Russian Helicopters, part of the Russian state defence industry holding Oboronprom, a subsidiary of Russian Technologies Corporation, and a leading global designer and manufacturer of helicopters, including a number of the most renowned, innovative and widely used models, is presenting its latest innovations in mechanical engineering and modern helicopter technologies at the second international Engineering Technologies – 2012 forum.

The forum opens tomorrow, 27 June, and runs through 1 July 2012, in the Moscow Region town of Zhukovsky at the Russia Transportation and Exhibition Complex, the traditional venue for the International Aviation and Space Salon MAKS. Russian Helicopters will be showcasing innovative technologies, both already available and under development, that underpin the global competitiveness of Russian-made helicopters, and contribute to the industry’s growing production and financial results in Russia.

Russian Helicopters CEO Dmitry Petrov said: “The creation of a modern helicopter is an extremely complicated, hi-tech task requiring manufacturers to constantly expand their scientific knowledge, improve technologies and introduce new methods of production. This idea drives innovation in the development of the Russian helicopter industry, the success of which we are now demonstrating at the Engineering Technologies forum. The systemic emergence of new breakthroughs in helicopter manufacturing has become possible through the unification of design bureaus, consolidation of industrial assets and the accelerated expansion of the R&D potential of all helicopter manufacturing enterprises of the holding.”

Today the Russian helicopter industry is already becoming one of the centres of the science-intensive and high-tech segments of the global machine building industry, and Russian Helicopters proudly presents the first results of the modernization of its enterprises and elaborates on the industry’s most recent intellectual projects. Among the programs and innovations presented at the forum, one can see several trends in the development of the helicopter industry progressing towards the creation of next generation manufacturing, as well as the emergence of technologies of importance to society at large – technologies boosting safety and fuel efficiency and mitigating environmental impact.

In this context, of particular interest are technologies for improving the quality of the end product, increasing the life-span of components and lowering the cost of parts, increasing flight comfort and safety, including automated piloting and landing in difficult weather conditions, as well as boosting the commercial aspects of their operation.
The technologies on display have been created by specialists of Russian Helicopters in cooperation with leading research institutes and within the framework of joint projects between Russian and international companies – aviation component developers and producers of modern machinery and high-tech equipment.

At the forum opening tomorrow, Russian Helicopters plans to present a project to create a promising new Advanced Health and Usage Monitoring System (A-HUMS), which takes flight safety to a new level. Together with the Zhukovsky Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI), an innovative blade control system for the main rotor has been developed and is being tested. This system is aimed at increasing the cruise speed and improving passenger comfort through reduction of noise and vibration. In cooperation with international partners, a new method has been developed for forming the geometry of the blades of the main rotor, which makes it possible to reduce the production costs, increase the life of the blades and lessen the cost per flight hour.

The Russian Helicopters exhibit will also demonstrate a modern casting setup, installed at Progress Arsenyev Aviation Company, for producing helicopter body parts from magnesium and aluminium alloys, making it possible to increase the parts’ lifespan. An automated aluminium alloy processing line, now used at Kazan Helicopters, both increases the quality and decreases the cost of helicopters. The development of manufacturing technologies based on Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) at Rostvertol ensures a high product quality and interchangeability of helicopter components. The highly effective closed-loop unit for testing transmission gearboxes at Reductor-PM reduces manufacturing time, production costs and the price of the components themselves.

In addition to the innovative developments presented at the joint Oboronprom/Russian Helicopters stand, the latest Russian-made helicopter models will also be on display. At stand F3/1-6/A (Pavilion F3), the holding will showcase its new medium Mi-38, a promising new version of the highly popular M-17 – the modernized Mi-171A2, the new light multipurpose Ka-226T and the modernized Ansat and super heavy Mi-26T2.