October 20, 2020: the CEO of State Corporation for Assistance to Development, Production and Export of Advanced Technology Industrial Product "ROSTEC" Sergey Chemezov announced the initiative to create a specialized squadron of multipurpose amphibians BE-200ES, produced by
Beriev in Taganrog to fight both man-caused fires and wildfires. The declaration was made at the International exhibition and conference on naval aviation "GIDROAVIASALON".
"The formation of a specialized squadron will be an important international humanitarian project. Further development of aviation fire control remains EMERCOM's top priority. The Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia intends to order six new aircrafts with the purpose to renew the fleet of Be-200s. That, in turn, would allow forming a squadron based on elder Be-200, decommissioned by EMERCOM" noted Sergey Chemezov.
This initiative is aimed not only at renewing the fleet of Be-200s, but also to increase exports of equipment and provide resources for foreign assistance requests.
These amphibians already showed their fire-fighting qualities at their best while
combatting wild land fires in Turkey. This 4-month mission resulted from an agreement reached between the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture & Forestry, United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade, and State Corporations "Rostec". The total amount of flight hours around the cities of Antalia, Izmir and Bodrum has reached 500.
The BE-200 is a unique Russian amphibious aircraft that is well-suited for firefighting missions. It can land on water and scoop up thousands of gallons of water into its hull and then drop its load onto a wildfire in 18 seconds. These amphibians are used both for suppression of the natural fires, and for expeditious transfer of airmobile groups of rescuers to the place of emergency, delivery of humanitarian aid, crash equipment and equipment, patrol and monitoring of a situation. The plane can be reconfigured for search-and-rescue or passenger flying.
