Since technical breakthroughs in the field of aviation in Russia do not have to wait, the main sensation of the recent air show in Le Bourget was an attack on the chief aviation specialist of Rosoboronexport JSC (ROE) Sergei Kornev, who headed the Russian delegation. According to INTERFAX.RU, referring to the representative of the Federal Arbitration Service of Russia, Maria Vorobyova, Sergei Kornev heroically did not allow the attackers to take possession of his Russian passport.

Was this attack accidental? And why among all the countries that took part in the salon, it was the head of the Russian delegation that gave rise to such extravagant information?
Problems with the use of Russian-made helicopters in Afghanistan have been known for a long time, and our newspaper has already written about them. Whether they could have caused the attack on Sergei Kornev, responsible for the ROE for the helicopter component, is unknown. But the threat to leave Russian-made helicopters operating in Afghanistan without technical support, sounded from the lips of the first deputy head of the Federation Council Committee for Defense and Security Franz Klintsevich at about the same time, could have a definite effect on the emigrant layers of the population of Paris, a large proportion of whom are Afghans .

If we ignore this situation and look at Franz Klintsevich's statement, then for the operators of Russian-made helicopters outside of our country this is a bad "call". It turns out that someone who is not with us is not worthy of receiving original spare parts for Russian-made helicopters and should be content with counterfeit goods? After such statements about the expansion or even the preservation of the situation on the world's helicopter market, there is nothing to say. Who will buy a helicopter, if its airworthiness is directly proportional to political quarrels?

But the formidable statements to the Americans do not make any sense. They, having worn out with Russian manufacturers, have already made a decision: in order to carry out overhaul of 53 UH-60A helicopters, money is allocated in the US budget, and this batch is already purchased. 4 helicopters have already been transferred to the Afghan army. By the end of this year, 18 helicopters will arrive in Afghanistan after the renovation, and in total until 2023 it is planned to supply 159 American-made helicopters to Afghanistan to replace the Mi-17V-5.

Was there a tender from Rosoboronexport?

While the American side is deciding on the replacement of the park, the main Russian special exporter is trying to save face. Thus, RIA Novosti reported that the Czech company and the ROE allegedly won a certain tender from NATO for the repair of Mi-17V-5 Afghan helicopters. It's probably a lie. It seems that Rosoboronexport did not win any tender, because it did not even participate in it. Most likely, we are talking about four helicopters that have been in the Czech factory LOM Praha for a year now, waiting for the Russian side to share the "skin of a dead bear" between Rosoboronexport and the helicopter holding Helicopters of Russia with the direct participation of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation FSMTC of the Russian Federation).

If to speak about the tender, it was held at the very beginning of 2016, which, in fact, the Czech side informed Rosoboronexport, Helicopters of Russia and the leadership of the Federal Arbitration Service of the Russian Federation with its letter of February 23, 2016. Then, having received four helicopters, the Czechs have been actively negotiating for over a year now. If you believe the "source in the field of military-technical cooperation", to which RIA Novosti refers, then repair of these four helicopters will take "... two years - 2017 and 2018". Taking into account the possible receipt of helicopters in 2016 - this is already three years.

That is, only four helicopters Rosoboronexport, together with the Czechs, will repair for three years ?! Not surprisingly, with this approach, the Americans decided to completely replace the Afghan helicopter fleet. Our newspaper in the article "Bath Agreements" ("Our Version" No. 15) wrote how this happened.

Elite real estate - the driving force of the Russian aircraft industry

The situation with maintaining the airworthiness of the Afghan fleet shows that the current design, organized in Russia, both in industry and its supplement in the person of the FSMTC of the Russian Federation, is apparently not capable of promptly solving the problems of maintaining the airworthiness of Russian-made helicopters. Pile of trade and intermediary holdings, it seems to me, is a "cancerous tumor" on the body of real producers, whom this piling up eventually will finally crush. However, if this happens, the "holding companies", in whose ownership the state transferred aviation assets together with land plots, will work well on housing construction. There are many examples of this - just look at what homes have appeared in the territories that used to belong to ANTK. A.N. Tupolev, also in the region of Kuntsevo, where the Moscow Radio Engineering Plant is located. The territory formerly occupied by KB "Kamov" has already been liberated under construction, and the same thing happened with the MVZ named after MV Lomonosov. M.L. Mile.

P.S. ... The message "RIA Novosti" about the repair of four Mi-17V-5 helicopters in three years was also heard in Paris. Perhaps that is why the "inhabitants of the Parisian suburbs" chose the leader of the Russian delegation to attack? With a view to robbery, it was possible to pick someone richer than Sergei Kornev.