Pilots of the Emergency Ministry’s Krasnoyarsk Air Rescue Center have received today a new amphibious jet Beriyev Be-200ChS which will not only put out fires, but transport rescuers. The plane made a successful many-hour flight from Taganrog to Chelyabinsk and then to Krasnoyarsk.

“The jet is very good, it has shown itself to good advantage before and it suppresses fires excellently. Another plane is a great help for Siberia and Far East,” said deputy chief (aviation) of the Emergency Ministry’s Siberian Regional Center Andrei Gruzdev.

The new Be-200ChS was 70% upgraded with account of experience of its use and recommendations by pilots of the Ministry.

Its unique features now include its on-board equipment more fitted to operate under complex conditions and its flight distance. Its avionics, navigation equipment and radars are now more resistant to aggressive effects of salty sea water, while its ability to fly 3,500 km at a cruising speed of 700 km/s on one fuel tank makes it possible to quickly get the jet in any part of the world.

In 2017 the Ministry got two such planes which are now flown by professionals who can fly on low and maximum-low altitudes. The Ministry is going to get 12 more such upgraded jets by 2025, six of them are expected by the end 2018.

With that jet, the Siberian Regional Center now has 30 aircraft.

The prototype of Be-200ChS made its first flight on 24 September 1998. The plane, which today is the hallmark of the Russian rescue pilots, was designed based on Soviet-era Beriyev A-40 Albatros anti-submarine jet-engined amphibious flying boat.