Two Russian Be-200ES aircraft have arrived in Turkey and from June 16 will begin work on supressing the spread of forest wildfires in the Republic of Turkey. The signing of the Forest fire-fighting service agreement and deployment of the aircraft were organized by the United Aircraft Corporation (PJSC UAC powered by Rostec State Corporation) with the assistance of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Civil Defense, Emergencies and Disaster Relief of the Russian Federation and the active support of the State Corporation Rostec Representative Office in Ankara.

The request for help in controlling forest fires in the coming hot season came from the Republic of Turkey’s Ministry of Agriculture And Forestry. Be-200 amphibious aircraft with Russian crews will be on duty ready to engage in firefighting activities in the vicinity of Antalya, Izmir and Bodrum for a duration of 4 months.

The Be-200 amphibious aircraft was demonstrated during the MAKS-2019 air show, attended by Russian and Turkish leaders. In 2019 it took part in the flight program of Teknofest-2019 Aerospace and Technology Festival in Istanbul, and after the end of the forum, the Be-200 demonstrated its unique characteristics for real situations.

In 2019, the Turkish delegation led by the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry of the Republic of Turkey Bekir Pakdemirli and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Turkey to the Russian Federation Mehmet Samsar visited PJSC "Beriev" (part of the UAC), checked out the manufacturing site where the Be-200 is assembled, a maintenance center and a flight simulator for pilot training.

«The Be-200 is ideal for regions with a hot climate, as well as for working in hard-to-reach areas. It advertised itself while fighting wildfires not only in Russia, but also in many countries around the world, including France, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Indonesia, and Israel. This year, we promptly gave a hand to our Turkish partners. Organizational issues were resolved as quickly as possible, thanks to the coordinated work of the Russian and local authorities, the representative office of the Rostec State Corporation in the Republic of Turkey.»- noted Director for International Cooperation and Regional Policy of Rostec Victor Kladov.

The serially produced Be-200ES multipurpose amphibious jet is designed for firefighting, provides assistance in the case of emergency situations, implements search-and-rescue missions on water, and conducts cargo and ambulance transportation, as well as ecological monitoring.

The Be-200ES is the only amphibious jet plane in the world that provides undeniable advantages in speed when fighting fires. The Be-200ES can hold up to 12 tons of water. The plane offers high fire-suppression capacity in terms of the number of water drops per hour. With an airfield-fire distance of 100 km and airfield-water body distance of 10 km, the airplane can drop up to 270 tons of water on the fire.

In 2003, the airplane was certified by the IAC Aviation Register in accordance with AP-25 airworthiness requirements. In 2007, an addition to the type certificate was received, allowing the Be-200ES to be used to transport 43 passengers on medium-haul routes based on both airfields and water. The European Type Certificate EASA for the airplane was issued in 2010.