MOSCOW. July 30 (Interfax-AVN) - Large-scale involvement of main Russian engine-building enterprises in joint projects with Western may lead to the loss of their independence, Valentin Solonin, first deputy director of the Central Aircraft Engine- building Insutitute, said on Tuesday.
"There is serious danger that main positions in the domestic aircraft engine-building sphere will be taken by joint ventures or joint projects. Such developments will seriously affect the future of both the domestic civilian aircraft engine-building industry and the production of engines for Russian combat aviation," Solonin told Interfax-Military News Agency.
He stressed that pools involving Russian and foreign designers of aircraft engines were being organized for participation in competitions of technical proposals for the development of engines for a short- and medium-range plane and a regional plane. Pratt & Whitney and the Perm-based Aviadvigatel JSO, as well as Snecma and the Saturn research and production enterprise have put up their joint developments for the competitions. Foreign engines, these being PW800 and CM146 respectively, have been chosen as baseline models.
At the same time, development of domestic engines is not financed properly, Solonin said. Among those projects is the PS-9 engine made by the Aviadvigatel enterprise. PS-9 is an analogue of PW6000 made in the United States.