Russian Emergencies Ministry to Receive 1st New Be-200ChS Aircraft in January

SOCHI (Sputnik) — Russia's Emergencies Ministry is set to receive a new Beriev Be-200ChS multirole amphibian aircraft within a month, the ministry's Southern Regional Center head Igor Oder said Thursday.

"The commissioning of a Be-200ChS amphibian aircraft has been organized to take place at the Beriev Aircraft Company in Taganrog. Test flights have been completed," Oder said during a meeting on increasing the readiness of the Southern Regional Center's management bodies.

A familiarization flight and a transfer to the deployment location has been scheduled for January this year, he added.

In turn, Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov said that the new aircraft will operate in the south of Russia.

The Be-200ChS is a variant of the Beriev Be-200 plane designed for the needs of the Emergencies Ministry.

In May, Russia's United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), which the Beriev Aircraft Company is a part of, said it can supply up to 26 Beriev Be-200ChS planes by 2025. The first serial Be-200ChS plane was rolled out from the production line in the southern Russian city of Taganrog the same month. Previously, the plane was produced by the Irkutsk Aviation Plant in Siberia.

The Beriev Be-200 and its variants are designed mainly for firefighting, search and rescue and maritime patrol missions, as well as transporting cargo and passengers. It can take in up to 12.5 metric tons of water in a few seconds while traveling over a water surface before dumping the water onto a fire. The Be-200ChS first flew in 2003.