The MiG 1.42 multifunction lightweight fighter prototype could fly within two months if no further problems arise, according to the Russian combat aircraft developer. Meanwhile, MiG's parent organisation, VPK MAPO, has been transformed into the Russian Aircraft Building Corporation MIG (RSK MIG).
MiG 1.42 chief constructor and director Yuri Vorotnikov says the aircraft will fly if there are no further setbacks. VPK MAPO chief Nikolai Nikitin adds: "We had a mass of technical and financial problems at the beginning of the year, but we have now practically resolved them all."
The MiG 1.42 was rolled out in January and was due to fly in the early spring, but has remained on the ground undergoing tests. Nitikin says the first flight date will not be advertised. "We first have to complete it and then do the talking," he says. The 30t-class fighter is powered by two Lyulka AL-41s equipped with thrust vectoring.
Meanwhile, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed a decree on 8 December transforming VPK MAPO into RSK MIG.
VPK MAPO was created as a conglomerate designing and manufacturing airframe parts, engines, avionics and systems for MiG fighters, later incorporating the Kamov helicopter design bureau and Aviabank.
The Mikoyan Engineering Centre will be the core of RSK MIG, which will include the Voronin Production Centre (formerly Moscow MAPO production plant). Other components include the Lukhovitsi Machine Building plant, where MiG-29s are re-assembled and tested after being built at Voronin, and where the Ilyushin Il-103 light aircraft is built. The Kalyazin Machine Building plant, the Krasny Oktyabr, Aviatest and Pribor companies and Perm Instruments are also included.
Shares in VPK MAPO's avionics specialist Electroavtomatika will be split equally between RSK MIG and a new avionics concern.
Kamov will be integrated with a helicopter production site at Kumer-Tau, and possibly the Arsenyev factory, to form Kamov Helicopters.
Three VPK MAPO engine companies - Klimov and Soyuz design bureaus and the Chernyshov production plant - will become a new engine company. Radar manufacturer Ryazan, Aviabank and the Russian air force aircraft repair plant 121 at Kubinka are outside RSK.
Nikitin becomes the general director and general designer of RSK. He says RSK will continue its efforts to launch Tupolev Tu-334 airliner production at the MAPO plant in Moscow.
Source: Flight International
