VLADIMIR KARNOZOV / MOSCOW
Fifth-generation powerplant to be put through its paces on Sukhoi Su-27M after ground runs
NPO Saturn has shipped an experimental example of its AL-41F fifth-generation fighter engine to the Gromov Flight Test and Research Institute in Zhukovsky.
The engine will be flight tested on a Sukhoi Su-27M fighter. First ground runs of the engine, thought to be designated AL-41F-1A, were performed in August.
NPO Saturn's Moscow centre is responsible for developing the powerplant for Sukhoi's fifth-generation fighter, the PAK FA, which isalso known as the Lightweight Frontline Fighter.
The engine is a further development of the AL-41F engine flight tested in the 1980s and originally intended for the discontinued MFI heavyweight fifth-generation fighter project, under which the RSK MiG Article 1.44 and Sukhoi Su-47 "Berkut" experimental fighters were built. The newer engine is a scaled-down version, developing 31,000-35,000lb thrust (138-155kN), compared to the 44,000lb of the basic version.
NPO Saturn won the Russian government tender for development of the PAK FA engine earlier this year and has developed a programme in which modules of the previous-generation MMPP Salyut AL-31F are exchanged with modules of the AL-41F for testing as they become available. The AL-41F-1A has deliberately been designed to be the same size as the AL-31F.
The AL-31F powering Sukhoi Su-27 family fighters is produced at MMPP Salyut and UMPO, which hold licences to manufacture and upgrade the engine. Salyut launched its upgrade programme four years ago, aiming at increasing thrust from 27,530lb to 31,000lb and then to 33,000-35,000lb. It is intended for new variants of the Su-27 family, possible application on the PAK FA and for single-engined fighters.
In 2002, Salyut began flight tests of an improved version of the AL-31F-M1, with an enlarged fan, also using an Su-27. This year the aircraft was fitted with two Salyut engines equipped with Klimov-developed vectored-thrust swivelling nozzles (the NPO Saturn AL-31PFs powering Indian Su-30MKIs feature nozzle deflection in a single plane). Salyut's engine is aimed at single-engined aircraft such as the Chinese J-10 fighter, the first production lot of which is powered by the Salyut-built AL-31FN, a special derivative of the basic AL-31F with the engine accessories box moved from above to below the engine's main body.
Source: Flight International
