This is necessary because despite such advantages as hovering or vertical take off and landing, choppers have always lagged behind – never matching planes for speed and range.

Even modern average helicopters can only cover a maximum of around five hundred kilometres – with top speeds of 350 km/h.

Russia has always been at the forefront of helicopter design. But the next step to create an ultra high-speed helicopter will need all the ingenuity and expertise Russia can muster.

Helicopter manufacturers are now hungry to go beyond these limits.

“Modern helicopters are throttled by the overhead rotor that gives height and speed at the same time. This physically limits the possible speed of the machine. We now propose that it should have a separate horizontal throttle. This should open many new opportunities,” the Mil helicopter factory’s Constructor General Nikolai Pavlenko says.

It's expected that the new design concept will allow the next breed of choppers break the 500km/h speed barrier with a range of around fifteen hundred kilometres.

But getting there – in engineering terms – will be no picnic. It's a huge challenge.

“In a nutshell we are speaking of a revolution in helicopter design – a new generation of chopper. This will require radical improvements in aerodynamics. Helicopters will need to be made of new materials and entirely new design schemes. But I think we are now ready for this task,” Kamov helicopter factory’s Constructor General, Sergey Mikheev says.

Manufacturers hope to solve these engineering challenges in the next 5 to 7 years. Their aim will be to provide serious competition to regional airliners.

“We are now consolidating the helicopter industry in Russia. This should help concentrate finances and human resources on the most important projects, just like the one we would like to present you today. It's the ultra high-speed helicopter,” commented Dmitry Kozyrev, the Director of special programmes of Russian Helicopters.