Maksim covers aerospace developments in Central Asia for Aviation Week. He has worked for Russia's Air Transport Observer magazine and was in charge of several ATO sister aerospace publications after working for the Moscow-based CAST defense think tank.
Maksim has a degree in international relations from MGIMO University, Moscow.
The first upgraded MiG-29UPGs for the Indian air force should be ready for delivery this year now that the prototype has completed its first flight. Its nearly 1-hr. maiden run (below) took place at the Gromov flight-test center at Zhukovsky, near Moscow.
MOSCOW — Russian Space Agency Roscosmos plans to complete the deployment of the national satellite navigation system GLONASS by midyear, with the launch of four additional Glonass spacecraft. Earlier plans that called for ensuring a full operational capability by the end of 2010 had to be scrapped after the loss of three satellites in a Dec. 5 Proton launch mishap (Aerospace DAILY, Dec. 7, 2010).
MOSCOW — The Russian air force is starting to field the Kamov Ka-52 attack helicopter and also is augmenting other elements of its rotorcraft fleet. On Dec. 28, the air force’s 334th Tactical Deployment Center in Torzhok received three Ka-52s, the first from the preproduction batch of 12 helos being produced by the Arseniev-based Progress facility. The twin-seat Ka-52 is based on the single-seat Kamov Ka-50 Black Shark coaxial-rotor assault helicopter and will serve in the air force as a special mission rotorcraft.
