Recently, quite positive news has begun to arrive from different parts of Russia concerning at least some progress in the revival of the Russian military-industrial complex. One of such news is information that recently appeared in the media and online publications that Samara is restoring the production of turbojet engines for strategic bombers, in particular NK-32 engines.
NK-32 is a two-circuit, three-shaft turbojet engine with a common afterburner. This engine was developed in the Samara Scientific and Technical Complex (SNTK) named after Kuznetsov, famous during the Soviet era. The engine was launched into serial production in the same Samara, at the Frunze plant (later - "Motorostroitel"), in 1983. A year later, it was the NK-32 that was installed on the first serial strategic bomber-missile carrier Tu-160, for which it was designed and built initially. The bomber itself has many excellent forms on its list: the most powerful and heaviest combat aircraft in the world, the largest supersonic aircraft and an aircraft with variable wing geometry in the history of military aviation, the largest maximum take-off weight and combat load among bombers … pilots this combat vehicle received the affectionate nickname "White Swan", in NATO countries Tu-160 was called Black Jack (Black Jack). Also, the NK-32 was installed on the Tu-144LL supersonic "flying laboratory".
Tu-160
Tu-144LL
In 1992, the production of Tu-160 was discontinued, respectively, the Samara engine-building enterprises lost their state orders, and not only for NK-32, but also for all other defense products. Then there was the standard scheme for those times: inept leadership, headed either by former test pilots, or led by "red directors", and, as a result, a pre-bankruptcy state and complete stupor.
In 2008, the first progress took place, Samara enterprises were consolidated by OPK Oboronprom and entered into the state-owned United Engine Corporation (UEC).
And more recently, a year ago, SNTK named after Kuznetsov and Motorostroitel underwent restructuring and were consolidated into a single company called Kuznetsov. Apparently, after this, preparations began for the resumption of serial production of the NK-32. At the moment, part of the new production equipment has already been delivered to the plant, and the acquisition of additional machines continues. In 2011, it is planned to spend 1.7 billion rubles on the modernization and restoration of infrastructure. both own and borrowed funds. The engine production technology will also undergo some processing, there will be no cardinal modernization of the NK-32 itself, but the new version will use digital CAD and CALM technologies. In parallel, the Kuznetsov company is actively working on a unified base gas generator for its entire line of engines, which will be used in all major projects in the next decade. This line primarily includes: NK-65 - an engine for the An-124-100 Ruslan "air truck" (the production of which is also planned to be restored in the near future), NK-361, which is being tested at Russian Railways for an ambitious project of the first a domestic gas turbine locomotive (a locomotive running on liquefied natural gas), and also gas turbine units for Gazprom.
An-124-100 "Ruslan"
These developments require about 432 million rubles, half of the funds - 216 million - within three years will be allocated from the federal budget. The second half will be invested by the company itself. In 2010, 47 million rubles were already allocated from the state treasury for these purposes. According to plans, a pilot model should be created by the end of 2011, and bench tests of the gas generator are planned for 2012.
In addition, of course, there are a number of other problems that can significantly complicate the recovery process. “For a full-fledged start of our project, we need not only to restore lost technologies at our production sites, but also to provide assistance in this to allied enterprises that will supply components for the product - more than fifteen enterprises were involved in the technological cycle of creating this engine during the Soviet era., including in Kharkov and Baku. Therefore, it was decided to start serial production of engines not by a total restoration of production, exclusively at the Kuznetsov site, but using the best capabilities of the UEC enterprises and other factories in the industry, including those with whom negotiations are being held - MPO im. Rumyantsev "," GMZ "Agat", "MMZ" Znamya "," Aeroelectromash "," Temp "," Corporation "VSMPO-Avisma", "Zavod Elekon" and others. There are still enterprises that, due to export orders, managed to modernize their production and bring it to an acceptable, modern, technological level. And it is necessary to use this within the framework of the project”, - this statement, when communicating with the press, was made by Anastasia Denisova, head of the public relations department of the Kuznetsov company.
In turn, official representatives of the Russian Air Force recently gave firm confirmation that the Air Force in the period from 2025 to 2030 will bring the Tu-160 grouping to 30 supersonic missile carriers (now, according to unverified data, it has 16-18 aircraft). Each Tu-160 aircraft is equipped with four NK-32s. Therefore, UEC, Kuznetsov and allied partners will have to seriously strain. We can only wish them good luck!
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