Defeat without a fight: why Russia lost its aviation and engine manufacturing

Andrey Zlobin, candidate of technical sciences, mechanical engineer, mathematician

The USSR had excellent aviation with thousands of aircraft and helicopters of reliable design, perfectly adapted to the vast expanses of the country and difficult weather conditions. The country learned from the experience of the last war to make a universal technique. On Soviet aircraft Tu-154, Tu-134, Il-62, Yak-40, Yak-42, the engines were installed close to the tail unit and were located high above the ground. Many Soviet civilian airliners, in fact, were at the same time military, unpretentious to airfields, and in conditions of armed conflicts could perfectly solve combat missions. This dual purpose of Soviet civil aircraft saved the state enormous sums of money. There was a little less comfort for the passengers, but after the horrors of the war, the people were understanding, not spoiled.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, a more noticeable division of domestic aviation into civilian and military occurred at the expense of universality. The Russian economy was unable to pull two aircraft. Defense issues are above all, and therefore the lesser of two evils was chosen. At the same time, problems began in civil aviation.

At the same time, an unprecedented PR campaign was launched aimed at denigrating Soviet civil aircraft and incompetently comparing it with foreign aircraft. While contemptuously calling Russia a "gas station country", foreign "benefactors", nevertheless, blamed us for insufficiently economical aircraft engines. Our engines, they say, consume more kerosene and spoil the environment. These are the arguments given - for the foolish.

The same songs were picked up from all sides by Russian parrots who sang the same nonsense in every way. No one would have believed in a simple lie. And they believed in a monstrous lie immediately and unconditionally. But only completely uneducated people can argue that gas turbine engines spoil the environment. Any specialist knows that the opposite is true. Gas turbine technology has always been an example of environmental excellence, and a little more or a little less is often determined only by PR. Compare this with the catastrophic ecology in China, where the sky is smoked with coal on a huge scale, and Soviet aircraft engines will appear in a completely different light - as the ideal of environmental cleanliness.

It should not be forgotten that Soviet aviation technology was created for the largest and longest country in the world. It had to be versatile, and work flawlessly in the polar north and hot south. It was on these considerations that the Soviet aircraft fleet was created according to the principle "tanks are not afraid of dirt." And this approach fully justified itself. For many decades, our civil aviation transport and military aviation worked flawlessly, whether it was about flights within the borders of the USSR or in the most remote corners of the world. That was what was most important, not the irresponsible grumbling over the fuel barrel. Even if you call us a gas station country, then it is not logical to reproach us with a small overspending of kerosene, when Russia exports oil abroad in many million tons. Well, they bought hundreds of foreign aircraft, well, perhaps they saved some pennies on kerosene, but at the same time lost trillions, ditching their own civil aircraft industry, which has not been able to revive until now. It was worth it? This is called "in spite of mom's ears were frostbitten".

It was impossible to listen to amateurs who stood up for a "revolution" in Russian aviation. It was necessary, as in the whole world, to continue evolutionary development, keeping all the best and gradually improving aircraft technology in accordance with the requirements of the time. By massively switching to "star" foreign aircraft and engines, Russia has cut off its path to retreat. Here is what the famous scientists of CIAM - the Central Institute of Aviation Motors, who published an article on the import substitution program in No. 6 for 2015, wrote in the magazine "Dvigatel":

“It is obvious that the prompt implementation of such an extensive program at a high quality level that meets the future requirements for aircraft engines, taking into account the economic situation in the country, is not possible. Nevertheless, the presence of the previously created domestic gas generators of the 4th generation engines provides the basis for the development of the necessary range of turbojet, turboprop and turboshaft engines capable of filling all niches occupied by foreign-made engines operated on domestic aircraft".

This truth now hurts many people - the previously created remarkable large-scale domestic fourth-generation engines. If Russia had relied on this reliable, proven technique and technology, on evolutionary development, and it would not have had to waste huge amounts of money on "Star Wars-2". It's okay, we would gradually bring our engines and aircraft to a higher level, comfort, on the scale of a huge country and a difficult climate, it is more difficult to do this. Having succumbed to provocations and got involved in the race for foreign aircraft, spending time and money, Russia again fell into an economic trap. We did not have large series of engines of the fifth generation, and we do not. There are no large series of domestic aircraft with such engines. All the steam went off to the whistle, and three decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the country continues to be dependent on foreign aircraft manufacturers. Who else does not understand that with such a vast territory of Russia, the concepts of “our own continuous large-scale aircraft production” and “the Russian state” are no different from each other?

Yes, formally, now Russia has the first copies of the fifth generation PD-14 engines. Indeed PD-14 is a great achievement of the Russian aircraft industry. But is everything so cloudless? In the same article by CIAM scientists, you can read: “PD-14 also uses imported products ". A question arises regarding the prospects of this engine and the MC-21 aircraft for which it is intended. Firstly, it is inferiority from the point of view of various kinds of sanctions, which is confirmed by recent events. Secondly, there is a danger of patent conflicts when entering the world aircraft market.

The most annoying thing is that the USSR was ahead of foreigners, having first tested its own excellent fifth-generation engine already in the late 80s! Later, this turbofan engine NK-93 of an ultra-high bypass ratio of 16.7 (!) With a take-off thrust of 18 tons, created on the initiative of N.D. Kuznetsov, was tested at a flying laboratory. Not a single engine in the world was suitable for him. And suddenly another manifestation of amateurism - work on the NK-93 was discontinued. Tales about the lack of funding or the lack of an airplane for the engine are for kindergarten. At the same time, there was enough money for "star wars" in the form of foreign aircraft...

And, by the way, the newest engine of N.D. Kuznetsov could seriously reformat the entire world aviation market. I can imagine what a holiday reigned abroad when they learned about the curtailment of the most promising program NK-93. I am doubly annoyed to think about this, since I have observed the wonderful Kuznetsov engines NK-12 in action. In the 80s, I had a chance to sit at the helm of the famous Russian "bear" - strategic bomber Tu-95, talk to pilots, mechanics, and I was once again convinced of the perfection of the engines of the design bureau of ND Kuznetsov. I refuse to acknowledge any reasons why the world's best aircraft engine NK-93 did not go into production. The only reason I really see is a lack of intelligence. Perhaps for amateurs, juggling with aircraft engines is familiar. For a highly qualified aviation specialist, both NK-93 and PD-14 are decades of government work, these are results that should not be neglected and risked under no circumstances.

Where do amateurs come from in the aviation leadership? And this is the result of disrespect for the entire Russian engineering and aviation sector, including engine building. It is enough to recall some facts, and we will see the corresponding "oil painting".

I already wrote that in the early 2000s, during the construction of the third transport ring of Moscow, the left wing of the Faculty of Power Engineering of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University was razed to the ground. It was in this wing of the building that the most important Russian engineering laboratories and the departments of "Turbo building", "Internal combustion engines", "Thermodynamics" were located. So, because of a dozen meters of asphalt, they almost ruined the elite engineering school of Russian engine engineers, including gas turbine aviation and energy specializations. I graduated from this famous department of turbines and therefore I understand the monstrous consequences of the destroyed laboratories. It is worth recalling a series of fires: at the Moscow Aviation Institute MAI (2009), at the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy (2012), in the building that was previously occupied by the personnel department, the technical training department and the CIAM cultural center (2013). Who doesn’t know the popular wisdom that “moving is tantamount to fire”? And now the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy changed the sign to the Voronezh one. And in 2016 the Norilsk Nickel Plant was closed. Is there a need to explain the importance of nickel to aircraft gas turbine engines? There is a strange and even frightening pattern...

Perhaps, to someone my reasoning will seem too categorical, but they are not more categorical than the destroyed Soviet civil aircraft fleet. I understand well the tragedy of the current situation, and I have no illusions about the future prospects of our civil aviation equipment. Today, when I assess the future of Russian aviation, my pessimism is growing stronger every day. Despite occasional official fanfare, the sound of copper pipes is not at all pleasing. It is still only heard about high-profile undertakings instead of large series of civil aircraft and engines. It was easy to destroy the Soviet aircraft industry, you don't need to be smart for this. But now it will take decades to restore. And it's not just about the money that will be required for this.

Now it's a matter of personnel. The Soviet Union has been building up its aviation personnel potential for seventy years. Chinese students studying in Moscow began to manually rewrite the textbooks of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University in the 1950s. Only now, seventy years later, is the result becoming visible - the Chinese aviation and space. This is because first you need to prepare your professorship, and only then massively train engineers and scientists. That is, it takes at least two generations of people to grow a high-tech aerospace industry in the country. Of course, Russia is not starting its recovery from a complete zero, but this, alas, is a dubious handicap. Today, the biggest danger is not that you might not keep up with the leaders. The main danger is that dependence on foreign technologies may be irreversible...

What will we do? And what can you do ... I will try to formulate only the main idea - the smart ones should lead the Russian aviation. Smart enough to understand simple things. For example, that civil and military aviation are inextricably linked, and degradation in the field of civil aviation technology will sooner or later affect the country's defense capability. I am well aware of this, since in the 90s I was the head of the "Engines of unmanned aerial vehicles" sector of CIAM. Can't you see how hard Russia is trying to catch up with the drone industry? For a long time, it was believed that the unmanned topic was secondary, somewhat akin to sports aircraft modeling. Now they bite their elbows - we were convinced that everything is much more complicated. Before heading the motor sector of unmanned aerial vehicles at CIAM, I studied for thirty years, received three higher educations, including aeronautical engineering and mathematics, and defended my Ph.D. thesis. He specialized in cooling aircraft gas turbine blades and know more about high technologies than most. I know how to distinguish aviation professionals from amateurs at first sight. I am responsible for every word, because I feel responsible to my wonderful teachers. Aviation does not forgive disrespect for itself. When amateurs rule Russian aviation, nothing can be fixed. And then you do not need to hide your eyes, pretending that bribes from amateurs are smooth. If you don't know history well, let me remind you that Moscow does not believe in tears...