Lomonosov Helicraft

Lomonosov Helicraft is a Reach-based manufacturing company that specializes in tiltrotors, ducted fans, and a few true helicopters. They generally name their aircraft after storms and weather phenomenon. They also have a surprisingly successful side business in constructing scientific and meteorological instrumentation.

Founded in 2441, the company enjoyed modest but stable growth for the next forty years, which is generally attributed to the leadership of Henri Lomonosov and his faith in Stine's organization principles. Although the company was not nearly as profitable as its competitors, the engineering and quality of its aircraft was first-rate. After the founder's death, a more conventional corporate management took over, and the company went into a noticeable decline. By the last years of the Insurrection, Lumonosov Helicraft was selling off the less profitable product lines, and desperately applying for one defense contract after another.

Products

 * Detroit: A medium/heavy-lift helicopter popular in the Outer Colonies. There are too many variants of the Detroit to name, as it has been designed for every application and every climate that can support an aircraft. Cargo size generally tops out at 6,350 kilograms in standard Earth sea-level atmospheric pressure.
 * Tempest: Their most popular aircraft line, the Tempest is a transportation tiltrotor that can sit anywhere from six to twelve people, depending on the specific model. The Tempest 100 received type-certification in 2455, and though it was far from the first in its class, the innovative use of foam composites in the frame and more mundane materials elsewhere meant that the Tempest was cheaper and every bit as reliable as the competition. The larger 200 and 300 series Tempests featured greater range and larger passenger counts, and are easily distinguished by the presence of an H-tail, as opposed to the 100's T-tail. These later series are often referred to as a "Super-Tempest", though Lomonosov dropped the "Super" name early in their production run. The Tempest 200 has been adopted by many branches of the UNSC as the VT-90 Kingfisher, and a total production number of 32,000 was achieved by 2552.