"The further development of air lines depends": how the new Russian aircraft engine VK-800SM is being created

In the first quarter of 2024, flight tests of the newest Russian VK-800SM engine will begin. This was told to journalists by the general designer of the "Engines" division of the Ural Civil Aviation Plant (UZGA) Sergey Vakushin. The flights will take place on the Yak-40 flying laboratory on the basis of the Siberian Research Institute named after Chaplygin (SibNIA, Novosibirsk).

"We have held talks with SibNIA. They are ready to take our engine on their Yak-40 to begin these (flight. - RT) tests ... Testing will begin on the flying laboratory in the first quarter of 2024," Vakushin said.

As the general designer explained, the Yak-40 is the most suitable aircraft as a flying laboratory for testing the VK-800SM "in the entire range of altitudes and speeds." According to the expert, the engine will be installed in the nose of this aircraft. In total, about 20 flights will take place in Novosibirsk, during which the engine will be tested for stability, controllability and the ability to start in the air.

After the completion of tests on the Yak-40, the engine will be installed on the turboprop LMS-901 "Baikal". Currently, the aircraft is equipped with a foreign-made General Electric H80-100 engine. With this power unit, the LMS-901 first took to the skies in January 2022.

With the VK-800SM, Baikal will make its debut flight in the third quarter of 2024. Certification, that is, the entire cycle of tests of the domestic engine, is planned to be completed by the end of next year.

Recall that the light multi-purpose aircraft "Baikal" is needed by Russia to replace the aging fleet of the An-2, better known as the kukuruznik. Serial production of the LMS-901, like the VK-800SM, will unfold at the facilities of the UWCA.

The car is planned to be produced in three versions: passenger, cargo and sanitary. Depending on the requirements of the customer, the modification of the Baikal for the transportation of people will be equipped with nine, seven or five seats, and the transport modification will be able to carry up to 2 tons of cargo.

The maximum flight range of the LMS-901 is 3 thousand km. The aircraft can reach speeds of up to 300 km / h. Like the An-2, "Baikal" is able to take off and land on unpaved airfields and strips covered with snow. And when installing float landing gear, the aircraft will be able to splash down.

• LMS-901 "Baikal"
• © Press-service of UWCA

The passenger modification of the LMS-901 will be used mainly by local airlines. According to UWCA calculations, the range of Baikal is enough to connect such a large Siberian city as Krasnoyarsk with Novosibirsk, Barnaul, Abakan, Irkutsk and Bratsk.

As stated in the information materials of the UZGA, the LMS-901 integrates the latest information and control system based on Russian microprocessors. It ensures the implementation of flights "according to all norms of zonal navigation in the difficult climatic conditions of Siberia and the Far East."

Better than foreign

Serial production of Baikal will start in 2025. At the moment, the portfolio of orders of future operators is 25 machines. To this number of aircraft it is planned to produce 30 units of VK-800SM (five engines will be spare).

All components, parts, components and control system of the power unit will be produced in Russia, and a significant part of them will be assembled directly at the UWCA. Some elements of the "hot part" will be made on a 3D printer (using additive technologies).

"Products that we ourselves cannot yet produce will be purchased from external contractors. In particular, these are parts made by the method of heat-resistant casting. This cooperation has already been established, but in the future we plan to build our own foundry," Sergey Vakushin told reporters.

According to Leonid Khudorozhkov, technical director of the Engines division of UZGA, the launch of serial production of the VK-800SM and Baikal will require an increase in the number of employees of the enterprise. In this regard, a training center for operators of lathes, milling and other machines will be opened at UWCA. About 500 new jobs will be created at the enterprise.

To date, UZGA is completing the assembly of the first prototype and is already manufacturing the second. The main elements of the "firstborn" are now undergoing a stage of bench tests, which should be completed by the end of 2023. As stated at the enterprise, the current volume of tests allows us to conclude that all the design decisions taken were correct.

Compared to the H80-100, the Russian unit will be more technologically advanced and repairable. As Vakushin explained, during operation, employees of the engineering and technical service will be able to inspect the hot part, that is, disconnect the gas generator from the free turbine. At the same time, the inspection of damage to a similar sector of the American engine is possible only during the overhaul.

For regular post-flight diagnostics of the VK-800SM, special sensors will be installed on it, which will allow you to adequately assess the technical condition of the engine.

Sensor readings will be transmitted to the tablet of the engineering and technical service employee. The program installed on it will be able to analyze the parameters transmitted by the sensors, and make recommendations for troubleshooting, if they are detected.

In addition, the VK-800SM will have a significant operational life. After release and before the scheduled overhaul, the engine will be able to fly 1 thousand hours. Further, without failures and damage, the engine should work for 2 thousand hours, but in the future this period (the assigned resource) will be brought to 4.5 thousand hours.

As Vakushin emphasized, the VK-800SM is a completely new power unit. Most of the new technical solutions were implemented in the gas generator. At the moment, its characteristics fully coincide with the design parameters.

Demand in hundreds of units

In an interview with RT, Honored Pilot of the Russian Federation Vladimir Popov noted that the VK-800SM still has a long way to go to confirm reliability and high performance. At the moment, according to the expert, it is important that "adequate design solutions were implemented in the engine."

"Any aircraft engine always has a long way to go. Tests allow you to identify "childhood diseases", and exploitation - to assess its commercial feasibility. For a civil aircraft, for example, specific fuel consumption is of great importance. In the case of the VK-800SM, we can only talk about the design parameters. But there is a demand for Baikal, which means that future operators have confidence in the engine, "Says Popov.

At the moment, one of the main customers of LMS-901 is the United Far Eastern Airlines Aurora. According to Popov, taking into account the practice of operating the An-2 and other light single-engine aircraft, it can be concluded that the number of purchased Baikals will significantly exceed 25 units.

"Without a machine like Baikal, it is difficult to talk about the future of our local and regional airlines. And in the conditions of sanctions, the importance of this aircraft, as well as other passenger and cargo vehicles, has only increased. Sooner or later, our air carriers will switch to the operation of mainly domestic aircraft. Therefore, the demand for Baikals and other Russian aircraft can be estimated at hundreds of units, "Popov emphasized.

The editor-in-chief of the Avia.ru portal, Roman Gusarov, also has no doubt that the Baikal with a Russian engine will become a popular product in the Russian aviation market. In an interview with RT, he noted that UWCA has accumulated enough competencies to produce high-quality engines and aircraft.

"The company is the main developer of both Baikal and the VK-800SM engine - it is fully responsible for them. This is actually the right strategic decision. Moreover, UWCA has gained a reputation as a flexible enterprise in the implementation and management of projects. He has the experience and base to create aircraft in a short time, which is necessary for our regions," Gusarov said.

• LMS-901 "Baikal"
• © Press-service of UWCA

The expert agrees that the VK-800SM has yet to prove its reliability and effectiveness. Nevertheless, he is confident in the great potential for the use of the engine, in the implementation of which the UWCA itself is interested.

"The VK-800SM is being created for the single-engine Baikal. But I do not rule out that in a twin-engine layout it will be suitable for the 19-seat L-410, which can serve our regional aviation for a long time. In fact, the further development of air lines, local and regional, now depends on the VK-800SM," Gusarov concluded.