MOSCOW. March 13 (Interfax-AVN) - Three priorities for the state funding of aircraft engine production in 2003 have been determined by the Russian Aviation and Space Agency, Viktor Chuiko, president of the Aircraft Engine Building Union, told Interfax-Military News Agency Thursday.
He said that "the largest sum of money has been tailored for the upgrade, service life extension, and reliability increase of the PS-90A powering the TU-204, IL-96, and IL-76 Candid aircraft."
The second largest area is the flight trials of the NK-93 engine. "The NK-93 is expected to have been fitted to the IL-76LL flight lab aircraft as soon as in August prior to the MAKS-2003 air show. The NK-93 meets all the noise and exhaust requirements of Chapter 4, Annex 16 of the ICAO," Chuikov said.
The third priority will be the upgrade of the D-436T1/TP engine to meet the ICAO noise and exhaust requirements. According to Chuikov, "the TU-334 tested in certain modes revealed that it is still necessary to work on the engine."
He also said that 14 percent of the Russian Aviation and Space Agency funding had been tailored for R&D on future and operational aircraft engines. This was done within the special federal program for the development of Russian civil aviation for 2002-2010 and up to 2015.
"In previous years, about 20 percent of the money used to be tailored for aircraft engine construction. The current decrease in state funding is due to the fact that to construct the TU-334 short-range airliner is considered a higher priority," he emphasized.