ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine. Jan 10 (Interfax-AVN) - Bench tests of the new AI-222-25 aircraft engine will begin in May 2002, a competent source with the local Progress engine design bureau told Interfax-Military News Agency on Thursday.
If the engine designed by Progress is not ready by the deadline for some reasons, its gas-generator will be put up for tests, the source said. Flight tests of the new engine are scheduled for late 2002 to early 2003.
Progress will transfer the AI-222-25 mock-up to Russia's Yakovlev design bureau in June or July, the source went on. The engine is planned for installation in the new YAK-130-01 combat and training plane that will make its maiden flight in the first quarter of 2003. Mass production of the plane will be handled by the Sokol aircraft plant located in Nizhny Novgorod.
The new AI-222-25 engine will be manufactured by Ukraine's Motor Sych enterprise based in Zaporizhzhia and by Russia's Salyut plant located in Moscow. Sayut obtained design documents related to the engine from Progress in late 2001 and is currently preparing its facilities for the engine's serial production.