Trial programme to start in Russia next February
Powerplant manufacturers Snecma and NPO Saturn are expecting to begin flight tests of their jointly-developed SaM146 engine in February, as they prepare to inaugurate a new open-air test centre in Russia.
Flight trials will be performed using a modified Ilyushin Il-76 from the Gromov Flight Research Institute near Moscow, equipped with the fourth example of the eight SaM146s to be built for tests. Two series of flights will be performed, one in Moscow and the other at Istres in France.
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The SaM146 will be put through its pace on an Ilyushin Il-76 testbed |
The first SaM146, designed for the Sukhoi Superjet 100, was powered up in July as the Snecma-Saturn venture PowerJet bids for European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certification of the engine in March 2008.
Ground testing will be conducted at a new open-air centre, 24km (15 miles) from Saturn’s Rybinsk headquarters, to open before October. Snecma holds 65% of the joint firm Poluevo-Invest which has established the facility.
“You can’t fully validate engine performance until you’ve run it outside,” said Snecma commercial engines general manager Jean-Pierre Cojan, speaking to Flight International in Rybinsk.
The $25 million centre will be able to handle engines with thrusts up to 50,000lb (222kN) and be offered commercially once SaM146 work is complete.
Snecma is confident that the Superjet development team will be in a position to secure Western orders within two years, and expects the non-Russian market to account for the overwhelming majority of sales.
Cojan says the programme has received firm orders for 40 aircraft: Aeroflot with 30 and Russian lessor Finance Leasing Company with ten. But he also claims strong interest from several Western operators – notably Air France-KLM and SAS Group.
There has also been contact with US carriers including Northwest Airlines.
“We’ve had more requests for presentations from airlines than we can handle,” says Cojan. “Russia is going to be the home market for the aircraft, and will have most of the sales initially, but we see no more than 20-25% of overall sales in Russia.
“We have to attain acceptance for the aircraft to be purchased by a Western airline. But it will happen. Within two years we’ll be in a position to have such an order.”
Source: Flight International
