Who said Armavia is switching to new ones?

Like I said, it was an issue for Aerfolot but not for any upcoming customers. Aeroflot knew there would be risks being the initial large customer for the aircraft. And considering what kind of sales they get for the aircraft, and gov support in general, I am not gonna shed any tears for them.

Red Wings wants the Tu-204SM since it is a great deal and avoids waiting for the production backlog of the major airliner producers. Their worries are understandable, but saying nobody wants the Tu-204 is plain wrong.
If nobody wanted it, production would not have had the go ahead to start, and the plane would have ended up like Tu-334 or Il-96.

And what does Red Wings care about reselling the Tu-204? They are being leased from Ilyshin finance.

looking mean. if there’s one thing worth buying from Russia, its Mi-17s, along with MI-26, Mi-24, and long range SAMS

so

what are those plates on the side of the cockpit?

Armor.

With the Ansat, Ka-226 and Mi-34 all wanting for orders, highly unlikely.

I would hope so. But apparently this tender is for foreign aircraft only. Guess MOD doesn’t want Mi-34.

So if I understand correctly, the follow on order of 59 was increased to 71?

Ka-226 actually already has RuMOD orders, and a number have been delivered. So far the number floated in the 2020 program isn’t huge though- I am hoping the utility of the helo proves itself and the order is increased.
There are a number in border guard and police use too.

Also it seems like a good civilian helo as well, wonder why its not selling in the domestic civie market for starters.

Don’t see how the first one is all that worrisome. It’s mostly Aeroflot bitching that they did not get the cabin layout they originally wanted, due to supplier problems. Why they can’t reconfigure the planes to the new format, but insist on new ones, who knows. The new configuration is ready at this point, so its not an issue anymore. On the upside that leaves some barely used Superjets, might be a steal for some bargain airline.

The Tu-204 thing isn’t surprising either, simply has to do with the low production totals of the SM, and Red Wings worrying about getting shafted. This is not a concern with Superjet or MS-21. We all know SM is a stop-gap plane.

I was referring to Dhruv.

Regarding empty weight, Dhruv is about 2550 kg. I am pretty sure Ka-226 is around 2000kg tops. Depends on configurations of course.

You are right though, Ka-226 MTOW is way more than Fennec.

I am really pulling for Ka-226 though, and not just in the Indian competition. Fennec has had its time and large sales, time for the Ka-226 to make its mark. I really like the co-ax rotor configuration, and what it does in terms of making the body easily accessible from sides and rear. The podded body system seems useful, and the bird’s looks have really grown on me. The canopy is really futuristic.

http://topwar.ru/uploads/posts/2011-08/1313130972_0_66bf9_ca30f707_orig.jpeg

Wait what?

Ka-226 is much smaller in terms of MTOW and installed engine power.