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 series production Yak-130 Mitten combat trainer for the Russian air force (left) will be on static display at the MAKS 2009 air show in Zhukovsky this week. Assembled at the Sokol plant in Nizhny Novgorod, it was flown for the first time in May and is the initial one of 12 Yak-130s ordered by the air force in 2005.
The Kamov Ka-52 attack helicopter is expected to finally begin trials with the Arbalet radar in place at the end of August following a redesign of the installation and the antenna. Initial government testing of the Ka-52—dubbed the Alligator—was concluded in 2008, but without the radar. The trials should be completed in 2010 if the latest timetable is kept, according to Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin, chief of the Russian air force.
Douglas Barrie (London), Maxim Pyadushkin (Moscow)
Russia’s leading guided-weapons manufacturer will wheel out revised—if long- touted—versions of its two key air-to-air missile products this month, as it tries to bolster its position in the export arena. Tactical Missile Corp.—also known as TRV—will formally unveil its so-called RVV-SD and RVV-MD missiles for the first time at the Moscow air show later this month. The RVV-SD is an improved version of the R-77 (AA-Adder), while the RVV-MD is a variant of the R-73 (AA-11 Archer).
