18 june 2010

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin tours the Saturn Research & Production Centre in Rybinsk during his visit to the Yaroslavl Region

Participants:

The managing director of Saturn, Ilya Fyodorov, accompanied Putin on his visit and showed him the company's assembly line. Fyodorov said that the Sukhoi aircraft manufacturer would receive the first SaM-146 engine for the Superjet 100 aircraft in early July. He added, "This year, we plan to produce a total of 12 engines."

Responding to a question from Putin, Fyodorov confirmed that the company plans to manufacture 140 engines annually and he elaborated on engine trial results. "All trials have been completed successfully. In particular, the fans continued to work after four birds hit the jet engine," Fyodorov said. The prime minister then asked whether these were sparrows or seagulls. The engine developers said that each bird weighed 700 grams. He added that the SaM-146 engines also sustained the 120 kg hail impact testing as well as the most difficult testing of 24 tonnes, which occurs after engine blade breakdown.

Prime Minister Putin toured NPO Saturn production facilities to see how the company is implementing its military and civil programmes.

He watched workers assemble the engine for the Sukhoi Superjet 100, the 117S engine for the Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jet, the AL-55 engine for the global market of trainer and light combat aircraft, as well as engines for airborne and waterborne cruise missiles.