QucomHaps Malaysia, a subsidiary of Irish information and communications technology firm QucomHaps Holdings, plans to use Russian-made Myasishchev M-55 high-altitude aircraft to provide wireless broadband services in Malaysia.

The company plans to lease 13 aircraft from its parent company, says managing director Abdul Majid Abdullah in a Bernama news agency report. These would carry communications equipment at the stratospheric level - around 20km (12 miles) - providing broadband services including internet, mobile phone, and broadcast and television coverage throughout Malaysia.

The M-55 first flew in August 1988 as the successor to the M-17 Soviet army reconnaissance aircraft. Aircraft were built to create a high-altitude long-endurance platform for land observation (using side-looking radar), later evolving into C3 (communications, command, control) aircraft over battlefields.

Russia's defence ministry stopped funding the M-55 after the cold war, but Myasishchev has permission to market civilian versions internationally. Two aircraft remain operable, one for scientific research and ecological monitoring and the other as a test platform for mission avionics.

Any project that would seek high utilisation and long service of the M-55 as a high-altitude long-endurance aircraft would necessitate the construction of new airframes, given that the two surviving M-55s have their lifetime and calendar resources nearly depleted.

On-board systems need to be updated, while the PS-30V-12 engine, derived from the RSK MiG-31's D-30F6, may need further development to extend its life-cycle and increase its suitability for commercial service.

Abdul Majid says that the aircraft's reliability and cost efficiency make it suitable for the role. "The M-55 is an all-weather single-seater stratospheric aircraft capable of operating day and night for about 5h up to an altitude of 21km, even in critical environmental conditions and strong crosswinds at take-off or landing. These characteristics, plus its 1,500kg [3,300lb] payload, make the M-55 an ideal platform for research in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere," he adds.

QucomHaps Malaysia expects to receive one aircraft by the end of 2007 for technical demonstrations, and 24h broadband services could be delivered within a year. It plans to fly each aircraft over a designated area for 5h and keep them connected to local and international ground communication stations. It estimates that an aircraft in circular flight can provide a coverage of 125,000km2 (48,260 miles2).

Malaysia plans to have a broadband penetration of 50% by 2010, up from the existing 12%. The company believes that high-altitude platform technology using the M-55 will eventually be used to provide full nationwide broadband coverage at a lower costs.




Source: Flight International