Iran Civil Aviation

Iran Civil Aviation
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-@Iranobserver01
Iran's indigenously built CFM-56 turbofan is a revolutionary step for the Islamic world.
This reverse-engineered turbofan engine is of the safest and most reliable ones in the world.
The CFM56 was designed for Boeing 737-300/-400/-500 Classic aircraft.

Iran has some very talented engineers and this will be very useful to Russia for keeping their western airliners running while Russian aircraft are built to replace them.

Hopefully the direction this will go will end up with Iran making Russian planes and Russian engines for themselves and for other countries in the region...

Russia is trying to make as many planes as it can and so it makes sense to get Iran to help with production too and they can make some for themselves too... if they want them of course.

Some people think copying is easy but with things like jet engines there is nothing easy about it... your level of technology and materials and design have to be excellent.

If you think of it in terms of cooking, most people can be competent cooks, it is a question of following recipes, but it also includes a bit of skill and also experience to work out how to get the best out of the food. It is also about facilities and the quality of raw ingredients too.

But essentially each cook will have dishes they are very good at and dishes they have no idea about and no experience.

A cook who does not know how to cook a specific dish well just needs to be taught how to cook it and that is all... then they will go away on their own and practise and experiment and make it their own... for some tastes they might even make it better.

The point is that copying isn't being shown how to make something... it is taking the finished product and trying to work out how it was made... not so easy.... how long to cook... what order to add ingredients... which might be critical to avoid one flavour ruining the dish, or hiding another flavour that makes the dish tasty.

Iran bought and paid for several banquets when it was still the flavour of the month with the west, but then the cooks all left and Iran had to work out how to make its own food on its own and they have done an amazing job to be fair.

Will be nice to introduce them to newer Russian dishes they can make themselves and share with the world...

If they can do this , then they can reverse Engineer military jet engine . They are test flying stealth jet planes , what engine ? Well they may have an F16 from Iraq ...no licence needed ! But Russia can give secret recipes instead ?

nomadski wrote:If they can do this , then they can reverse Engineer military jet engine . They are test flying stealth jet planes , what engine ? Well they may have an F16 from Iraq ...no licence needed ! But Russia can give secret recipes instead ?

It doesn't make much sense to try build reverse engineered Iraqi F16 engines if Russia is available to help Iran produce the mig29 or su27 engine instead.


It can still be important and useful to reverse engineer them, as a learning experience and to try to understand different design opportunities, but Reverse engineering is way less precise than building from proper drawings (even more if you can do the latter with the assistance of the original equipment manufacturer).

Reverse engineering is difficult, and to be able to do it means that the Iranian aerospace industry progressed a lot.

Furthermore back to the original post... from what I understand this should be a copy of the original version of the CFM56, that entered in service in 1984 with the 737 classic and not the upgraded one that is flying with A320 and 737NG.

It is a great accomplishment for Iran, but this engine is not better than the Russian PS-90 (actually if it is the version that is on the 737 classic, the PS-90 has about 12% better specific fuel consumption in comparison to that (0.595 kg/kgf hour for the PS-90 A1 vs 0.667 for the CFM56 -3 of the 737 classic).

Anyway this engine has probably many components in common with the modernised versions of it, and that means that Iran can probably also produce spare parts for the engines of the 737 and a320 currently still in service with russian airlines.

Building new efficient and power engines did not come easy or cheap... Russia has invested a lot of time and money and effort into making its own jet engines and over the last decade and a half has been developing its own series of related new technology new design jet engines that are only getting ready for final testing now or only just ready for serial production.

Russia likely wants Iran to succeed and grow and develop because stable growing countries are less interested in war and conflict and both sides can help each other, but equally Russia does not want to hand everyone technology it has mastered just like that...

I rather suspect licence production and also perhaps setting up overhaul and repair sites in Iran to service other countries in the region would be a good start and also allowing them to licence produce serial airliners of different sizes and shapes... smaller aircraft preferably because they are needed in large numbers in Russia and once the Russian market is satisfied the export market is going to be quite big too so help with supporting that makes sense.

If they can do this , then they can reverse Engineer military jet engine . They are test flying stealth jet planes , what engine ? Well they may have an F16 from Iraq ...no licence needed ! But Russia can give secret recipes instead ?

I suspect Russias preference would be that Iran (amongst others) join the Checkmate programme and end up locally producing their own aircraft with features adapted to their preferences and desires, and I would expect the engine that goes with that would be the current engine in the Su-57 which should be OK to export.

It will of course be your plane so there wont be restrictions on it like US plane agreements which are more like Leases than purchase agreements.

Iran could also work with China if they want to go that way too and Russia is not going to punish Iran if that is what they end up doing.

Reverse engineering is difficult, and to be able to do it means that the Iranian aerospace industry progressed a lot.

It is quite interesting though, because design companies are often out of touch with the latest fabrication methods and so their descriptions and instructions on making their aircraft might work, but once the factory that makes them gets their hands on the design and has made a first batch, often there are improvements they can add and changes to the official design they can make to make the plane faster and easier and cheaper to make without breaking the design.

A lot of innovation actually happens on the factory floor, which means that even with reverse engineering... in face because of reverse engineering the Iranians have had to problem solve rather more than a western or even Russian fabricator who is handed the plans and the specs and is just expected to build it.

This has been shown in Russia with the Ansat helicopter which is a light helicopter that was not designed and built by Mil or Kamov or even Yakovlev.... it was designed by a factory that made helicopters and it just designed its own.

A builder who has a decade or more of experience in building and repairing and fixing houses will have a good idea of what materials last longest and what is low maintenance and what is high maintenance and what is value for money and might even be able to design a more comfortable home than some architect straight from college who wants to make his mark with something unique and interesting.

Anyway this engine has probably many components in common with the modernised versions of it, and that means that Iran can probably also produce spare parts for the engines of the 737 and a320 currently still in service with russian airlines.

Which explains the ties with Russia as Iran would be an ideal place to service most of Russias foreign airliners while they remain in service... something Iran has been doing for itself for some time now.

Building 100% of such an engine requires a lot. Material science and manufacturing quality. This is all a very high requirement. If Iran manages to get stability and reliability here as well, this should be an enormous step for Iran.

@Iranobserver01
Iran’s Shazand Petrochemical Company has managed to manufacture turboexpander, breaking the West’s monopoly.

Just an indication of the talent and potential of the country... and indeed most countries.

The west was damaging humanities future by holding countries back...

Pressure can cause leaks and explosions and destruction, but it can also create diamonds...