ZAO Kronshtadt Formed to Raise Russia's Competitiveness in World Arms Market

A new company, ZAO Kronshtadt, has been formed to develop modern electronics it hopes will raise Russia's competitiveness in the world arms market, chairman Nikolai Lebedev told Show News.

Founded by the arms seller Rosvoorouzhenie, Eurofinance bank and the Tranzas company, ZAO Kronshtadt's immediate priority is to develop navigation and navigation/attack systems for aircraft, and new simulators. The simulators will double as a marketing tool, allowing potential customers to assess the capabilities of the company's weapons electronics.

Kronshtadt has signed a number of agreements on long-term cooperation with the Sukhoi Design Bureau, and with Kamov and TsAGI.

For Kamov, Kronshtadt will install state-of-the-art avionics and cooperate in helicopter testing and certification. Kronshtadt has successfully installed its Abris satellite navigation system in the Ka-50 helicopter, for example. Abris, which is compatible with GLONASS and NavStar satellite systems, includes an electronic map on which the data from all the on-board sensors (radar, TV, thermal imaging) can be overlaid. It incorporates a powerful and flexible computational module built around a Pentium-class microprocessor capable of withstanding vibration and impact accelerations, and operating in a temperature range between minus 50 and 70 C. Its current 150Mb memory is to be increased to 250Mb, enabling digital storage of maps covering about one third of the Earth's terrain.

Also for Kamov, Kronshtadt is developing cockpit instrumentation for a night attack version of the Ka-50. Simple multifunction LCD color displays will be used, combined with a helmet-mounted attack display.

A contract with Sukhoi Design Bureau provides for cooperation on upgrades of the Su-family's display systems, as well as configuration of advanced avionics and simulator development. Kronshtadt is also developing the cockpit for a combat version of the advanced S-37 forward-swept wing aircraft featuring "new approaches" to instrumentation.

The new company also offers a flight simulator for the Su-33 ship-based fighter. It features a number of advantages over the older PTS-1031 simulator, handling up to 97% of tasks from a combat training course, against the 10% capability of the earlier unit. The new simulator has been handed over to the Naval Aviation Training Center, and will equip the aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov.

According to Lebedev, the annual turnover of the world simulator-building market-in which Russian companies currently have virtually no share-is estimated at $15 billion to $20 billion. Kronshtadt's initial target is for a $0.5 billion share within several years.

It is "not improbable," he says, that Kronshtadt's R&D program will enable it to follow the success of Israeli companies, which in recent years have won a 20-30% share of the world onboard electronics market.

By Nikolai Novichkov