lancelot Sat Oct 19, 2024 2:55 am
Helicopter with VK-650V engine takes to the air for the first time
18.10.2024
On October 15, 2024, the upgraded Mi-34M1 helicopter made its first hovering flight at the Mil and Kamov National Helicopter Manufacturing Center in Tomilino, Moscow Region. The machine is equipped with a VK-650V turboshaft engine manufactured by UEC-Klimov. Video story from Tomilino published in VK Mashnews.
Previously, helicopters with the VK-650V engine had not taken to the air. Initially, it was designed to replace imported power plants on the Ansat and Ka-226 helicopters. The Mi-34M1 became the first flying helicopter with the VK-650V engine, ahead of the Ansat, which is only being prepared to begin certification flight tests with this turboshaft engine.
The Mikhail Mil Design Bureau developed the Mi-34 in the 1980s as a light training and sports helicopter to replace the Mi-1 and Mi-2 used for these purposes. The power plant was a piston engine M-14V-26 with a capacity of 325 hp designed by I.M. Vedeneyev.
In 2009, Russian Helicopters announced plans to resume production of the Mi-34 in two variants: the modernized piston Mi-34S1 and the gas turbine Mi-34S2 with an Arrius 2F engine with a capacity of 504 hp from Turbomeca. As Andrey Shibitov, CEO of Russian Helicopters, stated on the eve of MAKS-2009, one of the tasks that the holding company faced at that time was diversification of the model range with the aim of moving into the niche of the best-selling machines in the civilian sector.
However, this program was later abandoned in favor of developing a new light helicopter in partnership with the Italian company Agusta Westland. Joint work with the Italians ceased in 2014.
In 2023, Russian Helicopters returned to the idea of reviving the Mi-34 with the Russian VK-650V turboshaft engine. Now this promising turboshaft engine is being considered for installation on helicopters and in the turboprop version on the Yak-152 training aircraft, as well as for use in a hybrid power plant , a demonstrator of which was created in Klimov.
In the context of the severance of all relations with the Russian aviation industry by former Western partners, Russian Helicopters needs to add a single-engine gas turbine helicopter to its model range that could compete with the Airbus H125 and H130, Agusta AW119 and Bell 407 and 505. The implementation of this program is facing delays primarily due to the lack of domestic theater aircraft. The success of the programs to create light helicopters and training aircraft largely depends on the timing of the VK-650V certification and the launch of its serial production by UEC-Klimov.
https://aviation21.ru/vertolyot-s-dvigatelem-vk-650v-vpervye-podnyalsya-v-vozdux/