Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has approved the Russian-Chinese agreement on co-developing the advanced heavylift helicopter in his order signed on February 7 and published on the governmental legal information website, TASS announced today, Feb. 15, 2017. |
"The agreement between the government of the Russian Federation and the government of the People’s Republic of China on the cooperation under the advanced heavylift helicopter development program, signed in Beijing on June 25, 2016, shall hereby be approved," the document says. The Russian Foreign Ministry has been tasked with informing China on Russia having complied with its domestic procedures relevant for the agreement to take effect.
The agreement was signed last summer during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s official visit to China. The Russian Helicopters Corporation (a subsidiary of Rostec) said it would assist its Chinese partners in the development of the helicopter.
The agreement implies Russian Helicopters will invest its technologies in the program, devise a draft proposal and design individual systems of the helicopter on a contractual basis. Its Chinese counterparts will be responsible for organizing and implementing the program as a whole, including prototype design, manufacture and tests, certification, production, market promotion and general coordination of the program.
As was earlier said by the company, the co-development will contribute both to the furthering of the cooperation in high-tech branches of industry and to "bolstering the friendly relations between Russia and China as a whole."
The Russian-Chinese AHL (Advanced Heavy Lift) helicopter is being co-developed by Russian corporation Russian Helicopters and Chinese corporation AVIC. According to the information released by the partners, the machine will have a maximum takeoff weight of 38.2 tons, a service ceiling of 5,700 m, a range of 630 km and a maximum speed of 300 km. The AHL’s lifting capacity will stand at 10 tons for internal cargo carriage and at 15 tons for underslung cargo. |
A scale model of Aviation Corporation of China’s (AVIC) 10t-class Advanced Heavy Lift (AHL) helicopter displayed at Zhuhai Air Show 2016
