The upgraded Russian helicopter Mi-8MSB has successfully completed certification in Belarus, the Russian-Ukrainian joint venture Engines Vladimir Klimov-Motor Sich’s President and Board Chairman Anatoly Sitnov told Interfax AVN.
"The Mi-8MSB helicopter received a certificate of airworthiness in the Republic of Belarus last week,” said Sitnov. According to him, the Mi-8T helicopter was remotorized into a variant of the Mi-8MSB helicopter at the Orsha aircraft repair plant.
Sitnov explained: "The remotorization involved replacement of outdated TV2-117 engines with the latest TV3-117VMA-SBM1-4E engines with a capacity of 1500 horsepower and electric ignition. In addition to installation of new engines, there are plans to upgrade the instrumentation on the helicopter, as a result of which the helicopter will acquire the ‘technical personality’ of a Mi-8MSB helicopter,” said Sitnov.
He noted, "The helicopter reached an altitude of 4500 meters within 7 minutes during a demonstration flight with journalists after the completion of the certification test."
"The work involving remotorization of the Mi-8T helicopter into the Mi-8MSB helicopter variant at the Orsha aircraft repair plant will be continued not only for the Belarusian domestic market, but also on the line for remotorization of Mi-8T helicopters operated abroad," said Sitnov. He added that full technological preparation of the production facilities at the Orsha aircraft repair plant for remotorization of Mi-8T helicopters was being planned.
According Sitnov, the Orsha aircraft repair plant will also start remotorization of helicopters of the models Mi-24 and Mi-35 in the future by installing the modern engines TV3-117VMA-SBM1V with the capacity of over 2500 horsepower on them.
