By 2010 Russia will completely domesticate production of helicopter engines, according to the Deputy Minister for Industry and Trade of the RF Denis Manturov. “The majority of the TVZ-117 engines and their modernized version – VK-2500 for our Mi-17 and Mi-8 helicopters are produced by the Ukrainian plant Motor Sich, following the scheme of the industrial zonation established in the USSR”, Mr. Manturov said. The final assembly of the engines is carried out by the plant n.a. Klimov in St. Petersburg.

“However, the engine components are still supplied by Motor Sich. Since 2010 production of these engines will be completely domesticated”, Mr. Manturov marked.

He also gave an answer to the question about the possible objections of the Ukrainian side: “These engines were developed in Russia and we own all intellectual rights for them. Motor Sich is only an industrial base”.

At the moment Russia does not produce engines for light and medium helicopters. “In the framework of the Federal Target Programme for engine-building we plan to launch production of our latest development – engine for VK-800 medium helicopter. We will also form joint ventures with foreign companies and have already been holding negotiations with Turbomeca and Pratt&Whitney”, Mr. Manturov said.

According to him, there is no point in spending resources on engine development. Instead it is possible to focus on development of the advanced technologies in engine-building. “The engine is technically a more complex unit than a plane or helicopter itself and its creation takes twice more time”, Mr. Manturov underlines.

Right now Russian research and development centre Saturn and French Snecma company are developing SaM-146 engine that will be set in Sukhoi SuperJet 100 aircraft. The Russian Government has contributed nearly three billion roubles to the project.

“We will have our own gas-turbine engine in around 10 years. We have some engineered projects but we need to modernize the industrial base and test facilities. It is going to be an engine of an absolutely new level with which we plan to outstrip the competitors”, Mr. Manturov concluded.

At the end of July the Ministry of Industry and Trade will present a new programme of strategic materials to the government presidium for consideration. “The programme implies large-scale development, including the materials essential for modern engine creation”, Mr. Manturov said.

According to his words, in within the last ten years Russia’s underrun in the engine-building industry became overall and the sector urgently needs global technical re-equipment. “Our goal is to take the third position and occupy 10-12% of the world gas-turbine engines market in 7-10 years”, Deputy Minister for Industry and Trade of the RF Denis Manturov marked.

Source -
    akado.com