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Testing of the new engine that will finally power the T-50 stealth fighter will start in 2014, Evgeny Marchukov, General Designer-Director of A. Lyulka Scientific-and-Technical Center, forming part of NPO, recently told the press. (via Lenta.ru)
"The first engine will be assembled in two years and the testing will be started in the network of the engine's full-scale development. This is a brand new engine, that is why its development is taking much time", Marchukov said.
Moscow-based Salut and NPO Saturn are building a brand new stealthy powerplant for the T-50, which is not a derivative of the AL-41F1 (Product 117) engine that powers it currently.
Called Product 30, the new engine will be 30% lighter than the Product 117 engine and come with 30% lower life-cycle cost.
The new engine is expected to offer about 17.5 tons (171.6 kn) of thrust in full afterburning mode and somewhere in the range of 12 tons (117.7 kn) in dry mode, allowing the aircraft to comfortably super-cruise at around Mach 1.5.
CEO of NPO Saturn, Ilya Fedorov, said in April 2011 that development of the new engine is running ahead of schedule and the first engines will be delivered to the Russian Ministry of Defense in 2015. The first serial T-50s should be acquired by Russian air forces the same year.
Earlier, NPO Saturn and Salut were competing to develop an engine for the T-50 with designs known as Eniseysk-A and Eniseysk-B, respectively.
Minimizing Development Risk
According to Salut CEO Yuri Eliseev, in order to minimize risks, technologies that will go into the second-stage engine will be developed and tested as upgrades to the Al-31F engines that power the Su-27/Su-30 family of fighters.
As part of the first stage of development, a new compressor has been fitted into a new version called AL-31FM1 with a thrust of 27,000 lb., interval between overhauls of 1,000 hr. and service life of 2,000 hr.; compared to 25,000 lb. thrust, 500 hr. between overhauls and 1,500 hr. of service life for the serial AL-31F.
The AL-31FM1 already powers modernized Su-27SM Russian air force fighters and has also been approved for installation on Su-34 bombers.
A further development, the AL-31FM2, is being bench-tested. The engine features a new combustor chamber and turbine and reached 29,200 lb. thrust.
Interim Powerplant: NPO Saturn AL-41F1 (Product 117)
In March 2010, Sukhoi chief Mikhail Pogosyan said the T-50 would enter service with the air force powered by the Saturn 117. He indicated development of the second-stage engine could take another decade.
The 14.5 tons thrust NPO Saturn AL-41F1 (Product 117) engine is an upgraded version of AL-41F1S engine intended for Su-35, which in turn is a derivative of the NPO Saturn's AL-31F series that power the Su-27/Su-30 family of fighters.
The Product 117 engine comes with a new full-authority digital engine control unit and uses key components of the AL-41F1S supercruising core. The AL-41F was developed for the Mikoyan MFI fighter (Mikoyan Project 1.44).
The Su-35 is the first non-US fighter with substantial sustained supersonic cruise capability, so even initial models of PAF-FA should support good supercruise giving it a good advantage in initial engagement.
According to Saturn, the Product 117 engine satisfies most air force requirements (including supercruise ability) but is not a stealthy design.
FGFA / T-50 New Engine (Product 30) Testing to Start in Two Years
