Russian Civil Aviation: News #5

Production of engines for MS-21 aircraft began in Perm, by Alexander Shestakov (Perm) for Rossiyskaya Gazeta. 04.10.2023.

At Perm Motors, which is part of the United Engine Corporation of the state corporation Rostec, mass production of the latest promising PD-14 engine has begun.

According to the press service of Rostec, today this is the most high-tech development in the field of mechanical engineering in Russia. The PD-14 as part of the MS-21-310 aircraft manufactured by the Irkut corporation will become the main one for civil aviation for several decades to come.

According to plans, by 2030 the enterprise will produce 160 engines annually.

Another task facing engine builders is the training of a wide pool of highly qualified specialists, who will just have to put the plan for the production of new engines into reality. To this end, a state-of-the-art training center for specialists for the aircraft industry is being opened in Perm on the basis of UEC-Perm Motors. Up to 2,000 qualified personnel will be trained here annually. Similar centers have already appeared at the Ufa enterprise "UEC-UMPO" and on the basis of the Salyut PC in Moscow.

Recall that the latest PD-14 aircraft engine has already been tested under the wing of the MS-21 medium-haul airliner, and at the end of December 2022, the Federal Air Transport Agency approved its further installation on aircraft. In addition to the PD-14, the MS-21 will receive domestic wings made of composite materials produced in Russia.

Rossiya Airlines will receive the first six MS-21s at the end of 2024, and the serial production of the airliner with Perm engines will start in 2025.

The "younger brother" of the PD-14, the PD-8, is about to go into production. The upgraded Sukhoi Superjet and the Be-200 amphibian will be powered by this engine. Earlier, SaM146 power plants of Russian-French production were installed on the Superjet, and Ukrainian aircraft engines were used on the amphibian.

https://rg.ru/2023/04/10/reg-pfo/svoe-nadezhnee.html

Ulyanovsk plant began serial production of the "black" wing for MS-21, 04.11.2023.

At the Aerocomposite plant in Ulyanovsk, mass production of a wing for the MS-21 aircraft began, which was nicknamed the "black wing" because of the color of the carbon fiber. This was announced on Tuesday, April 11, in a widespread message from the Ulyanovsk Region Development Corporation.

So, in 2023, Aerocomposite plans to produce four aircraft kits for the MS-21. In 2024, their number will grow to six. In the future, production volumes will increase in accordance with the schedule.

It is also noted that last year the plant for the first time produced a wing for the MS-21-300 with Russian composite materials. After that, such a wing went into mass production.

Anatoly Gaidansky, General Director of Aerocomposite, said that only Russian materials are currently used at the plant, including composite and auxiliary materials, as well as paints and sealants.

“Here, the whole process of imports has already been completely substituted,” Gaidansky noted.

The report also says that on Tuesday, March 11, Gaidansky met with the governor of the Ulyanovsk region, Alexei Russkikh. The meeting was devoted to discussing the program for import substitution and new scientific developments of the plant.

Aerocomposite has been operating in Ulyanovsk since March 2011. Today it is the only plant in Russia for the production of load-bearing composite structures using the vacuum infusion method. In terms of its scale, production is among the top three world-class enterprises in the creation of an aircraft wing.

In 2018, the plant lost the opportunity to purchase imported raw materials for the wing. The manufacturer of the wing came under US sanctions. Then Rosatom took up the development of the Russian analogue of the material for the wing. The Ministry of Industry and Trade allocated 4.4 billion rubles for the creation of domestic composites. The use of the new material made it possible to create a wing with unique aerodynamics, as well as to increase the width of the MC-21 fuselage and expand the cabin, which provides new benefits in terms of passenger comfort.

https://iz.ru/1496988/2023-04-11/ulianovskii-zavod-nachal-seriinyi-vypusk-chernogo-kryla-dlia-ms-21

https://www.interfax.ru/russia/895444

Manturov announced the shortage of VK-2500 engines for the production of Mi-8 helicopters

Moscow. 11 April. INTERFAX.RU - The production of modern modifications of the Mi-8 helicopter is currently limited by the volume of production of VK-2500 engines, said Denis Manturov, Deputy Prime Minister, head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation.

"The main bottleneck ( helicopter building - IF ) today is helicopter engines. In particular, if we are talking about VK-2500, initially, when a single center for the production of VK-2500 was created in St. Petersburg, we expected a maximum volume of up to 200 As a result, they pumped up to 300, and the need for today is over 500 engines," Manturov said at a meeting of the Federation Council Committee on Economic Policy.

"Therefore, it is natural to take into account these bottlenecks, if we are talking about a Mi-8 helicopter, its modern modifications," he said.

He also cited the example of Ka-62 helicopters, which were previously equipped with Ardiden 3G engines manufactured by the French Safran. Designed to replace them, the Russian VK-1600V motor, according to Manturov, will be certified only at the end of next year.

VK-2500 was developed by the St. Petersburg "ODK-Klimov" (part of the "United Engine Corporation" "Rostec") in 2001. Power class - 2500 hp It is installed on modifications of Mi-17 helicopters, as well as on combat Mi-28, Ka-52, Mi-35, according to the developer's website.

The development of the VK-1600V is also being carried out by JSC UEC-Klimov. This engine is intended for installation on multi-purpose and special helicopters with a take-off weight of 5-8 tons. The first object of application is the promising multi-purpose Ka-62.