OREANDA-NEWS. A board session of the Military-industrial commission (MIC) under the Government of the Russian Federation dedicated to ship building chaired by a member of the MIC Vladimir Pospelov took place at NPO Saturn.

The board members and the invited persons were given a detailed presentation of NPO Saturn's history, visited its modern industrial and testing infrastructure and discussed about the creation of gas turbine power plants for the prospective ships and submarines of the Russian Federation Navy.

According to Vladimir Pospelov, “it was a planned board session of the Military-industrial commission (MIC) under the Government of the Russian Federation dedicated to ship building. Two years ago by a resolution of the deputy chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation Dmitriy Rogozin, 11 boards dedicated to different fields of activity were set up and headed by the MIC. One of these boards deals with the ship building in the Russian Federation and treats the most topical subjects in terms of the implementation of the tasks aimed at supporting and developing the Russian Federation Navy.”

Answering to the question, why the board session took place at NPO Saturn, Vladimir Pospelov stated that “an impressive lineup of above-water ships is equipped with gas turbine power plants. This field of above-water military ship building requires further development. These ships were built in the Soviet Union times, and a number of components were supplied by the Ukraine. However, today in the State Armament program for the period of 2011 - 2020 there is a provision setting forth a requirement to build a number of military ships of the far and oceanic zones powered by gas turbine power plants. When it comes to the development of aircraft gas turbine engines, NPO Saturn is given historical importance. We know that both the civil and military airborne vehicles are powered by these power plants. And we would like that in the nearest future NPO Saturn started to supply modern power plants, using its competences, expertise, experience and professionalism, to equip the future fleet of the Russian Federation Navy. And these are already not the first steps made by Saturn in that direction; a program which started back at the end of the 20th century is now underway.”

As a reminder, in 1993 the Russian Federation Navy chose the Rybinsk gas turbine engine design bureau, now part of NPO Saturn, as the design and development competence center for the Russian marine gas turbine engines. Until 2004 the venture had been underfinanced; however since 2005 the situation has leveled out.

In 2008 a program of developing three types of Russian baseline automated high-efficiency 4th-generation ship gas turbine engines capable of ensuring any needs of the Russian Federation Navy and one type of diesel-gas turbine unit, got on its way. The program includes:

• the GTE M75RU (designed by NPO Saturn) with maximal capacity of 7000 h.p. The engine successfully passed the state acceptance tests in 2006;

• the GTE M70FRU (designed by NPO Saturn) with maximal capacity of 14000 h.p. The engine successfully passed the state acceptance tests in October 2008; and

• the GTE M90FR with maximal capacity of 27500 h.p. (designed by ZAO Turborus, a joint venture between NPO Saturn and Zorya-Mashproekt, the Ukraine). The engine successfully passed the interdepartmental tests in 2006 while a diesel-gas turbine unit derived from it successfully completed its respective test campaign in 2008.

“The most important thing is that we have inspected the company's entire product line, we have seen its capability in action and were presented a number of reports which allowed us to formulate the short-term and long-term objectives, - said Vladimir Pospelov summarizing the results of the meeting. - It is already sufficient for making a report to the government leaders and adopting all the necessary decisions with relation to the development of the marine applications. We have studied the backlog which started being generated in terms of capital construction, we have been demonstrated a shop in which, I have no doubt, in the next few years Saturn will start producing components for the Navy ships; we have also seen the under-construction test bed for marine engines. I would like to reiterate that we are talking about very substantial government investments here. Of course, we cannot afford to let billions of rubles idle. We are simply confident that it is an efficient way of investing the government money. And the investment of funds is not our ultimate goal; it is the precipitation of the future result serving to reinforce the Russian Navy.”

Speaking about the future of the Russian ship building, Vladimir Pospelov noted: “The Navy is a long-term thing, requiring a lot of resources, serious collaborations and always the state solutions adopted at the level of the highest political figures. A few weeks ago the MIC reviewed and approved the draft of a long-term military ship building program, until 2050. That program was submitted to the country's leaders for approval and it allows even such large companies as Saturn to plan their activities not for three years in the frame of the current state order, not until 2020, but to look much further down the road and start devising a long-term policy.

We have managed to live through the end of the 20th century, and I'm speaking not only about the Navy but about all the other kinds of the Russian armed forces. Those were the most trying years for many companies working in the defense-industrial complex. We have coped with that, drew our conclusions and made the next step. And I think that many hundreds of companies in the defense-industrial complex, Saturn being one of them, have found their place, understood their role and significance, and now only the sky is the limit to them.”

The NPO Saturn Research and Production Association (OJSC) is an engine-building company specialized in the design and development, production and after-market support of gas turbine engines for military and civil aviation, naval ships and power-generating plants and gas-pumping units. The association is part of the Russian union of mechanical engineers all-Russian public organization whereby the regional branch is headed by I. N. Fedorov, NPO Saturn CEO.

NPO Saturn is part of United Engine Corporation (OJSC) and acts as the leader of the Civil Engines Division, a business unit of UEC founded on 09.10.2012 as a result of integration of the following companies: NPO Saturn (OJSC), Aviadvigatel (OJSC), PMZ (OJSC), Metallist-PM (CJSC), Energetik-PM (OJSC), REMOS-PM (CJSC), Motoservis-PM (CJSC) and Zheleznodorozhnik-PM (CJSC).

United Engine Corporation (OJSC) is a subsidiary of the OBORONPROM UIC (OJSC). The UEC structure integrates over 85% of Russia's leading companies specialized in the design and development, serial production and after-market support of gas turbine machinery as well as the key enterprises - the industry's integral players. One of UEC's prioritized fields of activity is the implementation of comprehensive programs of development of the companies in the industry by introducing new technologies meeting the world-class standards.

The OBORONPROM United Industrial Corporation (OJSC) is a multi-field machine-building group created in 2002. It is part of Rostec. The main fields of activity are helicopter building (the Russian Helicopters holding), engine building (the UEC holding) and other assets.

The Rostekhnologii State Corporation (Rostec) is a Russian corporation established in 2007 in order to facilitate the development, manufacturing and export of high-technology industrial products of military and civil purposes. Today it comprises over 663 companies, which form 8 military-industrial and 5 civil industry holdings. Rostec's subsidiaries are located in 60 regions of Russia and supply their products to over 70 countries worldwide. In 2012 revenues of the Corporation amounted to RUB 931 billion, net profits were RUB 38.5 billion and total taxation exceeded RUB 109 billion.