Russian Helicopters, part of state defence holding Oboronprom and a leading global designer and manufacturer of helicopters, announces that it has signed a long-term agreement with Ramenskoye Design Company (RDC) for deliveries of avionics equipment.

In the first phase of the agreement, RDC will supply avionics packages for Russian Helicopters' Ka-52 Alligator attack helicopter and its advanced ship-based version - the Ka-52K - from 2013 to 2020.

The companies have also signed a framework agreement on modernising the piloting and navigation systems for the ship-based Ka-27, Ka-27PS and Ka-29.

New digital navigation and piloting systems will be specially designed for these helicopters using a glass cockpit, which replaces analogue equipment with multifunctional LCD screens that make piloting substantially easier and clearly convey a broad array of information to pilots.

The new systems will deploy an open architecture that will give clients the flexibility to easily add to and expand the functions of the helicopter's radio-electronic instrumentation to carry out any task.

The systems for the Ka-27, Ka-27PS, Ka-29, Ka-28M and Ka-31M will be based on an updated version of the standardized cockpit instrumentation currently installed in the Ka-52 Alligator and the Ka-31 combat helicopters.

Russian Helicopters has enjoyed a productive partnership with RDC for many years through annual contracts. The new seven-year agreement takes the partnership to a new level and will help Russian Helicopters to modernize its avionics systems more rapidly and to introduce next-generation digital technologies in the latest Ka helicopters.