The United Aircraft Corporation is moving to a new industrial model, which provides for the transfer of a number of works to outsourcing. These include the development and production of integrated airborne cable networks and aircraft pipeline systems. Near the UAC plants in Ulyanovsk and Irkutsk, the Industrial Technologies holding has created enterprises specializing in these areas. This year, the holding will launch a new enterprise in Kazan, the main task of which is to meet the needs of the aircraft building enterprises of the city and Tatarstan as a whole, as well as enterprises of neighboring regions in high-tech, lightweight and reliable cable networks and on-board pipelines.
The level of cooperation between the UAC and the Industrial Technologies holding is constantly growing. It is noteworthy that the complex of on-board cable networks and pipelines of the MC-21 short-medium-haul aircraft was for the first time fully designed and supplied by a Russian enterprise that is not part of the UAC group of companies.
In the past few years, the world aircraft industry has changed the approach to the design and production of so-called distributed systems - an on-board cable network (BCS) and pipeline systems (fuel, hydraulics, oil, pneumatic gas systems). The global leaders of the aircraft industry have adopted a model of placing orders for the design and production of BCS in specialized companies that supply finished products to the head plants.
The pioneers in this area in Russia are the companies of the Industrial Technologies holding. For the first time in the history of the domestic aviation industry, the design and manufacture of BCS as part of the program for the creation of a family of short-medium-range aircraft MC-21 was carried out in a comprehensive and autonomous manner, taking into account the same certification requirements for other traditionally complex aircraft systems - the engine, control system, general aircraft systems. In fact, in the process of developing the MC-21 aircraft, the task of creating a specialized BCS competence center was realized. Taking into account the experience gained, a well-coordinated team of specialists, carefully selected and correctly configured software, he is able to solve the same problems in the interests of other UAC programs to create promising aviation technology.
The design and technological core of the BCS competence center consists of two enterprises of the holding - OKB Aerospace Systems and Promtech-Dubna. Both are located in the science city of the Moscow region. In parallel with the MS-21 project, they have implemented and are implementing such projects as the development of design documentation and the development of technological processes for on-board cable networks of the Il-76MD-90A, Il-78M-90A and Il-112V aircraft. They also upgraded the harness of the SSJ-100 modular avionics rack, which is the most "loaded" in terms of the density of wiring. In addition, the enterprises have completed the modernization of the BCS of the combat training Yak-130, developed the BCS for the newest "flying desk" Yak-152, participated in the manufacture of BCS for the MiG-29 and Tu-204SM aircraft.
Lightness MC-21
In June 2016, the ceremonial roll-out of the first flight model of the MC-21-300 aircraft took place. This significant event was ensured, among other things, by the efforts of Dubna enterprises. The aircraft contains more than a thousand pipelines made in Dubna. The entire on-board cable network - more than 70 thousand meters of wires and more than 3 thousand electrical connectors - was designed and manufactured by Russian engineers and workers at the enterprises of the Industrial Technologies holding.
The enterprises of the holding have introduced the most modern technologies for the design and production of on-board cable networks. At the first stages of work, foreign developers of BCS were also involved - the largest suppliers of Airbus and Boeing. Then the enterprises began to manage on their own. The key to success has also been the use of the latest lightweight components and materials, such as wires, connectors, shielding braids, protective materials and much more.
The result of this large project was the development of the main range of components at the production facilities of the holding's enterprises in Dubna. Currently, this work continues, taking into account the newly emerging needs of the KLA for other programs for the creation of aviation technology. Its main goal is to ensure technological independence in the implementation of projects for the creation of BCS and pipelines. At the same time, the final cost of both development and serial machine kits for Russian customers is reduced.
Full cycle advantages
Dmitry Shevelev, General Designer of the Aerospace Systems Design Bureau, will take a tour of the plant. “At the first stages, we also attracted foreign co-developers of BCS and suppliers of technological equipment. But today, in the field of cable network development, a team of four hundred designers of the enterprise is ready to compete on equal terms with the strongest foreign companies operating in our market segment,”he says.
Dubna uses the same set of design software that their colleagues at the UAC design bureaus use. The computer can significantly increase safety - specialized software calculates the electromagnetic compatibility with electrical equipment on board the aircraft. This allows to significantly reduce risks for the program as a whole, to reduce the time and cost of BCS certification tests.
Information exchange between customers and the Aerospace Systems Design Bureau is carried out via high-speed cryptographically secure channels. All changes coming from the lead developer are posted online. This implementation of information exchange is a link in the change management system at the enterprise.
Engineers are constantly proposing new design and technological solutions that allow improving the parameters of on-board networks, such as weight, manufacturability, economic effect. From the very beginning of the project, the development process is under the vigilant control of the requirements management specialists. This allows you to quickly take corrective actions in the development process. By the time it goes into certification tests, the BCS must meet the initial requirements of the certification basis in terms of key characteristics.
All the received design developments and new technologies mastered within the framework of the MS-21 program were fully used in the SSJ-100 and Il-76MD-90A and Il-78M-90A programs. Thanks to them, for example, the assembly cycle of the SSJ-100 in terms of manufacturing, installation and testing as part of the BCS aircraft was reduced by three weeks. New technologies will make it possible to reduce the weight of the on-board cable network of the heavy military transport aircraft Il-76MD-90A as part of its modernization, which is currently being carried out by OKB Aerospace Systems and Promtekh-Ulyanovsk, it is planned to reduce by a whole ton!
Scaling technologies
The main idea implemented by the enterprises of the Industrial Technologies holding within the framework of the UAC programs is the scaling and implementation of production technologies and techniques mastered in Dubna at remote production sites. In September this year, in the immediate vicinity of the flight test station of the Ulyanovsk plant "Aviastar-SP", additional production areas of the "Promtekh-Ulyanovsk" plant in the amount of 27 thousand square meters will be put into operation. This will allow Aviastar-SP to fulfill the state contract for the construction of Il-76MD-90A military transport aircraft and Il-78M-90A tanker aircraft.
In Irkutsk, the design and approval of construction documentation for the new buildings of the Promtekh-Irkutsk plant is being completed. UAC President Yuri Slyusar approved a joint decision to create a new plant of the Industrial Technologies holding in Kazan in close proximity to the territory of the Kazan Aviation Plant named after V. I. SP Gorbunov to provide the programs of the Tupolev company with cable and pipeline networks.
Reliable and uninterrupted operation of the distributed competence center requires constant exchange of information between the headquarters of the UAC and the enterprises of the holding. For this, high-speed cryptographically secure communication channels will be created.
“As the project to create a distributed competence center for on-board cable and pipeline networks is being implemented, we see that the chosen strategy is showing its effectiveness,” emphasizes Valery Shadrin, General Director of the Industrial Technologies holding. "It fits into the industrial model of the UAC and is already beginning to bring quite tangible results."
