MOSCOW, August 29. /TASS/. The JSC Kamov (an affiliate of the holding company Helicopters of Russia) has devised a solution to increase the speed of its combat helicopter to 600 kilometers per hour, the company’s general designer, Sergei Mikheyev, said on the sidelines of the international aerospace show MAKS-2019 near Moscow.

"I can say that at the moment we obviously lag behind the already existing requirements. Let me recall the parameters that are about to materialize in the United States. Boeing and Sikorsky — two competitors — have pooled efforts in creating a new combat helicopter of the future. Its estimated speed will be 480-550 kilometers per hour. Currently we have no such parameters," Mikheyev said.

"I can say that I managed to identify a solution. I have obtained a patent for it. A combat helicopter can fly at a speed of 600 kilometers per hour and more," he added.

Earlier, Kamov came up with a sketch design of a synchro-copter with two lifting airscrews and one propeller. According to a presentation, the machine’s estimated speed is 420 kilometers per hour.

The speed of current helicopters does not exceed 300-350 kilometers. A number of countries are conducting research into high-speed helicopters (S-97 Raider in the United States and Eurocopter X3 in Europe), which can develop a speed of more than 400 km per hour.

Research and development in Russia

According to earlier reports, Russian engineers are working on a high-speed helicopter of the future for the Industry and Trade Ministry and the Defense Ministry. Viktor Bondarev, the then deputy commander of Russia’s Aerospace Force, said the helicopter designed for the Defense Ministry having a speed of up to 500 kilometers per hour will begin to be batch-produced as of 2022.

In May 2018, the chief of the holding company Helicopters of Russia, Andrei Boginsky, said the civilian version of a new generation high-speed helicopter turned out too costly for commercial use, so all the research and development the Industry and Trade Ministry had funded would be used in the next configuration meant for the military.

In November 2018, Boginsky announced that the Russian Defense Ministry had assigned the Mil Design Bureau with creating a future high-speed combat helicopter, while Kamov will go ahead with research and development for the naval helicopter Minoga.