MOSCOW, (RIA Novosti political commentator Andrei Kislyakov)
The ILA-2006 air show, which opened in Berlin's Schonefeld Airport May 16, and other similar major international events make it possible to assess the performance of national aerospace industries.
This year, the Russian display will be the largest at the show: a new 3,000-square-meter pavilion has been built especially for 70 Russian companies, due to offer commercial airliners, aircraft repair and maintenance facilities, technical personnel training programs, space technology spin-offs, military aircraft and related weapons, equipment, aircraft and rocket engines, materials, a helicopter center, corporate jets, small specialized aviation, etc. Over 200 new-generation airplanes, helicopters and spacecraft will be displayed in Berlin.
Experts all over the world already know enough about the Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), the Soyuz-2 medium-class launch vehicle and the advanced Kliper reusable spacecraft, which will be displayed at ILA-2006. But the Samara-based Progress design bureau may steal the limelight with its two prototype automatic orbital laboratories capable of flying independent missions for three to four months. Various experiments in the field of micro-gravitation, applied technologies and bioengineering will be conducted aboard these laboratories, which will subsequently dock with the International Space Station. ISS crews will then collect materials, return them to Earth inside small capsules and load new materials for future experiments.
Each orbital laboratory based at the Foton space laboratory, will have a service life of up to five years; there are plans to launch them between 2012 and 2015 under the federal space program.
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29M Fulcrum super-agile multi-role fighter with a variable-thrust vector is to perform demonstration flights outside Russia for the first time. This warplane owes its super-agility to RD-33 power-plants, whose jet nozzles can be pointed in any direction.
Pavel Vlasov, chief pilot of the Aircraft Corporation MIG, said the fighter's variable-thrust vector ensured impressive maneuverability at high angular speeds. Moreover, the brand-new MiG-29M, which has the same color as the white-blue-red Russian state flag, and whose fuselage's entire top section features a five-pointed star, can brake sharply, outfly the enemy and take up an optimal attack position.
