In the morning of November 17, even before the official opening ceremony of the air show, the Crown Prince of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, Deputy Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the UAE Armed Forces, Sheikh Mohammed Ben Zayed Al Nahyan, immediately after arriving at Dubai Airshow held a conversation with the Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov. The meeting was held in a friendly atmosphere and for a fairly long time, because of which the organisers had to slightly push the opening of the airshow to a later time. After the negotiations, the Crown Prince personally drove the head of the Russian delegation to the electric car with a taxi sign and proceeded with him to the Royal Hall, where the official opening ceremony of the Dubai Airshow took place.

In addition, the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia and the Crown Prince discussed a wide range of cooperation in the field of civil aviation. So, the meeting discussed the preparation of a bilateral agreement in the field of certification of aircraft to promote joint projects in the field of aviation industry and cooperation in the field of technology and industrial equipment in the oil and gas sector.

“We have a wonderful relationship and His Highness have found the opportunity to meet with us. We spent a lot of time together discussing substantive issues of bilateral cooperation. Despite the fact that just recently our president came here a month ago, a lot of topics for discussion have already accumulated, including those raised during the visit of our president. These are topics not only of military-technical cooperation, but also topics related to civil cooperation, in particular, on Russian equipment for the oil and gas industry of the Emirates,” said Denis Manturov.

Denis Manturov also had a working meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister, UAE Minister of Presidency Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

In February this year, an intergovernmental agreement on the mutual abolition of visa requirements entered into force. This created comfortable conditions for increasing business mobility and increasing tourist flow between the countries, which, according to the results of the first half of this year, approached the mark of 1 million 300 thousand people - this is already significantly higher than the indicator for the whole of 2018.

“We note with satisfaction the desire of the Mubadala fund to expand the scope of its investment presence in Russia, in particular, the interest shown in fast-growing Russian technology companies that are globally competitive. We especially value joint investments in socially significant projects, for example, as the creation of a network of cancer centers. We welcome the growing interest of the Emirate partners in investing in industrial and technological cooperation projects,” said Denis Manturov.

Distinguished guests also visited the static exposition of the Russian delegation, which featured: the latest Russian Mi-38 helicopter, Ansat helicopter and the Yak-130 combat training aircraft. The guests visited the Mi-38 cabin, where communication continued with the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation. Then, having arrived at the exhibition pavilion, Sheikh Mohammed Ben Zayed Al Nahyan first visited the stand of the United Aircraft Corporation, where such modern Russian aircraft construction programs as MC-21, Superjet 100, Su-30SME, Yak-130, MiG-35, Su- 35, Su-57E, Be-200, Be-103, IL-78MK-90A, IL-76MD-90A, IL-112 and IL-114-300. Sheikh got acquainted with the product line of the corporation, asked experts with interest, and especially stayed near the model of the MC-21 aircraft.

However, the main news events were ahead. On the first day of the salon, an agreement was signed on the entry of the company from the UAE Tawazun into the project of VR-Technologies LLC, a subsidiary of Russian Helicopters holding, engaged in innovative design developments of promising aircraft.

The document was signed by Andrei Boginsky, CEO of Russian Helicopters, and Tarek Abdul Rahim Al-Khosani, CEO of Tawazun. The signing took place in the presence of the Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov and the CEO of Rostec Corporation Sergey Chemezov. The agreement defines the main parameters of the future transaction, including the share that will be acquired by an investor from the UAE - Tawazun will become the owner of half of the shares of BP-Technology, which is developing promising helicopter and unmanned vehicles. The transaction is planned to be completed in the 1st quarter of 2020.

“In addition to the traditional products presented at Dubai Airshow, probably the most interesting, demanded and important for us in terms of development prospects is the new VRT-500 helicopter, which will be created in the future together with the Emirates, with Tawazun and for this an agreement is signed , the main condition of which is the financial participation of Tawazun in the amount of $ 150 million. This is the entry into the capital of VRT - a subsidiary of Russian Helicopters," said the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov.

Of particular interest to partners from the Middle East is the project of a promising light helicopter VRT500. Speaking about the participation of Tawazun in this project, Denis Manturov explained: "$40 million is the payment of its share directly to Russian Helicopters and a $3.5 million soft loan will be provided at a 3.5% term for the duration of this project. I think this is a very promising project Our partners understand this and are counting on its rapid development in the version according to which work is already underway - a helicopter with one engine, but in the future - we have already laid in the design the possibility of introducing hybrid propulsion systems by adding two The electrical motors, and, subsequently, the transition to a fully electric propulsion, with the improvement of the electric motors and power elements. colleagues in the Emirates are considering using our helicopter as Uber-taxi from Dubai Airport on the main tourist spots."

“I am confident that the investments of our Middle Eastern partners will accelerate the implementation of the VRT-300 and VRT-500 projects and give impetus to new developments in advanced helicopter and unmanned systems. Our agreements also include assistance in promoting these products in the markets of the Middle East and, in particular, the Persian Gulf. Both cars have good prospects in the region, where solutions for the development of urban air mobility are becoming increasingly popular," said Sergey Chemezov, CEO of Rostec State Corporation, in turn.

After acquiring a stake in BP Technologies, Tawazun representatives will join the company's board of directors on an equal footing with members from Russian Helicopters. “The agreement signed today lays the foundation for long-term cooperation in the format of not just colleagues, but full-fledged business partners. With the support of Rostec State Corporation and RT-Business Development, we managed to achieve full understanding with Tawazun, without which it would be impossible to realise such significant and large-scale projects “As equal partners, we plan to invest at least 400 million euros in the development of BP-Technologies, which will help make the company's products competitive and in demand all over the world,” emphasized l Holding CEO "Helicopters of Russia" said Andrey Boginsky.

"This signing was the result of a fund to support the UAE's strategic initiatives aimed at investing in advanced industries and transferring relevant technologies," said Abdula Nasser Al-Jaabari, head of the Tawazun Defense and Security Development Fund.

VRT500 is a light coaxial helicopter with a take-off weight of up to 1600 kg, developed by the VR-Technologies design bureau. The coaxial rotor arrangement is designed in partnership with Kamov. The exterior of the helicopter was created with the participation of the ItalDesign Giugiaro design studio, specialising in automobiles. VRT500 was first presented to the public in May 2018 at the HeliRussia international exhibition. The start of mass production is expected in 2023.

The main event of the second day for the Russian delegation was the ceremony of laying the capsule at the base of the future pavilion of the Russian Federation at the World Exhibition EXPO 2020 by Denis Manturov. The exhibition, which will be held in Dubai next year, promises to be one of the largest and most visited in history. Denis Manturov noted the importance of the EXPO format for familiarising the world community with original Russian culture, industrial and agricultural products.

“Since 1851, Russia has actively participated in all World Exhibitions, and we have always tried to make pavilions that are convenient, comfortable, functional, and unique from an architectural point of view. The area of ​​the site on which the Russian pavilion is located will occupy more than 4.5 thousand square meters and will be among the largest expositions of the exhibition. It will be a technologically unique design of a spherical shape, with a height of more than 25 meters. Most of the facade elements will be manufactured using the latest technologies, many of which will be used for the first time in the construction of such engineering structures, ”said the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia.

Another news event was the announcement of the start of the Yak-130 aircraft modernisation program and its transformation from a combat training aircraft into a combat aircraft. Commenting on the corporation’s participation in Dubai Airshow-2019, UAC CEO Yuri Slyusar said: “For us, the Middle East is one of the highest priority Regions. Here we really have a lot of contacts and we are discussing both the military and civilian components. The main event for us is that we brought the Yak-130 aircraft to the air show. This is a well-established aircraft. But here we represent the beginning of the project for its deep modernisation. We are significantly expanding its combat capabilities, and it will be not just a combat training aircraft, but, to a large extent, a combat aircraft with the ability to perform a wide range of tasks."

Read more about this in our review Yak-130 gains a foothold in the Middle East

“We have customised his combat capabilities to our customers in the Middle East for the tasks that they have to solve. The specifics of the market depend on those combat missions that the Air Force of a country solves. We tried to correctly understand all these tasks and offer our customers the product that best meets their needs. And, of course, his training function is also enhanced - he is able to provide training for pilots on fourth and fifth generation aircraft. This is a universal machine. We really hope that this machine will cause great interest.

As for the civilian component, we are in the process of considering the possibilities of cooperation on the MC-21 aircraft. Our task is to bring the pace of its mass production to 70-120 units per year. In the Emirates, there are very interesting companies, technically equipped, with very interesting technologies, including in composite production. We want to sell airplanes in the Middle East region and we are looking at the possibility of international cooperation, because it is also an entrance ticket to this market. The competition is very high. Our competitors offer a wide range of products and our task is to offer no less attractive conditions and interesting products, or even surpass them, ”explained Yuri Slyusar.

The head of the UAC also took part in the official and negotiation program of the Russian delegation, including during a demonstration of the exposition of the Russian aircraft industry to representatives of the UAE senior management. In addition, the business program of the UAC delegation included meetings with production partners and potential customers of aircraft. So, during the first two business days, meetings were held under the CR929 wide-body aircraft program with potential suppliers of aircraft engines from among the world's leading manufacturers - General Electric and Rolls-Royce. Negotiations were held in the development of similar meetings held earlier by the Chinese UAC partners on this project.

The topic of the meeting with the leadership of Mubadala (UAE) was the prospect of cooperation in the direction of supersonic civil technology. And with the leadership of Alsalam (Saudi Arabia), they discussed the possibilities for industrial cooperation in the context of the supply of civil aircraft to the Middle East. One of the important points of the program was also a meeting with the UAC's main partner in India - with the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited corporation. Among the range of issues on the development of interaction, a possible promo operation on the Il-114 program was also discussed. Negotiations continued with Egyptian partners to promote the Be-200 amphibious aircraft and validate the aircraft certificate in Egypt.

The flight program of the airshow, in which the Yak-130 aircraft demonstrated its high manoeuvrability, was also saturated and interesting. The crew consisting of test pilot Vasily Sevastyanov and test navigator Sergey Kudryashov showed aerobatics: “bell”, “barrel”, “turn on the hill”, inverted flight and others. Ansat helicopter also demonstrated its capabilities.

Of course, telling about such an event of a global scale it would be unfair to limit ourselves to Russian participation and not to mention interesting expositions and aircraft from other countries. Aircraft were presented at the exhibition and in the flight program: F-15US, F-16, F-22, F-35, Rafale, Typhoon, Kawasaki C-2, Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, Airbus A330-900neo and others. A detailed story about this could take several more hours, so we suggest you just enjoy our photoreport.