NPO Saturn Research and Production Association is requesting additional 8.4 billion roubles to produce SaM146 engine
The Russian aircraft engine manufacturer NPO Saturn Research and Production Association is requesting additional federal funding for its Sukhoi Superjet (SSJ) 100 medium-haul airliner project, the most sensational in Russia's civilian aircraft industry,The 8.4 billion roubles to be allocated over three years will be used toward the development of the PowerJet SaM146 turbofan engine, currently underway in a joint venture with France's Snecma.
In turn, NPO Saturn has promised to avoid any further delays in the production schedule. However, analysts warn that more federal funding could be necessary in order to streamline the engine pending commercial production.
Khabarovsk Territory Governor Vyacheslav Shport informed Prime Minister Vladimir Putin of the SSJ 100 production problems at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Production Association (KNAAPO). "According to projections, we are supposed to sell four aircraft this year – two to Armavia and two to Aeroflot. These aircraft lack engines. We have discussed this issue with the prime minister, and I think he will be involved," Shport told journalists on Friday. He added that NPO Saturn had pledged to deliver the engines in July-December 2010. As a result, he said, "we had to remove the engine from the first test aircraft and install it on the fourth plane in order to log the required number of flying hours."
NPO General Director Ilya Fyodorov told the paper that Shport's statements were tactless. He said that Shport did not even bother to visit the plant and assess the real situation. Previous delivery schedules were not changed, Fyodorov claimed. Under contracts signed by NPO Saturn and Sukhoi, the engine is scheduled to be certified in May, and deliveries will resume in June. "We will manufacture 14 engines before the year is out and another 48 engines in 2011, as planned," Fydorov told the paper.
Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin will have to intervene in solving the SSJ-engine problem. NPO Saturn requires extra federal allocations in order to manufacture 150 SAM146 engines annually as planned. Fyodorov said the company needs 8.4 billion roubles over the next three years, and that Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, who oversees the sector and has recently visited Rybinsk reacted to the issue sympathetically. "We have virtually agreed on the first three-billion rouble tranche. The relevant allocation scheme, including contributions to the statutory capital or some other option, remains to be approved," Fyodorov said. According to Fyodorov, the funding will be spent on equipment purchases for the corporate modernisation programme, and the company has already started spending loans on the programme, so as not to lose time.
Oleg Panteleyev, chief analyst at Aviaport aviation consultancy, said politicians found it convenient to blame NPO Saturn for the disrupted delivery schedule. "The previous Saturn CEO, Yury Lastochkin, resigned last year and parted with corporate stock. Consequently, federal officials decided that he was to blame," Panteleyev said.
Boris Rybak, general director of Infomost, another airline consultancy firm, said the plant would get the required federal funding because the SSJ programme "has acquired the status of a national project." Moreover, spending volumes may increase, Rybak said. "For prospective operators, it is very important that the government maintain funding pending the commissioning of the engines for production," Rybak explained, adding that there was not enough federal funding to streamline the previous-generation PS-90 high-bypass commercial turbofan engine, which had resulted in low demand for the Ilyushin Il-96 and Tupolev Tu-204 airliners.
Alexei Yekimovsky