RYBINSK, Yaroslavl Region. Nov 29 (Interfax-AVN) - The Saturn Research and Production Association and the Rosoboronexport state-owned arms trader have singed an agreement on delivering D-30KP-2 aircraft engines to China, worth in excess of $300 million.
"Saturn and Rosoboronexport will deliver a total of over $300 million's worth of D-30KP-2 aircraft engines to Chinese customers in 2006-2010," the Saturn press-service told Interfax-Military News Agency on Tuesday.
Saturn is expected to start delivering aircraft engines next year.
The agreement on delivering D-30KP-2 aircraft power plants and equipment for Il-76MD and Il-78MK aircraft to Chinese customers was signed by Saturn Director General Yury Lastochkin and Alexander Mikheyev, head of the Rosoboronexport department for Air Force special equipment and services exports, in Rybinsk on Tuesday, the press-service said.
The agreement defines relations between the two companies within the framework of the contract on delivering 38 Il-76MDs and Il-78MKs to China, signed by Rosoboronexport in September 2005.
Lastochkin expressed his hope that Rosoboronexport and the Chkalov Aircraft Production Association, the Uzbekistan-based manufacturer of the aforementioned aircraft, will draft and sign necessary documents in the near future, in compliance with which Rosoboronexport will act as a payer for aircraft engines to be mounted on Uzbek aircraft.
"It will allow Saturn to fulfil its obligations on time," Lastochkin said. Saturn is one of the flagship aircraft engine manufacturers. The profits derived from fulfilling the contract will be invested in developing the company, including launching new-generation engines into mass production.
The D-30KP-2 gas-turbine engine, designed by Saturn, is mounted on Il-76-family aircraft, such as the Il-76TD transport, the Il-76MD military air transport, the Il-76TP fire-fighting aircraft, the Il-78MK tanker plane, the A-50 AWACS aircraft, and the A-40 amphibious aircraft. The engine has been mass produced in Rybinsk since 1972.
There are a total of over 3,000 operational power plants of this type at the moment. The overall operating time amounts to almost 40 million hours, while the total annual flying time exceeds two million hours. The D-30KP-2 is an engine from the D-30KU/KP/KU-154-family, which is one of the most reliable engine families in the international aircraft industry, the press-service said.
Aircraft engines undergo maintenance and overhaul at the network of over 80 Saturn service centers in air carriers, as well as Russian and foreign military units. At the present time Saturn is developing improved modifications of aircraft engines by increasing their cost-efficiency, environmental, and operational characteristics, the press-service said.