Cobham Selected to Provide Passenger Audio Systems for Embraer KC-390 Military Transport Aircraft

17^th  December 2012, RUNGIS, France– Cobham has been selected by Embraer Defense and Security to provide the Passenger Address System (PAS) for the KC-390 military transport aircraft to ensure broadcast announcements are appropriately heard in the aircraft’s cockpit and cabin. Each KC-390 aircraft will receive one PAS, which consists of a Passenger Audio Amplifier and a set of loudspeakers, with the system provided by the Cobham Aerospace Communications strategic business unit in France.

With this selection, Cobham is now providing five products to the KC-390 programme: the Wing-mounted Aircraft Refuelling Pods (WARP), the auxiliary fuselage fuel tanks, the aerial refuelling probes, and the nose radomes.

The KC-390 is a Brazilian Air Force project for which Embraer signed the development contract in April 2009. It is the biggest aircraft to be manufactured by the Brazilian aerospace industry and will set new standards in the medium-lift market in terms of performance, cargo capacity, flexibility, and life cycle costs. According to Embraer, the first flight of the KC-390 is expected in 2014, with first aircraft delivery in 2016.

For more information go to  www.cobham.com

Russian Helicopters’ Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant Turns 65

Tomilino, Moscow Region / 12 December 2012 – Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant, the world-famous designer and developer of helicopters including the Mi-8, Mi-24 and Mi-26 models, today celebrates its 65th anniversary. 

Distinguished engineer Mikhail Mil in 1947 was appointed head of an experimental design bureau that over time became one of the best helicopter design schools in the world. Today the traditions of this school are being continued and developed by Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant as a Russian Helicopters company.   

Created by engineers working under the leadership of Mikhail Mil and his successors, the Mil helicopter brand is truly unique. It includes the legendary Mi-8/17 series, the world’s most popular helicopter, with more than 12,000 produced over 50 years; the Mi-35M, the only military transport helicopter in its class; the Mi-26(T), the world’s heaviest-lift transport helicopter with a 20-tonne lift capacity; and the new Mi-28NE Night Hunter, which boasts unique manoeuvrability and can fly military missions around the clock in all weather conditions.   

Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant is one of Russian Helicopters’ most important intellectual assets, and is a key component of the helicopter innovation cluster being established at the company’s National Helicopter Manufacturing Centre in the Moscow Region town of Tomilino. The centre is the focal point for the Bureau’s scientific, design and engineering resources. It will also be home to the Kamov Design Bureau, which is currently completing its relocation to a new modern building at the centre. 

The creation of the National Helicopter Manufacturing Centre will establish a modern intellectual infrastructure for helicopter manufacturing as a part of the larger process to develop the innovation potential of the Russian economy. A single centre of excellence will allow the sector to focus intellectual resources into creating breakthrough technologies and developing the helicopters needed by state contractors and the commercial market worldwide.

        Priority areas for Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant include the planned Mi-38, the Mi-171A2 and advanced high-speed helicopters. The Russian Advanced Commercial Helicopter (RACHEL), the medium advanced high-speed helicopter project presented to the global commercial market at the Farnborough International Airshow, is a breakthrough innovation that could have a profound influence on the future of helicopter manufacturing globally.Much attention is also being devoted to the study and use of composites, which are actively studying composite materials in Germany. Such developments will add new dimensions to Russian-built helicopters, making them faster and more powerful, adding greater lifting capacity and reducing operating costs.

Mi-8 Mi-17

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mi-26T2

 

 

 

 

 

Mi-38