Ultra-short Take-off and Landing Aircraft to be Presented at MAKS 2021

Russian aeronautics research institute, SibNIA will present the model of an ultra-short take-off and landing demonstrator aircraft at the MAKS 2021 air show which is being developed in manned and unmanned versions.

The short-take off and landing is facilitated by additional propellers on the wing that enable increased lift allowing for a short take-off. The maximum take-off weight of the aircraft will be 3.38 tons.  It will be able to carry a payload of a ton over a distance of a thousand kilometers.

Developed under the institute’s Project PARTISAN, the aircraft will be able to take off from a platform measuring 50 by 50 meters. The distance required for landing has not been released by the institute.

As per a SibNIA release, PARTISAN is Russian acronym for: "Development and flight tests of demonstrators of an ultra-short takeoff and landing transport unmanned aerial vehicle with a hybrid power plant and active blowing of bearing surfaces" (code "Partizan").

According to Grigory Makeich, PARTISAN project head of SibNIA, the Partizan project has been under way since 2019. “To date, the aerodynamic model of the flying laboratory has been tested on the basis of the TVS-2MS aircraft,” he said.

 “At the end of 2022 flight tests of the demonstrator will be carried out in manned and unmanned modes," he added.

The main idea of ​​providing ultra-short take-off and landing aircraft will be to operate it in areas with poor runway facilities previously accessed only by helicopters.

The test TVS-2MS aircraft’s bottom wings have been modified to fit additional small propellers- three on each side, according to an image released on SibNIA’s website.

A concept image of the future PARTIZAN aircraft shows four small propellers on either wing besides two large propellers mounted close to the fuselage. It comes equipped with landing gear. It is unclear how this will facilitate short take-off.