07.06.2012
Russian defense ministry set a task to develop a special aircraft to patrol Arctic with long flight duration and range, and special equipment and armament onboard.
Development of the new aircraft will start upon tender results. Airplanes based
Tu-214,
A-40/42, and probably
Be-200 may attend the tender. Certainly, today it is prematurely to talk about the tender terms, reports
Interfax citing a source in Russian defense industry.
At present, dozens of Russian Navy's antisubmarine and patrol aircraft
Il-38 and
Il-38N are involved in patrolling of Arctic territories. Overaged airplanes will be written off in the nearest years.
In its turn, Canada plans to engage upgraded version of American unmanned aircraft
RQ-4 Block 30 Global Hawk made by
Northrop Grumman to patrol Arctic. That UAV is called
Polar Hawk. As is expected, it will be adapted for operation in extremely cold conditions being capable to control up to 22,000 sq km.
The
Polar Hawk unmanned aircraft will rise up to 18,300 meters and perform non-stop monitoring through 33 hours.
