the failure of the company was owing to the 'piracy' of the plant's products, particularly the Mi-24. In this context, on June 19th 1999, the Nezavisimaya Gazeta commented that the Mi-24-35, an upgraded version of the Russian attack helicopter, which was displayed at Le Bourget, bore no reference to its Russian origins and, to the casual observer, appeared to be an Israeli product. The engineers at the Mil plant also warn that the very significant changes being made to the aircraft electronics may lead to 'unexpected consequences'. Representatives of Rosvooruzhenie, the state defence equipment export agency, have also cautioned that such “pirate” activity, in the refurbishment of other Russian types, could have serious consequences. According to the report, there have been four cases of the Israeli-Romanian MiG-21-bis crashing for unknown reasons, after upgrading. Such reports may, in fact, suggest 'sour grapes'. Russian manufacturers have been competing head to head with a number of providers of upgrades of Russian aircraft. To date, the foreign opposition has largely won the competition. The concept that non-Russian companies cannot undertake upgrade of Russian equipment is not, however, one that is universally held in Russia. Last week, at Le Bourget, the helicopter designer, Kamov, held a joint press conference with Israeli Aircraft Industries (IAI), Lahav Division, which promoted the effective combination of Russian airframe and engines with Israeli technology. IAI has supplied much of the electronics for the new Ka-50-2 attack helicopter, which is competing in the Turkish attack helicopter tender. Additional input on the project is being made by Giat of France and Martin Baker of the UK to meet the Turkish requirements for armament and seating configuration.

Article ID: 613