Russian Helicopters has obtained financing from Russia's state-owned Vnesheconombank (VEB) to develop a new light multi-purpose helicopter. The agreement was announced Thursday at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum by Dmitry Kurdyukov, Vnesheconombank's first deputy chairman, and Vyacheslav Kozlov, deputy CEO of Russian Helicopters Holding.
Apart from participation in the light multi-purpose helicopter, VEB will finance other areas of Russian Helicopters' business. The VEB specializes in projects that enhance the Russian national economy, cannot receive funding from private investors, have payback periods greater than five years, and values greater than 2 billion rubles. Separately, Russian Helicopters announced at HeliRussia last month that its new Mi-171A2 would be certified in August and that it is working on an offshore variant with Gazprom.
Russian Helicopters also delivered the first of six new Ansat light twins configured for medevac to the State Transport Leasing Company this year. The Ansats are part of a wider rural medevac order that includes 10 Mi-8NTV-1 and 13 Mi-8AMT models. Also announced at HeliRussia, Moscow's MDAeroGroup helicopter club said that it is developing a cargo hook for the Ansat in cooperation with Onboard Systems and Kazan Helicopters.