RUSSIAN AIRCRAFT IN THE SKIES OF PARIS

the 42nd aerospace show, which is admittedly the most important and prestigious world exhibition of achievements in aviation and astronautics closed on Sunday, July 22

For eight days more than 300,000 visitors, including 12,000 specialists, familiarized themselves with thousands of exhibits and 220 aircraft from 43 countries. Open grounds and exhibition halls occupied an area of 75,000 square meters. About 3,000 journalists and 192 TV and radio companies covered the show. Stringent security measures were taken.а

Antonov An-38

Prior to the opening, the President of France Jaque Shirac visited the exhibition, thus adding to the significance of this event.а
The 8th aerospace forum, various scientific seminars and press conferences of leading foreign and Russian aviation and space companies were held in the course of the show.а

The exhibition attracted 1,850 organizations, including world leaders of the airspace industry from the USA, Russia, France, Great Britain, Germany, Canada, Israel and other countries.а

As during the previous show, specialists and visitors displayed great interest in the Russian exposition, which was one of the largest and most interesting. For the first time all our achievements were demonstrated in one exhibition hall, under a single flag and a single inscription: "The Aerospace Industry of Russia." It is worth mentioning that Rusian, Ukrainian and Uzbek aircraft builders were represented at the exhibition as one team.а

The former republics of the Soviet Union - Moldova and Georgia - had their own exhibitions at the aerospace show.а
Seventy firms and organizations, such as the Sukhoi Design Bureau, Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant, Ilyushin Aviation Complex, MIG "MAPO", the Russian Space Agency, Kazan and Rostov helicopter plants, Nizhni Novgorod Sokol aircraft building plant, and other companies presented their developments in the aviation and space sectors. Demonstrations of Russia's military and civil airplanes and helicopters: Su-37, Su-32FN, MiG-29SM, MiG-AT, Yak-130,а
IL-103, IL96T, IL-76MF, IL-114T, Mi-28N, Ka-50, MI-8AMTSh, An-74, sport planes Su-29 and Su-31M were displayed both on the ground and in the air.а
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Ilyushin Il-103

The exposition of the Khrunichev Space Production Center was rather spectacular. They demonstrated a full-size mockup of the cargo unit for the Alpha international space station and a prototype of the new Briz accelerating unit.а

Along with aerospace technology, Russia exhibited domestic air defense systems: the Tunguska-M1 air defense gun-missile system, Buk-M1 mobile all-weather air defense missile system, and S-300PMU1 and S-300V mobile missile systems.а

In spite of bad weather, about 50 aircraft and helicopters demonstrated their capabilities in the sky of Le Bourget. Prior to the arrival of the "long-suffering" Su-37, the star performers at the show were the French-made Rafale, European Eurofighter and Russian MiG-29 and Su-32FN. The latter won the sympathy of specialists and visitors because of its maneuverability.а
However, according to specialists, to say nothing of spectators, the unique stunts performed by Yevgeny Frolov in the Su-37 looked supernatural. In spite of the unfortunate failure in the last flight, it was this aircraft that was declared the fighter of the year and was awarded the first prize in the Military Aircraft category.а

There is an opinion that such exhibitions are rather show then commercial events.а
However, this time Russia's aviation industry can report specific results which have materialized in contracts.а
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Yakovlev Yak-50

A contract was signed between the Beriev Aviation Research and Technical Complex and Rosvoorouzhenie State Corporation for Export and Import of Armament and Military Equipment and the leading Israeli electronics company, Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), on joint production of an airborne early warning and control system, the Russian counterpart of the A-50.а
A deal was concluded between the ILyushin Aviation Complex and the Transaero Airlines for the purchase of six IL-96 transport airplanes.а

In all, the Le Bourget '97 show was marked by tough competition between the producers of civil and military aviation equipment: 80 percent of the total sum of the signed contracts worth $10 billion, went to the civil airplanes and helicopters.а

The exhibition also indicated a clear trend towards the further consolidation of aerospace enterprises, both on a national and international scale, against the aggravation of the competition for markets. According to the Paris newspaper Figaro, "the world market resembles more and more a boxing ring, with the USA and Europe clinched in a single combat."а
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