Aviation / Aerospace

Beriev Be-200 Altair

Amphibious Flying Boat Aircraft [ 2003 ]

The Beriev Be-200 Altair is a further development of the late-Soviet-era Be-42 Albatros line.

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The Beriev Be-200 "Altair" is based on the Cold War-era Beriev A-40 "Albatros", a twin-engined amphibious aircraft capable of landing and taking off from water or a runway. Two of the militarized version were procured by the Russian Navy during the 1980s. First flight of a multirole, civilian-variant occurred on September 24th, 1998 for use in firefighting, general cargo transport, passenger hauling, maritime patrol and Search And Rescue (SAR) services. To date, nine of the Be-200 have been manufactured under the Irkut brand label. The Be-200 is currently (February 2014) used by the Azerbaijani Ministry of Emergencies as well as the Russian Ministry of emergency Situations. It is under order for the Russian Ministry of Defence.

The true amphibious qualities of the Be-200 allow the aircraft to come to rest on water sources. As a firefighting platform, this facilitates the need to take on water stores and then return over a contested fire. In the same way, the aircraft is able to land on water to rescue downed airmen or civilians when otherwise a rescue helicopter would have to be called in.

The aircraft is crewed by two and can seat as many as 72 when outfitted in the passenger transport role. Her cargo-carrying capacity sits at 16,500lbs. Up to 26,450lbs of water volume can be taken on. Overall dimensions include a length of 105 feet, a wingspan of 107.6 feet and a height of 29 feet. Her design includes a boat-like fuselage doubling as a waterborne hull with the flight deck set at the extreme front end of the aircraft. Wings are purposely high-mounted along the sides of the fuselage to promote better lifting qualities. Pontoons are affixed to the outer edges of the wings, just short of each wingtip. The engines are also high-mounted to help clear water spray and consist of 2 x Progress D-436To turbofan installations rated at 16,535lbs of thrust each unit. The tail unit is a T-style arrangement with high-mounted horizontal planes set atop a single vertical tail fin. When at rest on land, a conventional three-legged, wheeled undercarriage is used.

The Be-200 features a maximum speed of 435 miles per hour with a cruise speed nearing 350 miles per hour. Range is out to 1,300 miles with a full ferry range of 2,000 miles. Rate-of-climb is listed at 3,350 feet per minute.

Be-200 is used to designate the base model offered as a multirole airframe capable of modification suit various roles. The Be-200ChS (Be-200ES) is a modified variant for the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations. The Be-200E is offered as a version with English instrumentation over the original Russian lettering (Be-200ES). Be-200RR is a proposed variant to be outfitted with Western-friendly Rolls-Royce engines to help broaden the type's marketing appeal outside of the Russian sphere of influence. The Be-210 is a proposed passenger airliner model. Similarly, the Be-220 is a proposed dedicated maritime patrol variant for over-water service. There is also a reported Be-200PS model variant.©MilitaryFactory.com

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January 2017 - Emercom of Russia has received its first example of the Be-200S amphibious aircraft.

September 2018 - Seaplane Global Air Services of the United States has signed on to purchase four Be-200ES amphibious aircraft in fire-fighting configuration. An additional six airframes are optional.

September 2018 - Asesorias SVR of Chile has contracted for two Be-200 aircraft with an option for three additional airframes.

April 2019 - Amidst concerns of partnering with NATO-allies as parts suppliers, in this case the French, Russia's Ministry of Industry has suspended modernization work on Be-200 aircraft set to take on the newer French/Russian SaM146 turbofan engines.

Specifications

Service Year

2003

Origin

Russia

Status

ACTIVE
In Limited Service.

Crew

2

Production

14
UNITS

Irkut / Beriev - Russia

(View other Aviaton-Related Manufacturers)

Azerbaijan; Chile (ordered); Kazakhstan; Russia; Thailand; United States (ordered); Vietnam

(OPERATORS list includes past, present, and future operators when applicable)

✓ Special-Mission: Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW)
Equipped to search, track, and engage enemy underwater elements by way of specialized onboard equipment and weapons.

✓ Special-Mission: Anti-Ship
Equipped to search, track, and engage enemy surface elements through visual acquisition, radar support, and onboard weaponry.

✓ Special-Mission: Search & Rescue (SAR)
Ability to locate and extract personnel from areas of potential harm or peril (i.e. downed airmen in the sea).

✓ Maritime / Navy
Land-based or shipborne capability for operating over-water in various maritime-related roles while supported by allied naval surface elements.

✓ Transport
General transport functionality to move supplies/cargo or personnel (including wounded and VIP) over range.

✓ Commercial Aviation
Used in roles serving the commercial aviation market, ferrying both passengers and goods over range.

✓ Intelligence-Surveillance-Reconnaissance (ISR), Scout
Surveil ground targets / target areas to assess environmental threat levels, enemy strength, or enemy movement.

Length

105.0 ft
(32.00 m)

Width/Span

107.6 ft
(32.80 m)

Height

29.2 ft
(8.90 m)

Empty Wgt

60,848 lb
(27,600 kg)

MTOW

90,390 lb
(41,000 kg)

Wgt Diff

+29,542 lb
(+13,400 kg)

(Showcased structural values pertain to the base Beriev Be-200 Altair production variant)

Installed: 2 x Progress D-436TP turbofan engines developing 16,535lb of thrust each.

Max Speed

435 mph
(700 kph | 378 kts)

Ceiling

26,247 ft
(8,000 m | 5 mi)

Range

1,305 mi
(2,100 km | 3,889 nm)

Rate-of-Climb

3,350 ft/min
(1,021 m/min)

♦ MACH Regime (Sonic)

Sub

Trans

Super

Hyper

HiHyper

ReEntry

♦

(Showcased performance specifications pertain to the base Beriev Be-200 Altair production variant. Performance specifications showcased above are subject to environmental factors as well as aircraft configuration. Estimates are made when Real Data not available. Compare this aircraft entry against any other in our database or View aircraft by powerplant type)

None.

Supported Types

(Not all ordnance types may be represented in the showcase above)

Be-200 - Base Series Designation; base production model.

Be-200ChS - Multirole emergency services model for use by the Russian Military of Emergency Situations.

Be-200E - Variant with English cockpit instrumentation.

Be-200RR - Proposed variant outfitted with Rolls-Royce powerplants.

Be-210 - Proposed passenger airliner

Be-220 - Proposed maritime patrol platform

General Assessment

Firepower

Performance

Survivability

Versatility

Impact

Values are derrived from a variety of categories related to the design, overall function, and historical influence of this aircraft in aviation history.

Overall Rating

The overall rating takes into account over 60 individual factors related to this aircraft entry.

24

Rating is out of a possible 100 points.

Relative Maximum Speed

Hi: 500mph

Lo: 250mph

This entry's maximum listed speed (435mph).

Graph average of 375 miles-per-hour.

City-to-City Ranges

NYC

LON

PAR

BER

MOS

TOK

SYD

LAX

NYC

Beriev Be-200 Altair operational range when compared to distances between major cities (in KM).

Max Altitude Visualization

Design Balance

The three qualities reflected above are altitude, speed, and range.

Aviation Era Span

Showcasing era cross-over of this aircraft design.

Unit Production (14)

14

36183

44000

Compared against Ilyushin IL-2 (military) and Cessna 172 (civilian).

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