Ansat

Ansat
Kazan Ansat-U of the Russian Air Force
Role	Multipurpose utility helicopter
Manufacturer	Kazan Helicopters
Designer	Kazan Helicopters
First flight	August 17, 1999
Introduction	August 28, 2013
Status	In service
Primary user	Russian Air Force
Produced	1998–present
Number built	36
Unit cost	Estimated price is about US$ 3,9 million (2017)

The Kazan Ansat is a Russian light, multipurpose helicopter manufactured by Kazan Helicopters.

Kazan Helicopters in Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia has been one of the main Russian manufacturers of helicopters of the Mikhail Mil bureau design. In the 1990s management realized that there would be a need for light helicopters in Russia, as the fleet of standard Mi-2's was getting older, and the design itself became obsolete. The Mi-2 was the lightest helicopter in large-scale use in the former USSR, despite being larger than most light Western helicopters. At first Kazan Helicopters wanted to develop a helicopter based on the AS 350 Ecureuil in cooperation with Eurocopter, but it failed.

As a result in 1993 Kazan Helicopters organized its own design bureau in order to create a new helicopter (the bureau was officially certified by the Russian authorities in January 1997). The helicopter was named Ansat (meaning light", "simple" or "easy" in the Tatar language).

In 1998 the first prototype for ground static tests was completed. The second prototype (no. 02, then 902) first flew on August 17, 1999, but the first official flight was made on October 6, 1999. It was powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW206 engines. Another prototype, with a longer and slimmer fuselage, and powered by two PW207K engines, flew on December 27, 2001 (no. 03, then 904). From 2002 it was undergoing the certification process. The third prototype introduced clam shell doors for the cabin opening upwards and downwards, instead of the sliding ones. It was offered as the Ansat-U military trainer variant with dual controls. As of 2005^[update], apart from the fourth prototype, no further Ansat's had yet been built.