MOSCOW. Jan 30 (Interfax-AVN) - A Russian expert team will soon fly to Paris to discuss the draft contract for developing an upgraded Larzac aircraft engine for the MIG-AT trainer, a competent source in the Russian defense industry told Interfax- Military News Agency on Friday.
"An expert team of the MIG aircraft corporation and St. Petersburg-based Klimov plant will fly to France next week to meet with officials of the Snecma Moteurs company. They will discuss details of a joint project of developing an upgraded Larzac engine for the MIG-AT plane," the source said.
The meetings will address arrangement of R&D and tests pertaining to Larzac's upgrade at the Klimov plant, he said. In particular, they will touch upon the content and terms of development stages, some specific technical issues, and funding.
According to the source, talks on the MIG-AT development and mass production are badly affected by permanent delays in the plane's certification. At the moment the plan is to complete the certification before March.
Algeria is among the countries awaiting for the trainer's certification, for its demand for planes similar to the MIG-AT amounts to about 80 pieces, the source noted.
He said that both existing MIG-AT planes are powered by Snecma Moteurs' engines. The French company has provided five Larzac engines gratuitously since 1992 and currently pays for their technical servicing.
The upgraded Larzac 04U3 will have a thrust of 1,700kg, which is optimal for a plane of the MIG-AT's size and purpose. At the moment Larzac has a thrust of 1,420kg.
According to experts, the contract will be signed between Snecma Moteurs and the MIG corporation, of which the Klimov plant is a component. Under the draft contract, Snecma Moteurs will provide several dozen millions of U.S. dollars to fund research, development and tests related to the upgraded engine. The Klimov plant will be the main player in the aircraft engine development, tests, certification and mass production program.
The upgraded Larzac will power both the MIG-AT and other planes. In particular, its installation in a single-engined trainer being developed by India is under consideration. The new engine is expected to get support from available technical servicing infrastructure for French aircraft engine that exists all over the world.