Russian Civil Aviation: News #3

Tsavo Lion wrote:They r not well trained/informed, otherwise there wouldn't be all those B-737Max & SSJ-100 crashes.

The first flight of the IL-114-300 is scheduled for November 2020

MOSCOW, June 17 - RIA News. The first flight of the regional Il-114-300 regional aircraft is scheduled for November 2020, the assembly of its units has now begun, Ilya Tarasenko, general director of the Russian MiG aircraft manufacturing corporation, told in an interview with RIA Novosti.

“The first take-off of the aircraft is planned for November 2020. We are on schedule. All our platforms are involved in its manufacture. As you already know, the final assembly will be carried out in Lukhovitsy,” said Tarasenko.

According to him, the production of individual units at VASO in Voronezh and at Sokol (a branch of the MiG corporation in Nizhny Novgorod) has already begun.
"We are at the stage of transferring documentation to production and pre-production. Today, we are working with the Ilyushin Design Bureau in a single information space, and this synergy is a vivid example of successful cooperation in designing aircraft in digital. Everything happens online. We see the prospect of such information systems and after-sales service of this aircraft in terms of the logistics component, ”added the head of MiG.


The Il-114-300 passenger aircraft is designed for operation on local airlines and is a modernized version of the Il-114 turboprop aircraft. Production of the aircraft will be carried out in domestic airlines. The crew consists of a commander and a co-pilot. For successful performance by the crew of their duties, a digital flight-navigation complex is installed on the IL-114-300, providing take-off and landing in meteorological conditions corresponding to category II of ICAO. All flight information and information about the operation of aircraft systems are displayed on five color liquid-crystal displays. Serial production of such aircraft is scheduled to begin in 2021.

Russia's flag carrier Aeroflot is ready to sign a contract for the purchase of 100 Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ100) aircraft this year, the company's CEO, Vitaly Saveliev, told reporters on Friday.

Previously, the airline signed an agreement of intent to acquire 100 SSJ100s.

"We are not refusing to buy additional 100 SSJ100 aircraft and extra 35 MC-21s.

We are ready to sign a contract on Sukhoi jets this year. Relevant agreements � on the delivery schedule and the commercial terms of the contract � are being developed," Saveliev said.

Safran puts Russia in front of the need to create a PD-8 engine

Posted by 07/17/2019 | @AviaRu |  729

Russia incurs large economic losses due to the reluctance of the French partners to reduce the cost of the SaM146 engine, and the PD-8 engine for the SSJ100 aircraft must be certified after 5 years, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov said in an interview with Interfax.

The Deputy Prime Minister noted that now all the work on import substitution, which had been planned for MS-21, also concern the "Superjet". The UAC is tasked with carrying out measures on import substitution to reduce the level of use of Western solutions and maximally unify components and assemblies for both aircraft.

“This concerns, first of all, the power plant. We are suffering large economic losses on this aircraft due to the fact that the French do not want to reduce the cost of the SaM146 engine. 8 based on the technical solutions of PD-14. This will improve the economy of the Superjet project and make it competitive, "said Borisov.



“We are guided by the fact that by 2024 this engine will be certified for the Superjet. The same engine can be used for the Be-200 aircraft,” said the Deputy Prime Minister.

SaM146 is an integrated power plant, including an engine and a nacelle with a reversing device. SaM146 and all after-sales services are supplied by PowerJet (a joint venture based on the principles of equal partnership between Safran Aircraft Engines and ODK-Saturn PJSC).

The Russian company is responsible for the development and production of a low-pressure fan and compressor, a low-pressure turbine, the general assembly of the engine and its testing. Safran Aircraft Engines - for the high-pressure compressor, the combustion chamber, the high-pressure turbine, the box of units, the ACS and the integration of the power plant.

Safran Urges Russia to Make Substitutes for U.S. Engine Parts

Safran is urging Moscow to create substitutes for U.S. vendor items in the PowerJet SaM146 and launch them into mass production in a hope to put an end to the monopoly of certain makers in the global market for complex parts in commercial turbojet engines. If the Russians commit, Safran promises to place big orders for similar parts in other engines so as to reduce their unit costs and increase production rates, according to top-ranking managers in the Russian aerospace industry who asked for anonymity.

Safran, for its part, confirmed it has drawn a "joint roadmap" with Rostec that lists priority parts and specifies certification requirements for new partners in Russia. "We are continuing to look at the possibility of further integrating Russian industry into our supply chain, not just in relation to the production of parts for the SaM146, but also for other programs such as the Leap and the CFM56," Safran wrote in response to emailed questions from AIN on the plans. "We hold Russian industry and its capabilities in very high regard, and we have no doubt that they are fully committed to meeting all of the necessary performance and certification criteria."

According to the Russian executives, talks on the matter began shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to scrap the nuclear deal with Iran and exercise stricter control over high-tech exports to that country. Moscow and its key European partners on the Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ100) entered consultations on how to remove the type from the scope of Washington’s trade restrictions in hopes of selling equipment to Iranian airlines.

The issue of parts for the SaM146 turned worse after in-service engines began developing more failures, the problem traced to lower-than-expected service life for certain elements in the hot section. PowerJet advised operators to send their engines to the manufacturer for inspection and repairs, but soon thereafter it appeared that the industry couldn’t do the work on short notice due to insufficient capacity of maintenance centers and a shortage of spares. Sukhoi Civil Aircraft (SCAC) and United Engine Corporation (Russian acronym ODK) formed a pool of replacement engines to keep SSJ100s flying, at the cost of slowing output of new airframes. The deficit of engines meant that up to 20 otherwise completed airframes remain grounded at the manufacturing plant in Komsomolsk-upon-Amur and SCAC's main base at the Ramenskoye Aerodrome.

Despite persistent efforts, PowerJet has so far failed to raise SaM146 production rates above 60 annually, chiefly because of a shortage of certain parts supplied by U.S. vendors. The list of those suppliers includes PCC Structurals, TECT, Chromalloy, Carpenter, Cannon Muskegon, and Hayes International.

Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, PCC Structurals specializes in superalloy, aluminum, and titanium investment casting. Its position in the global market strengthened following Warren Buffett’s purchase of Precision Castparts in 2015. According to industry insiders, PCC Structurals enjoys a monopoly in the market for complex parts made of titanium, as only it has mastered the needed advanced casting technologies. For years, the company has served as the sole supplier of the so-called intermediate bearing for the SaM146.

Although the Trump administration and U.S. Congress imposed numerous punitive measures on the Russian aerospace and defense industries, they do not cover the supply of U.S. parts for the SaM146, meaning the short supply issue stems from purely commercial considerations Citing high expenses needed to boost production, the manufacturer has agreed to do so only in the event of a large order with prepayment. The current production rate of the SaM146 remains relatively small, however, as does the production increase under consideration by PowerJet and SCAC. "There is currently supply chain stress for forging and casting parts' production, which impacts all the stakeholders in the aerospace industry given the complexity of the parts to be manufactured," confirmed Safran, who acknowledged that it holds regular discussions with SCAC and the Russian Ministry of Trade and Finance to assess their needs.

PowerJet and its patron Safran have asked Moscow to find a solution. Thanks to the huge expertise Russia has amassed in the manufacture of complex titanium products, certain enterprises within its military-industrial complex appear capable of handling such an assignment. But most of them remain busy with a state order for military equipment and will not make an effort on the SaM146 unless given the assignment by the Kremlin.

French negotiators have repeatedly asked their top-ranking Russian counterparts to issue the assignment and allocate the necessary funding to cover nonrecurring costs associated with technology and production preparation, according to the aerospace executives. If the Russian industry masters production of complex titanium parts for the SaM146 and demonstrates high quality, Safran promises to place large orders for similarly configured parts for those engines as well as CFM International models.

For its part, ODK has already tasked its member UMPO (Ufa Machinery-building Production Association) to produce substitutes for the SaM146 parts PowerJet now purchases from the U.S. But the executives who spoke with AIN doubt that UMPO possesses enough resources to handle the job.

Russia maintains a full-fledged scientific research establishment specializing in engine technologies in the form of CIAM, the Central Institute of Aviation Motors. Because of the complexity of the issue, finding a solution might require the involvement of certain other scientific establishments that historically specialize in naval equipment. They would need a clear directive from the Kremlin to get involved and share technologies they have created under classified military projects.

Starting in 1970, with the induction of the K-222 submarine of Project 661, nicknamed the Golden Fish for its huge development and manufacturing costs, the Russian navy has operated a number of submarines with hulls made of titanium, including a few highly secret vessels for deepwater operations whose development and manufacturing the defense ministry financed. For the respective technologies to become available to civilian programs, such as that of the SSJ100 and SaM146, their proprietors and developers need the Kremlin’s permission.

https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2019-07-22/safran-urges-russia-make-substitutes-us-engine-parts