MOSCOW. Oct 25 (Interfax-AVN) - The development concept of the Saturn research and production association is aimed at production diversification, Saturn's press service said on Friday.
"In the future, 50 percent of activity of the Saturn research and production association will be oriented towards maintaining all elements of the life cycle of engines for military and civil aviation. The other 50 percent of the enterprise's production facilities will manufacture gas-turbine equipment for the energy and gas industries on the basis of high aviation technologies," a press service official told Interfax-Military News Agency.
The Russian government has made Saturn the leading developer of a fifth-generation aircraft engine. This asset will power most of Russia's new-generation warplanes. In addition, the new engine is to become the foundation for the development of the domestic gas- turbine machine-building for next 25 to 30 years, not only in the sphere of military assets, but also in civilian aircraft-building.
The association currently produces engines for civil and military planes, ground power plants for the Unified Energy Systems of Russia company and gas giant Gazprom, as well as engines for drones. Among them are engines of the D-30KU/KP family for Russia's most popular civilian planes TU-154M Careless and IL-76 Candid. According to the press service, more than 1,000 planes of those types are in operation at the moment.
Saturn is implementing a large scale program of studying potential markets and products that can be in demand on these markets in the future.
"Thanks to competence of personnel and use of promising domestic and foreign tools, Saturn has practically unlimited technical capabilities in the sphere of processing materials with a broad range of mechanical and physical-chemical characteristics. The enterprise's reputation as a supplier of high-quality products is confirmed by a certificate of the U.S.-based General Electric company and prizes of the world's leading traders club. The quality control system used by the association meets ISO 9000 international standards," the press service said.
Saturn is developing cooperation with companies of the Snecma aerospace group. The enterprises are executing a series of joint projects in the sphere of engine development, production, marketing and after-sale servicing.