Samara National Research University named after academician S.P. Koroleva, together with PJSC "UEC-Kuznetsov", will create a line of promising energy-efficient aircraft engines, according to the university's website.

For this purpose, a design bureau has been established in the structure of the higher educational institution, said Alexander Ermakov, scientific director of the Institute of Engines and Power Plants of Samara University.

“The design bureau was created to solve large, large-scale tasks for the development and production of new energy efficient engines for aircraft and drones. At our university there are a number of large institutes and laboratories with the necessary competencies, but their competencies separately are not enough to solve such problems, such projects require integration, and a separate structure should be created for this, "Ermakova quotes the university's center for relations with the public.

The first project of the Volga engineers will be the development of a unified gas generator, which is the "heart" of the aircraft engine. It is assumed that several power units with different parameters will be created on its basis. The creation of the gas generator should be completed within three years. Funding for the work will be provided by UEC-Kuznetsov PJSC, also located in Samara.

The design bureau of the university has set itself an ambitious task - to surpass the promising Russian PD-14 engine in terms of efficiency. The specific fuel consumption of the Volga gas generator should be 0.48 kg / kgf / h (kilogram per kilogram-force (power, thrust) per hour). For PD-14, this indicator is estimated at 0.52 kg / kgf / h.

According to Ermakov, “currently there are no engines with such a specific consumption, we can say that it will be an engine of another generation”. The scientist emphasized that Samara residents will have to cope with an extremely difficult engineering task.

In turn, the rector of Samara University Vladimir Bogatyryov said that the new design bureau should help solve a number of large-scale problems facing the engine-building industry in Russia. In addition, he expects that the design bureau within the walls of the university will become "the link that will connect the spheres of science, education and production."

PJSC "UEC-Kuznetsov" specializes in the modernization, production and maintenance of power units for strategic aviation of the Russian Federation, liquid propellant rocket engines and gas turbine units for ground use.

According to modern technologies

In addition to the development of a gas generator, the plans of the Samara University Design Bureau include the creation of small-sized gas turbine and piston aircraft engines, which can be equipped with light aircraft and drones for military and civil purposes. As specified on the website of the university, in the Russian Federation, such units "are practically not developed and not produced."

The thrust of promising engines should be between 150 and 300 kgf (kilogram-forces). According to Ermakov, "these are very large projects, contracts on which in the future can amount to up to a billion rubles." According to him, the Volga region designers will design and manufacture piston motors using modern technologies.

  • A sample of a Russian piston engine for a UAV
  • © missiles.ru

“Unlike full-size aircraft engines, the mass of which is usually calculated in tons, and dimensions - several meters, small aircraft engines can easily fit on an ordinary writing desk,” the university website explains.

As noted by experts, the Volga region engineers set themselves complex, but feasible tasks in the future. According to analysts, since Soviet times, Samara has a developed design school, the potential of which can be fully revealed by the projects announced by Ermakov.

“The Samara State or former Kuibyshev Aviation Institute is a remarkable educational institution, very strong. In Samara, there is a powerful scientific center with its own traditions that make it possible to develop domestic engine building, ”said Eduard Bagdasaryan, expert of the AERONET working group, in an interview with RT.

Analysts believe that the activities of the new Russian design bureau will be of great importance for improving domestic unmanned aircraft, which still continues to experience a shortage, primarily of Russian-made piston engines.

As stated in the materials of the Central Institute of Aviation Motors (CIAM), this type of power units is optimal for installation on middle-class UAVs with a take-off weight of up to 1 ton. Piston engines have low specific fuel consumption, and their operating hour is cheaper than that of a gas turbine engine.

At the stage of import substitution

Development of engines for the needs of unmanned aircraft is a new area of ​​expertise for Russia. Before the introduction of sanctions, power units for UAVs were purchased abroad. For example, the Austrian Rotax 914 piston engine was installed on the Orion multifunctional unmanned complex with a payload of 200 kg. As part of the re-motorization of this UAV, the domestic company Agat has developed an analogue - APD-110/120.

Also, Russian enterprises were able to find a replacement for the Australian Jabiru 2200 engine, which was used by the Forpost drones. Previously, these drones were produced under an Israeli license, but now they are equipped exclusively with domestic equipment and power plants APD-85. Renovated within the framework of import substitution "Forpost" made its debut in the sky in August last year.

It is believed that the first domestic small-sized drone engine was created in 2015 by the enterprises of the United Instrument-Making Corporation (OPK). It turned out to be cheaper and technically more advanced than foreign motors.

  • Unmanned aerial vehicle "Orion"
  • © YouTube

“Until recently, Russia did not deal with engines for unmanned aerial vehicles, they used foreign ones. They have a different design - less successful, in our opinion. Our engine has a system of restrictions on vibrations, temperatures, pressure. It provides a UAV flight at an altitude of over 6 thousand meters, its weight is about 30 kg, "RIA Novosti quotes a representative of the defense industry complex.

To date, not all domestic UAVs have received domestic motors. For example, the Orlan-10 tactical drone, which is widespread in the Russian troops, is equipped with a small-sized internal combustion engine of the Japanese brand Saito.

It is expected to be replaced with a Russian analogue and the newest Corsair apparatus, which was first presented to the general public at the rehearsal for the Victory Day parade in 2018. The weight of the drone is 200 kg, the radius of combat use is up to 200 km. The UAV was equipped with units of the Italian Zanzottera Technologies, which failed the tests.

For reconnaissance and defeat

Meanwhile, the development of unmanned aircraft is one of the development priorities of the RF Armed Forces. Domestic UAVs received the baptism of fire in Syria in battles against illegal armed groups. Their use allowed the Aerospace Forces to inflict high-precision destruction of militant objects.

"Equipping troops with unmanned aerial vehicles will significantly increase the efficiency of their use, as well as ensure a reduction in personnel losses," Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces, Lieutenant General Sergei Dronov, said in an August 2020 interview with the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper.

  • Servicemen are preparing to launch a tactical drone
  • RIA News
  • © Vladislav Belogrud

The military leader said that in 2021, the Russian army will begin to receive multipurpose long-range and long-range UAVs capable of reconnaissance and strikes with ammunition in strategic depth.

As the editor-in-chief of the Arsenal of the Fatherland magazine Viktor Murakhovsky noted in an interview with RT, eliminating the shortage of engines for drones of various classes will remove barriers to the further development of unmanned aviation in the Russian Federation. According to him, Russia is currently "in an expedited manner" replacing imported motors.

“The shortage of aircraft engines of small and medium power is a consequence, among other things, of the lack of attention to this area in the USSR. This school simply did not exist, and when UAVs appeared in Russia, they had to buy foreign engines. Under the conditions of sanctions, such dependence is unacceptable. I think that the formation of a design bureau on the basis of the Samara State University, based on the pilot production of UEC-Kuznetsov, will allow our country to create engines of a new generation, ”Murakhovsky summed up.