A new project for the production of helicopter engines is planned to be launched in Ufa. According to the government of the Republic of Bashkortostan, the volume of state investments in new serial production by 2015 will amount to about 10 billion rubles. The engines will be produced by the Ufa Engine-Building Production Association (UMPO, Bashkiria). The volume of new production will amount to more than 7 billion rubles a year. It will completely solve the problem with the current dependence of Russian helicopter manufacturers on imported engine supplies.
Domestic helicopter manufacturing is currently on the rise, both in the military and in the civilian spheres. As noted by Igor Korotchenko, director of the Center for Analysis of World Arms Trade, in the next decade it is planned to export only about 1150 units of helicopter equipment. More than a thousand vehicles will be purchased by the Russian military department. Manufacturers of civilian equipment also have bright prospects. Recently it was reported that the first Ka-32A11BC helicopter produced by the Kumertau Aviation Production Enterprise received a Brazilian certificate, which allows this aircraft to be used in various areas of civil aviation in this country.
According to experts from Rolls-Royce, the total capacity of the world market for civilian gas turbine helicopter technology for the next ten years may be more than ten thousand units. 38 billion dollars, this amount can reach the cost of civilian helicopters supplied to various markets around the world in the period from 2010 to 2019. It is not surprising that many of the Russian manufacturers of helicopter components have begun to carry out large-scale work to modernize their equipment and are actively funding research programs.
Russian manufacturers of rotary-wing aircraft, since Soviet times, got one problem. All helicopters designed by the Mil and Kamov bureaus are equipped with Ukrainian-made engines supplied by the Zaporozhye Engine-Building Plant, which has now changed its name to Motor Sich. The engines supplied by this enterprise were highly appreciated by specialists and are considered to be among the most reliable. Over the past seven years, not a single malfunction of the TV3-117 engine developed by the Klimov Design Bureau has been recorded that happened in flight.
However, Oboronprom, which exercises control over the production of helicopters in Russia, decided back in 2008 to create its own enterprise that would be engaged in the serial production of helicopter engines. Many factors contributed to this. Among them, one can note some instability in today's Russian-Ukrainian relations. It is also worth mentioning the case with the Mi-8, which was supposed to replace the already produced Mi-8/17 back in 2010. It was planned that this helicopter will be equipped with an American-made engine, but Pratt & Whitney, which was actually going to start producing it, was "pressed" by the US State Department and it was forced to abandon the project at the last moment. This shifted the serial production of the new helicopter by several years, as it had to be altered for a new engine. It was the model of the "Klimovsky" bureau TV7-117V, a well-known and well-tested model.
That is why in Ufa, at the local UMPO, which already produces engines for all Sukhoi fighter models, work has begun on launching the production of engines for TV3-117 and later VK-2500 helicopters developed by the Klimov design bureau. Completion of the work is scheduled for 2015. In the meantime, the reconstruction of buildings and test facilities of the enterprise is being carried out, equipment is being purchased.
In parallel with this project, the authorities of Bashkiria are considering the possibilities for the implementation of another long-cherished idea, on the creation of a production cluster for the production of ultralight aircraft and helicopter models. As Yevgeny Mavrin, Minister for Economic Development of the Republic, noted, the appearance of such equipment on the domestic market will solve a lot of problems, because it is almost impossible to get to many regions in winter or autumn using only automobile equipment. At the moment, the potential existing in Bashkiria will allow not only to establish the production of ultralight rotorcraft and winged equipment, but will also be able to provide significant economic benefits not only for manufacturers, but also for buyers of these products, which will undoubtedly have a beneficial effect on the current situation in the republic. …
