Deputy Prime Minister and Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Far Eastern Federal District Yuri Trutnev announced new details about the progress of work on the LMS-901 Baikal light multipurpose aircraft, which is being developed as a replacement for the An-2. According to him, the Ministry of Industry and Trade plans to conduct flight tests of the aircraft before the end of the year.
Trutnev clarified that the project has not yet been completed, but work on it continues as planned. The developers confirmed their readiness to move to the flight test stage within the stated timeframe, which, according to the Deputy Prime Minister, should be a key step in the development of the program.
The work is not finished. They [Ministry of Industry and Trade] promise to conduct flight tests before the end of the year. I hope that this will finally happen.
Speaking about the aircraft itself, Trutnev recalled that the LMS-901 Baikal belongs to the class of light multipurpose aircraft and is designed to carry up to nine passengers. The machine is being created with a view to operation in regions with limited transport accessibility and should replace the outdated, but still widely used An-2.
The main characteristics of the aircraft include a cruising speed of up to 300 km/h and a maximum flight range of up to 3 thousand km. With a payload of up to 2 tons, the range is about 1.5 thousand km. It is expected that the Baikal will be used for passenger, cargo, ambulance and special transportation.