MOSCOW. Oct 28 (Interfax-AVN) - Work of the Defense Ministry's 13th R&D Institute on the extension of aircraft engines' service lives has produced an economic effect of over RUB6bn (USD188.89m) over the past three years, chief of the institute Major General Alexander Krutilin said on Monday.
"Extension of the service life of a single type of engines could cover our institute's annual expenses," Krutilin told Interfax-Military News Agency.
At the same time, the institute goes on with intensive research. "In particular, we have carried out successful flight research into the on-board and ground components of the information and analytical system that is to be employed by SU-27 Flanker and MIG-29 Fulcrum planes. This design and test project is a part of the state defense order. Introduction of such system will decrease the number of aircraft accidents by 70 percent, extend the service lives of the airframe and engine by about 25 percent and boost trustworthiness of technical diagnostics by nearly 100 percent," the general said.
According to him, the institute has two climatic stations studying an entire range of problems related to preservation of frameworks and components of military hardware in various climatic conditions. "In particular, we have just supplied a new SU-27 plane to one of the stations and launched comprehensive research of anticorrosive and protective traits of paint coatings, as well as their masking capabilities," Krutilin said.
The institute's biologists are studying resistance of various materials to the effect of germs and mushrooms, he went on. The institute has kept and updated a vast collection of such strains for many years. "Such research is of special importance at the moment as our assets are supplied intensively to Southeastern Asia. We cooperate with the Sukhoi and Mikhoyan companies, All-Russian Institute of Aviation Materials and Academy of Sciences in this field," he said.
According to Krutilin, the institute is also engaged in modernizing the aircraft fleet of the Russian Air Force.