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ALTHOUGH most people will best remember this year’s air show at Le Bourget
near Paris for the spectacular crash of the new Soviet Mig-28 fighter, as
the dust settles this year’s air show will become known for the excellence
and sophistication of the Soviet planes. Western observers at the air show
were particularly impressed by the use of electronics and computers in Soviet
planes: technologies in which the Soviet Union was thought to be lagging.

Serge Dassault, head of the leading French fighter manufacturer, said
that in spite of the crash the Soviet Mig would be the main threat to his
company’s fighters in the marketplace. ‘This does not put any doubt on the
quality of the aircraft,’ says Dassault. ‘It will become one of our stiffest
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The Soviet display included the world’s largest aircraft, the Antonov
225, which has six jet engines and can carry 250 tonnes of cargo. It also
has computer controlled (‘fly-by-wire’) controls and a maximum speed of
850 kilometres per hour. It flew for the first time last December, but it
was shown for the first time in the West at this year’s show.

The Antonov can carry loads 80 metres long and 8 metres in diameter
on its back, such as parts for the giant Soviet booster rocket Energia or,
suggested the Soviet delegation, cracking towers for petroleum refineries.
The aircraft dramatically demonstrated its capabilities by arriving at the
show with the Soviet space shuttle on its back.

‘We anticipate using the Antonov-225 as a flying launch pad, to help
to put small rockets into orbit by allowing them to take off from its back,
at altitude,’ said Piotr Bulabuyev, head of the Antonov programme.

Orbital Science Corporation, a subsidiary of the American chemical company
Hercules, has also designed a mini-launcher for satellites based on a B-52
bomber. The first flight of the launcher, called Pegasus, is planned for
next August. The company hopes to sell the launcher in Europe through Arianspace,
the French commercial consortium that runs the European Space Agency’s launcher.
This week, the consortium signed a contract with Ball Aerospace Systems
of the US to design small communications satellites for Pegasus to carry.

The star of the Soviet display was the Sukhoi-27 intercepter, called
‘Flanker’. It, and a similar attack aircraft dubbed ‘Frogfoot’, visibly
impressed the aerospace engineers gathered at the show. The Su-27 intercepter
is 21 metres long, and rivals the capabilities of the best American fighter
aircraft, the F-15 Tomcat. It is thought to be the first Soviet fighter
capable of being completely controlled by computer. Experts at Le Bourget
said the Sukhoi is cheaper than the F-15.

One of the Sukhoi-27’s most notable features is a radar for guiding
missiles fired downward. This feature may have embarrassed the makers of
the British Tornado fighter who unveiled a similar radar at the air show
two years ago which failed to work. A similar radar has just recently been
developed for the new French fighter, Rafale.

Notable by its absence from the show was the companion to the Sukhoi
attacker and intercepter: the Sukhoi-24, a long-range bomber called ‘Fencer’.
It carries 8 tonnes of bombs amid its own 40 tonnes and can reach twice
the speed of sound. The bomber may have been withheld because of discussions
to limit long-range nuclear weapons now under way between the US and the
Soviet Union.