February 21, 2019: The Russian aircraft-makers consortium United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) is showcasing Beriev's Be-200 amphibious aircraft in Aero India Show-2019 scheduled between February 20-24 in Bangalore. "As India is now discussing the need to expand regional connectivity, we believe our Be-200 jet will fit into the new strategy very well as it can take off and land on water so it does not necessarily needs to be based at the airports," the report quoted Sergei Ganin, Head of R&D Center of Beriev Aircraft Company, a unit of UAC as saying.

UAC announced in an official statement that it will supply BE-200 amphibians produced by Beriev Aircraft Corp. in Taganrog to India. "UAC plans to supply BE-200 planes for the development of Indian domestic flight routes. We are negotiating with potential project partners", told Beriev's Director General Yuri Grudinin.


Production of Russian aircraft Be-200 may be localized in India, the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov reported after the meeting with Minister of Trade and Industry of India Suresh Prabhu.

The BE-200 is a unique Russian amphibious aircraft that is well-suited for firefighting missions. It can land on water and scoop up thousands of gallons of water into its hull and then drop its load onto a wildfire in 18 seconds. These amphibians are used both for suppression of the natural fires, and for expeditious transfer of airmobile groups of rescuers to the place of emergency, delivery of humanitarian aid, crash equipment and equipment, patrol and monitoring of a situation. The plane can be reconfigured for search-and-rescue or passenger flying.