Flights and kickbacks
The restoration of the country's technological sovereignty requires the urgent eradication of bureaucratic inertia and pure sabotage from the aircraft industry. Russian aviation authorities - now we can confidently talk about this - are not interested in the development of domestic aircraft and engine building. It is more profitable for them to deal with Western "partners."
The measure of the truth of the intentions of this stratum of official decision-makers is the aircraft industry, which has turned into a field of experiment, unprecedented in modern trade and economic relations. And if it was associated with the search for the best, competition of ideas, engineering schools, labor collectives - with the struggle between Russian technologies for superiority and the right to enter the product line of production associations, this would stimulate innovation, creative search, meaningful discussion about the look of civil aircraft and military air force But we are talking about the shamefully ignored by the competent services of the progressive delivery of our market (Russia, partners in the Commonwealth, third countries with which we traditionally have strategic alliance relations) aircraft technology of NATO members - an organization that makes us number one enemy.
We could wrap the foreign economic restrictions for our own benefit, actively, with government calculation, to replace their planes and helicopters with ours, who are waiting for a wide series. Instead, under the talk of import substitution, there is a very prudent, punctual destruction of enterprises preserving production, the disintegration of still capable of designing and modeling teams, curtailing the costs of experimental design work on samples of strategic importance for the future of our civil aviation.
Such a kind of response from a power claiming technological superiority, at least in the area of its geopolitical influence, but with the diligence of its own officials-managers in front of their eyes turning into a vassal. The play “Going to the Domestic” is played out as if by notes: the tasks are set, the performers, according to all the laws of dramaturgy, are “hustled by persons”, but it comes to the point - and it turns out that there is neither money nor technology. And if the latter are, then they, in the opinion of “effective managers,” are hopelessly outdated and easier to buy in the West than to engage in pulling up their own production base to a level that provides a critical (for elementary economic and technological reproduction) output.
"Miracle" idle
The quarter-century, with the exception of brief periods of clarification of consciousness, the art of the "demiurges" of import substitution caused Russia enormous economic damage. About 45 billions of dollars spent on the purchase of Boeing and Airbus, plus the planned costs for contracted foreign cars (30 billion more) would allow recreating Russian civil aviation on an advanced basis, tightening the specialized science and providing a guaranteed salary for ten years more than 2,5 million Russians. Are not these high-tech jobs, their increase due to the synergistic effect of cooperation between the industries working in the aviation industry, said four years ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin in one of his decrees? If we decompose the total amount of approximate losses by type and size of aircraft (75 billion dollars) of enterprises, their subcontractors, carriers, the picture will appear quite bleak.
So, in the category of aircraft over 250 seats with actually spent funds for the purchase of 70 "Boeing" and 20 airbuses (about 9 billion dollars), it would be possible to build an 148 upgraded Il-96. Spent 30 billions of dollars for the purchase of almost 350 cars of these consortia would allow the Tu-450 / 204 aircraft to replenish the national 214 aircraft fleet. In the category of 75 – 150 seats about five billion dollars were spent on the purchase of Bombardier, ATR-42 and other foreign aircraft instead of building more than a hundred An-148, An-140 and IL-114.
It is worth recalling that the Voronezh plant was ready to annually increase the output of regional An-148, but someone tenderly hinted: “Do not” ... The main operator, Russia, began to complain about the technical flaws of the aircraft, although there had been no serious complaints before and non-essential promptly eliminated. I wonder whose hints so literally understood that the airline had to completely abandon the car, which pilots loved it?
In addition to American and European regional airliners, only one similar aircraft is operated in our market - SSJ 100, three-quarters of which is assembled from a foreign component base. This ship, we recall, is known first of all for its overwhelming government allocations for the development and colorful broad PR. So what's the deal? An-148 could be perfectly operated by Russian carriers, and the “miracle of the aviation industry” could replenish the fleet of partner countries - Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, the entire CIS net of Georgia and Ukraine. Plus a hypothetical opportunity to enter Western markets, according to the promises of Alenia. But something went wrong: the key Italian partner “merged”, pledged to ensure the promotion of the “Russian” car in the West, and refusals from SSJ from foreign airlines fell down, although declarations of intent sounded more than impressive at all major exhibitions and shows.
Why did this happen? As it became known in May, the state of health of SSJ 100 remained at the level of 2012 of the year and does not exceed 60 percent, which is at odds with the promises of the GSS to bring this figure to 75 percent by the beginning of 2016. For example, in Aeroflot, operating 27 (16% of its fleet in total) from SSN's 46 aircraft, encountered a large number of failures: incidents related to the wing mechanization control systems, chassis clearance / release, and door leaflet control were recorded. cargo compartments, the failure of the GLONASS in the automatic flight control system. The number of failures per thousand hours of SSJ 100 raid in Aeroflot fleet was 1,5 – 2 times higher than the similar indicators of other aircraft types. In the first quarter of 2016, the daily raid on a serviceable aircraft was one and a half times less than that of the Airbus-319.
And everything could be blamed on children's growing pains, but the economics of operating the “miracle and hopes of the Russian aviation industry” bring the airlines crazy costs due to the forced downtime (up to 100 days) of cars due to the low level of after-sales logistic support. GSS does not withstand the delivery time of the necessary components and assemblies, obviously, because they do not have, as the lion's share of their foreign production.
But manufacturers of the direct competitor SSJ - An-148 in St. Petersburg Pulkovo always had a first-aid kit, a list of spare parts, technicians ready to fix the problem and return the car “to the schedule” in a matter of hours. But despite the perfectly well-functioning after-sales technical support system of the An-148 throughout its life cycle, the aircraft was turned on with a red light, and the GSS, thanks to lobbyists in power, continues to drag in its car everywhere. And if the airlines of other countries have the opportunity to cancel the agreement with the manufacturer on deliveries, then the Russian carriers because of the strongest administrative press do not have such a chance.
In a paradoxical situation, the competition between the two medium-haul liners of the firms Antonov and Sukhoi (let the market determine which car is preferable to use, but the aviation industry coordinators are not so liberal) is manifested in the general flaws of the aviation industry management system. The common place is the lack of strategic planning of the complex, a well-structured “customer-performer” system with the definition of the future appearance of civil aircraft building with details on the types, sizes and technical properties of the required domestic-made vessels.
The sabotage of the liquidation of a single governing body — the central Ministry of Aviation Industry — has sown so far the unsettled confusion in making decisions on what to produce, what scientific, technical and technological reserves exist for it, and under what conditions resources can be allocated for this. It is no coincidence that the conditions for the provision of state funds and state guarantees are a key link in the organizational structure of the modern aviation industry. The combination of a single center-generated clear plan for the production of competitive products, endowing domestic centers of competence with orders, encouraging healthy rivalry between engineering schools, identifying advanced projects and teams are whales, which should reanimate civil aviation. Without projecting, substitution of real production by public relations, runs of one company for the right to receive state support with the cut-off at the start of the rest.
I believe that the current control system of the aviation industry by the political will of the state leadership should be freed from those who indirectly play up to the “partners” who are leading a hybrid war against us, and even deliberately bet on Russian economic and technological sovereignty.
Game of Decrease
Observers are no longer surprised when, with derogatory assessments of the place of Russia in the geopolitical layout, there are “system liberals” who have settled in the power vertical, especially in the centers for making socio-economic decisions. True indignation causes entry into the “game for a fall” by quite respectable managers and analysts, even more so if it is a question of a national industry.
You can blame on the “difficulties of translation,” but no one even tried to refute what was said by the distinguished head of the United Aircraft Building Corporation Yury Slusar at the congress of United Russia in June: “I think we will change our aircraft when we learn to make them fully competitive in the civilian sector ... for example, making 70 aircraft is a big task. But a much more ambitious task is to sell these planes. It should be clearly understood that no one needs us in the market of the actually existing duopoly "Boeing" and "Airbus". It turns out that the entire aviation complex headed by him and his predecessors has not issued a worthy product over the years, and if it has, it is in vain, since the promotion system of domestic technology is not able to realize the product.
What is this, if not a recognition of the futility of the efforts of industrialists who, despite the general line of suppressing any production activity, developed and modernized their aircraft?
The idea of belittling the advantages of domestic aviation equipment produced in wide cooperation, while working a whole staff of lured experts, sowing in the public mind the inferiority complex of the brand "Made in Russia." But are not we the best in the world wide-body airliner Il-96, which is part of the presidential air force? Did not Tupolev, a decade and a half ago, certify Tu-334-100, created in accordance with the presidential program "Development of Civil Aviation Equipment in Russia before 2000"? Does not there exist a regional An-148, beloved by passengers and pilots adapted to highly imperfect domestic airfields, regularly carrying out missions of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and other special departments? Is it impossible to put on the wing other types and sizes of cars - Tu-204 / 214, IL-114, AN-140 (the latter is indispensable for transportation in the Far North and southern temperature extremes)? Or is the country deprived of the potential and reserve for the production of the entire line of new helicopters (from light type Ansat to world record-holders for carrying capacity) and remotorization on the advanced technological basis of Mi-8 / 17 / 171?
Boeing lift
A series of rhetorical questions affecting not only the entire line of passenger aircraft, helicopters, and special equipment can be continued indefinitely. But this does not help to logically explain why, in the midst of a conflict not initiated by us with the West (read: the United States), a humiliating for Russia restrictions and attacks on all fronts in July in the Skolkovo Innovation Center a representative office, an aviation training and research center “ Boeing ”is the largest in the world and ... provided with our orders. Science fiction, however, is well planned and moreover described by The New York Times in the distant 1992: “... the policy of the US administration is aimed at bringing the Russian aerospace and military industry to such a low level, on which it has never in the future, could not pose a threat to the United States. "
Say: America is to blame for everything? Yes, we are creating the conditions for successful operations by the largest overseas corporation, providing the necessary material and technical support, and this is when our own manufacturers are sitting on food starvation, and development firms that are capable of creating are already finished with an “effective” policy from above. Or maybe the most experienced commander Il-20, flying over 96 thousands of hours, Vladimir Salnikov, a member of the presidium of the Sheremetyevo trade union of flight personnel, was not mistaken when, in 2010, he actually pointed out that Airbus and Boeing airplanes imported to Russia . In this sensational interview, he stated that the European aviation concern in the contract for the sale of aircraft means: the intermediary receives 10 percent of the transaction amount, and the American industrial giant, not hesitating, publishes information that 2009 spent a million dollars in bribing officials in the 72 year CIS If you believe Salnikov, it turns out interesting arithmetic: a ten-percent rollback to lobbyists for the entry into the country of products of the American and European concerns for two decades is 7,5 billion dollars.
An inquisitive reader is able to calculate the size of compensation for the free entry into Russia of about 800 units of Augusta, Bell, Eurocopter and other helicopters. The catalog price of each such rotary-wing machine is available on companies' websites, and it is easy to compare specifications with Russian counterparts.
The cynicism in relation to its own aircraft industry complex is not limited to the provision of explicit and implicit preferences to foreign manufacturers, while ignoring their own developments of engineering firms and schools.
Elimination of competitiveness
Under the talk of promoting Russian technology to the markets of Western countries (recall the obsessive idea to overwhelm Europe SSJ 100), the class of “effective managers” is lobbying openly for installation of domestic engines for foreign engines. The trial balloon was launched when they tried to equip a fully self-sufficient An-148 with motors made in an effective Russian-Ukrainian cooperation with SaM-146 engines from Superjet. Did not work. The market prospects for Sukhoi, even within the CIS, turned out to be elusive, not to mention deliveries to the West.
Now, using the same method, “the possibility is being worked out” of installing on the Russian main plane of the new generation Yak-242 (the so-called MC-21) of the American power plant PW1400. But already at the exit - created in a wide cooperation cooperation, including with the involvement of the scientific and technical potential of the Ukrainian Motor Sich JSC, PD-14. The “strategists” of the industry are not embarrassed that the surplus value, in cooperation with the Americans, will remain in the United States and orders will be received by the overseas firm, and “Perm Motors” will be content with an abandoned bone?
History with global market prospects SSJ 100, apparently, did not teach anything. And in vain - timely clarification of consciousness allows you to save a lot of time and money. But at the solemn presentation of the future airliner in Irkutsk, the content was replaced with a candy wrapper, illuminated by neon rays, and the “practices” of businessmen from aviation were not mentioned. Although it would be necessary to show all their "frantic state scope", agility and the tempers with whom they daily offer Russian producers to move in order not to break the link "The United States, a technological superpower" - "Russia, its raw materials appendage."
However, the enthusiasm for replacing domestic aircraft with foreign ones in the civilian sector is nothing compared to bureaucratic and expert zeal to write off the An-124 “Ruslan” unique heavy transport aircraft for various purposes, and if it does not work out, instead of the Russian-Ukrainian engine D- 18T put on him an American CF6-80-C2.
Under the pretext of aging the Zaporozhye power plant, curtailing cooperative ties due to the political situation in Ukraine, officials, in particular from the KLA, propose to curtail the production of Ruslan. But even in 2013, the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade D. Manturov announced the resumption of the serial production of a flying truck on Aviastar from 2018. Apparently, even here it was not possible to reach an agreement with the “partners” whom the Russian transport worker is not allowing to sleep in peace for a decade.
At the initiative of the Americans, a joint designer (Rotordynamics Consortium) was created as part of the leading Western corporations (NASA, Boeing, General Electric, MTU, Pratt & Whitney, Snecma, Rolls-Royce, Embraer, Honeywell and etc.). This approach emphasizes the seriousness of the intentions in the future to create advanced power plants, the understanding of the importance of broad international cooperation and the pairing of potentials in the design and manufacture of complex equipment. Any attempts to isolate oneself from such cooperation in our scientific and technological environment testify to the opposite, and this cannot but be understood by numerous commentators who dream of crossing Hegel with Gogol.
In relation to the continuation of the history of "Ruslan" they go very far. And if the most experienced expert R. Pukhov talks about the economic grounds and options for the transfer of An-124 from Volga-Dnepr Airlines to the balance of government departments, then his colleague A. Sitnikov is looking for options for “remotorizing” the transport worker, citing American military expert E. Wertheim believing that the UEC already has the necessary competence and technology for the fundamental improvement of existing engines. Ratuya for the prompt replacement of D-18T with the NK-32 engine of Kuznetsov, expert Sitnikov, referring to anonymous letters from Ukrainian Internet forums, mentions the alleged intractability and excessive appetites of the Zaporozhian inhabitants (KB Progress and Motor Sich JSC). Not to face the analyst with the experience of operating in their arguments with rumors and speculation. Sitnikov speaks about the task set for 2019 by OAO Kuznetsov to create a domestic for 100 percent (but which means domestic in terms of market and technological competition) for Ruslan. As they say, good luck. The more our developments will be introduced into mass production, put on the wing, the better for Russia and the reproduction of its scientific potential.
But why make air locks with an unknown final effect, if there are tangible results of a deep modernization of the very “outdated” D-18T. Already in 2017, the D-18 3М series engines will be tested in flight, which will ensure a reduction in noise and emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere, and their economic efficiency will increase significantly. Or is this information from open sources unknown to specialists who deliberately put the competitive manufacturer out of the brackets, even in the current conditions that are incompatible with any foreign economic activity and which manage to preserve joint projects, to fulfill obligations to customers and suppliers?
Air sellers
Another technology of the import-replacing lobby is massive attacks under expert cover not on equipment samples, but on enterprises whose normal economic and technological well-being is the key to the rise of the aviation industry. Not so long ago, the focus of attention was on the Stupino NPP "Aerosila" - the recognized flagship of the production of auxiliary power units (APU) for the new generation of aircraft Su-34, Su-35, Yak-130, Ka-52, Mi-28М helicopters , a large family of Mi-35 / 8. The reason is a public statement by the head of the Technodinamika holding, subordinate to Russian Technologies, of a certain M. Kuzyuk that Russia is completely dependent on foreign-made APU. To overcome this “dependency”, he proposed a non-existent product TD-17, the project of which even set out to finance the Industry Development Fund with 901 million rubles.
Very Pogossian style of air movement to the masses. Citizen Kuziuk cannot fail to understand in whose favor he plays, when he publicly declares the absence of a full-fledged production of the Armed Forces of Ukraine inside the country, and what reputational damage is caused to a truly advanced domestic enterprise in this field.
The illustration of the completely unceremonious behavior of the “fifth column” is the situation at NPO Molniya, founded in 70-ies specifically for the creation of a reusable orbital spacecraft. Despite the Americans ’advice received in 90, the work on hypersound and other directions, the destruction of project documentation, unique drawings, archives, models, including the“ Energy ”-“ Buran ”program, was saved, everything was saved. At that moment, when the Americans in 2011, with fanfare, launched the full analogs of the development of NPO Molniya - X-37B, H-51 and one "closed" product - they put new managers on the enterprise who suppressed all production activities, and the lack of The results were explained to the customer and the team by limited funding. Today, when in spite of everything, engineers and designers came out with new space developments (for example, a reusable accelerating first stage for the Angara rocket), superior to the competitors, the next composition of "stranglers" - this time some Boutique management company - began to roll the undoubted achievements of advanced scientific school in the asphalt. While the lead pilot of the ISS “Buran” I. Volk and his colleagues are sounding the alarm, trying to convince the president to introduce NGOs into Roscosmos, the Americans are concentrating the available resources to save personnel and the design school in the aerospace industry.
Work on failure
In the rocket-space industry and the aviation industry, the obvious surrender of national interests has to be observed more often, the more intense the Supreme Commander-in-Chief demands from his subordinates to carry out genuine import substitution, to provide Russia with own-made aircraft. But this does not mean abandonment of cooperative ties. On the contrary, we are talking about a wide and effective integration with debugging production chains, involving the maximum number of enterprises in the turnover of creating value added.
According to this scheme, for decades, the Zaporozhye enterprise Motor Sich, which fell into disgrace of envious persons, or the Zaporozhye enterprise Motor Sich, ordered by foreign “partners,” has been used to working regularly. The history of any of its engines includes hundreds of cooperation threads diverging from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok, productive and mutually beneficial relations are built with everyone, they all speak the same technical language, understanding common tasks and not succumbing to difficulties. Such a network of mutual supplies existed under any authority in Kiev, and there is no doubt that the current political storms will survive.
But it is precisely on the belonging of Motor Sich JSC to the “enemy” state that the emboldened “refusers” from Zaporizhzhya engines rest. Motivating the curtailment of cooperation with Zaporozhye and doing almost nothing to restore their own scientific and technological base, these figures fall at the feet of Western manufacturers, calling out about new shipments and supplies, not forgetting, as we found out above, about their 10 commission percentages.
And cooperation, maintenance of scientific and industrial exchange at the proper level, in their opinion, let them burn with fire. Covering their own helplessness, they hit political science: they say, relations will not be the same and they will never be the same, so if we cannot produce anything due to excessive ties to a partner, then we will buy it behind the cordon. Someone clearly does not give rest, that even in these difficult circumstances, the scientific and technical cooperation of Motor Sich JSC with its Russian colleagues in the whole range of civil engineering equipment continues: under the talk of political controversy, “effective managers” thought to write off the successful enterprise from the accounts and open the road to imports. But in order to destroy cooperation, it is necessary to give an approximate idea of what it means to create and launch a modern engine into a series, which ensures the production process. This is neither taught in the HSE or in Chicago.
If it did not work out from the gate, they try to sneak up on the sly, sneaking. Within two weeks of August, several “exposing” works appeared to discredit the enterprise. The author of the publications, judging by the style of presenting information, is one and is well acquainted with the enterprise. Not bothering to update the certificate, obviously, in due time received from the manufacturer itself, in the course of the narration makes gross mistakes and impermissible blots. This alone is a pretext for going to court with a claim for protection of business reputation.
What is, in fact, the claim of this pseudo-analyst to Motor Sich JSC? The fact that even in a crisis the enterprise expands the geography of its presence in the countries of the Commonwealth? Plus his leadership. Or dissatisfaction is caused by the fact that the flagship of the motor industry continues to meet the needs of Russia in aircraft and helicopter engines? In the end, is there a difference for the Russian aircraft industry, how or through what procedures and formalities will the finished product get to them? As the saying goes, gentlemen, you "checkered or go"? There is a feeling that the "checkers", because behind the veil of reports about the successes and reports of authorized companies and corporations hides misinformation of the manual.
Against this background, the critical situation with the loading of production capacities is taking shape at U-UAZ JSC and Kazan Helicopter Plant PJSC, as announced by the Director General of Russian Helicopters Alexander Mikheev in a letter from 5 of May. I will note in this message concern for the unpredictable consequences “on the eve of the elections to the State Duma” if, in the absence of orders, there is a need for “a significant reduction in the capacities of the plants and their personnel.”
Well, honestly said. But something else is worse - when factory directors and their curators in state corporations and departments work for the public, declaring about getting rid of imports and creating their own production competencies of a closed cycle. And then they come to the partner (on the same “Motor Sich”) and shovel from its warehouse sets of ready-made engines together with spare parts. There were such precedents, and if the partner had allowed himself at least a grain of dishonesty, he would have called the petitioner, betraying him and showing his true capabilities. But this is not done only for the reason that the true values of cooperation and partnership cannot be betrayed even in the most difficult times, otherwise you will become an outcast among your own - professionals, designers, engineers.
However, the desire to wishful thinking, to report on the non-existent is also a kind of technology for putting down the vigilance of political leadership. And if the accumulated cooperation collapses for dozens of years, promising projects are rejected, entire factories collapse with the inevitable impoverishment of labor collectives, and somewhere in the Urals they are going to organize a large-unit assembly of western helicopter technology - this is a form of sabotage. In a state that claims to technological independence and economic breakthrough, it must be strictly punishable.
The measure of the truth of the intentions of this stratum of official decision-makers is the aircraft industry, which has turned into a field of experiment, unprecedented in modern trade and economic relations. And if it was associated with the search for the best, competition of ideas, engineering schools, labor collectives - with the struggle between Russian technologies for superiority and the right to enter the product line of production associations, this would stimulate innovation, creative search, meaningful discussion about the look of civil aircraft and military air force But we are talking about the shamefully ignored by the competent services of the progressive delivery of our market (Russia, partners in the Commonwealth, third countries with which we traditionally have strategic alliance relations) aircraft technology of NATO members - an organization that makes us number one enemy.
We could wrap the foreign economic restrictions for our own benefit, actively, with government calculation, to replace their planes and helicopters with ours, who are waiting for a wide series. Instead, under the talk of import substitution, there is a very prudent, punctual destruction of enterprises preserving production, the disintegration of still capable of designing and modeling teams, curtailing the costs of experimental design work on samples of strategic importance for the future of our civil aviation.
Such a kind of response from a power claiming technological superiority, at least in the area of its geopolitical influence, but with the diligence of its own officials-managers in front of their eyes turning into a vassal. The play “Going to the Domestic” is played out as if by notes: the tasks are set, the performers, according to all the laws of dramaturgy, are “hustled by persons”, but it comes to the point - and it turns out that there is neither money nor technology. And if the latter are, then they, in the opinion of “effective managers,” are hopelessly outdated and easier to buy in the West than to engage in pulling up their own production base to a level that provides a critical (for elementary economic and technological reproduction) output.
"Miracle" idle
The quarter-century, with the exception of brief periods of clarification of consciousness, the art of the "demiurges" of import substitution caused Russia enormous economic damage. About 45 billions of dollars spent on the purchase of Boeing and Airbus, plus the planned costs for contracted foreign cars (30 billion more) would allow recreating Russian civil aviation on an advanced basis, tightening the specialized science and providing a guaranteed salary for ten years more than 2,5 million Russians. Are not these high-tech jobs, their increase due to the synergistic effect of cooperation between the industries working in the aviation industry, said four years ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin in one of his decrees? If we decompose the total amount of approximate losses by type and size of aircraft (75 billion dollars) of enterprises, their subcontractors, carriers, the picture will appear quite bleak.
So, in the category of aircraft over 250 seats with actually spent funds for the purchase of 70 "Boeing" and 20 airbuses (about 9 billion dollars), it would be possible to build an 148 upgraded Il-96. Spent 30 billions of dollars for the purchase of almost 350 cars of these consortia would allow the Tu-450 / 204 aircraft to replenish the national 214 aircraft fleet. In the category of 75 – 150 seats about five billion dollars were spent on the purchase of Bombardier, ATR-42 and other foreign aircraft instead of building more than a hundred An-148, An-140 and IL-114.It is worth recalling that the Voronezh plant was ready to annually increase the output of regional An-148, but someone tenderly hinted: “Do not” ... The main operator, Russia, began to complain about the technical flaws of the aircraft, although there had been no serious complaints before and non-essential promptly eliminated. I wonder whose hints so literally understood that the airline had to completely abandon the car, which pilots loved it?
In addition to American and European regional airliners, only one similar aircraft is operated in our market - SSJ 100, three-quarters of which is assembled from a foreign component base. This ship, we recall, is known first of all for its overwhelming government allocations for the development and colorful broad PR. So what's the deal? An-148 could be perfectly operated by Russian carriers, and the “miracle of the aviation industry” could replenish the fleet of partner countries - Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, the entire CIS net of Georgia and Ukraine. Plus a hypothetical opportunity to enter Western markets, according to the promises of Alenia. But something went wrong: the key Italian partner “merged”, pledged to ensure the promotion of the “Russian” car in the West, and refusals from SSJ from foreign airlines fell down, although declarations of intent sounded more than impressive at all major exhibitions and shows.
Why did this happen? As it became known in May, the state of health of SSJ 100 remained at the level of 2012 of the year and does not exceed 60 percent, which is at odds with the promises of the GSS to bring this figure to 75 percent by the beginning of 2016. For example, in Aeroflot, operating 27 (16% of its fleet in total) from SSN's 46 aircraft, encountered a large number of failures: incidents related to the wing mechanization control systems, chassis clearance / release, and door leaflet control were recorded. cargo compartments, the failure of the GLONASS in the automatic flight control system. The number of failures per thousand hours of SSJ 100 raid in Aeroflot fleet was 1,5 – 2 times higher than the similar indicators of other aircraft types. In the first quarter of 2016, the daily raid on a serviceable aircraft was one and a half times less than that of the Airbus-319.
And everything could be blamed on children's growing pains, but the economics of operating the “miracle and hopes of the Russian aviation industry” bring the airlines crazy costs due to the forced downtime (up to 100 days) of cars due to the low level of after-sales logistic support. GSS does not withstand the delivery time of the necessary components and assemblies, obviously, because they do not have, as the lion's share of their foreign production.
But manufacturers of the direct competitor SSJ - An-148 in St. Petersburg Pulkovo always had a first-aid kit, a list of spare parts, technicians ready to fix the problem and return the car “to the schedule” in a matter of hours. But despite the perfectly well-functioning after-sales technical support system of the An-148 throughout its life cycle, the aircraft was turned on with a red light, and the GSS, thanks to lobbyists in power, continues to drag in its car everywhere. And if the airlines of other countries have the opportunity to cancel the agreement with the manufacturer on deliveries, then the Russian carriers because of the strongest administrative press do not have such a chance.In a paradoxical situation, the competition between the two medium-haul liners of the firms Antonov and Sukhoi (let the market determine which car is preferable to use, but the aviation industry coordinators are not so liberal) is manifested in the general flaws of the aviation industry management system. The common place is the lack of strategic planning of the complex, a well-structured “customer-performer” system with the definition of the future appearance of civil aircraft building with details on the types, sizes and technical properties of the required domestic-made vessels.
The sabotage of the liquidation of a single governing body — the central Ministry of Aviation Industry — has sown so far the unsettled confusion in making decisions on what to produce, what scientific, technical and technological reserves exist for it, and under what conditions resources can be allocated for this. It is no coincidence that the conditions for the provision of state funds and state guarantees are a key link in the organizational structure of the modern aviation industry. The combination of a single center-generated clear plan for the production of competitive products, endowing domestic centers of competence with orders, encouraging healthy rivalry between engineering schools, identifying advanced projects and teams are whales, which should reanimate civil aviation. Without projecting, substitution of real production by public relations, runs of one company for the right to receive state support with the cut-off at the start of the rest.
I believe that the current control system of the aviation industry by the political will of the state leadership should be freed from those who indirectly play up to the “partners” who are leading a hybrid war against us, and even deliberately bet on Russian economic and technological sovereignty.
Game of Decrease
Observers are no longer surprised when, with derogatory assessments of the place of Russia in the geopolitical layout, there are “system liberals” who have settled in the power vertical, especially in the centers for making socio-economic decisions. True indignation causes entry into the “game for a fall” by quite respectable managers and analysts, even more so if it is a question of a national industry.
You can blame on the “difficulties of translation,” but no one even tried to refute what was said by the distinguished head of the United Aircraft Building Corporation Yury Slusar at the congress of United Russia in June: “I think we will change our aircraft when we learn to make them fully competitive in the civilian sector ... for example, making 70 aircraft is a big task. But a much more ambitious task is to sell these planes. It should be clearly understood that no one needs us in the market of the actually existing duopoly "Boeing" and "Airbus". It turns out that the entire aviation complex headed by him and his predecessors has not issued a worthy product over the years, and if it has, it is in vain, since the promotion system of domestic technology is not able to realize the product.
What is this, if not a recognition of the futility of the efforts of industrialists who, despite the general line of suppressing any production activity, developed and modernized their aircraft?
The idea of belittling the advantages of domestic aviation equipment produced in wide cooperation, while working a whole staff of lured experts, sowing in the public mind the inferiority complex of the brand "Made in Russia." But are not we the best in the world wide-body airliner Il-96, which is part of the presidential air force? Did not Tupolev, a decade and a half ago, certify Tu-334-100, created in accordance with the presidential program "Development of Civil Aviation Equipment in Russia before 2000"? Does not there exist a regional An-148, beloved by passengers and pilots adapted to highly imperfect domestic airfields, regularly carrying out missions of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and other special departments? Is it impossible to put on the wing other types and sizes of cars - Tu-204 / 214, IL-114, AN-140 (the latter is indispensable for transportation in the Far North and southern temperature extremes)? Or is the country deprived of the potential and reserve for the production of the entire line of new helicopters (from light type Ansat to world record-holders for carrying capacity) and remotorization on the advanced technological basis of Mi-8 / 17 / 171?
Boeing lift
A series of rhetorical questions affecting not only the entire line of passenger aircraft, helicopters, and special equipment can be continued indefinitely. But this does not help to logically explain why, in the midst of a conflict not initiated by us with the West (read: the United States), a humiliating for Russia restrictions and attacks on all fronts in July in the Skolkovo Innovation Center a representative office, an aviation training and research center “ Boeing ”is the largest in the world and ... provided with our orders. Science fiction, however, is well planned and moreover described by The New York Times in the distant 1992: “... the policy of the US administration is aimed at bringing the Russian aerospace and military industry to such a low level, on which it has never in the future, could not pose a threat to the United States. "
Say: America is to blame for everything? Yes, we are creating the conditions for successful operations by the largest overseas corporation, providing the necessary material and technical support, and this is when our own manufacturers are sitting on food starvation, and development firms that are capable of creating are already finished with an “effective” policy from above. Or maybe the most experienced commander Il-20, flying over 96 thousands of hours, Vladimir Salnikov, a member of the presidium of the Sheremetyevo trade union of flight personnel, was not mistaken when, in 2010, he actually pointed out that Airbus and Boeing airplanes imported to Russia . In this sensational interview, he stated that the European aviation concern in the contract for the sale of aircraft means: the intermediary receives 10 percent of the transaction amount, and the American industrial giant, not hesitating, publishes information that 2009 spent a million dollars in bribing officials in the 72 year CIS If you believe Salnikov, it turns out interesting arithmetic: a ten-percent rollback to lobbyists for the entry into the country of products of the American and European concerns for two decades is 7,5 billion dollars.
An inquisitive reader is able to calculate the size of compensation for the free entry into Russia of about 800 units of Augusta, Bell, Eurocopter and other helicopters. The catalog price of each such rotary-wing machine is available on companies' websites, and it is easy to compare specifications with Russian counterparts.
The cynicism in relation to its own aircraft industry complex is not limited to the provision of explicit and implicit preferences to foreign manufacturers, while ignoring their own developments of engineering firms and schools.
Elimination of competitiveness
Under the talk of promoting Russian technology to the markets of Western countries (recall the obsessive idea to overwhelm Europe SSJ 100), the class of “effective managers” is lobbying openly for installation of domestic engines for foreign engines. The trial balloon was launched when they tried to equip a fully self-sufficient An-148 with motors made in an effective Russian-Ukrainian cooperation with SaM-146 engines from Superjet. Did not work. The market prospects for Sukhoi, even within the CIS, turned out to be elusive, not to mention deliveries to the West.
Now, using the same method, “the possibility is being worked out” of installing on the Russian main plane of the new generation Yak-242 (the so-called MC-21) of the American power plant PW1400. But already at the exit - created in a wide cooperation cooperation, including with the involvement of the scientific and technical potential of the Ukrainian Motor Sich JSC, PD-14. The “strategists” of the industry are not embarrassed that the surplus value, in cooperation with the Americans, will remain in the United States and orders will be received by the overseas firm, and “Perm Motors” will be content with an abandoned bone?
History with global market prospects SSJ 100, apparently, did not teach anything. And in vain - timely clarification of consciousness allows you to save a lot of time and money. But at the solemn presentation of the future airliner in Irkutsk, the content was replaced with a candy wrapper, illuminated by neon rays, and the “practices” of businessmen from aviation were not mentioned. Although it would be necessary to show all their "frantic state scope", agility and the tempers with whom they daily offer Russian producers to move in order not to break the link "The United States, a technological superpower" - "Russia, its raw materials appendage."
However, the enthusiasm for replacing domestic aircraft with foreign ones in the civilian sector is nothing compared to bureaucratic and expert zeal to write off the An-124 “Ruslan” unique heavy transport aircraft for various purposes, and if it does not work out, instead of the Russian-Ukrainian engine D- 18T put on him an American CF6-80-C2.
Under the pretext of aging the Zaporozhye power plant, curtailing cooperative ties due to the political situation in Ukraine, officials, in particular from the KLA, propose to curtail the production of Ruslan. But even in 2013, the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade D. Manturov announced the resumption of the serial production of a flying truck on Aviastar from 2018. Apparently, even here it was not possible to reach an agreement with the “partners” whom the Russian transport worker is not allowing to sleep in peace for a decade.
At the initiative of the Americans, a joint designer (Rotordynamics Consortium) was created as part of the leading Western corporations (NASA, Boeing, General Electric, MTU, Pratt & Whitney, Snecma, Rolls-Royce, Embraer, Honeywell and etc.). This approach emphasizes the seriousness of the intentions in the future to create advanced power plants, the understanding of the importance of broad international cooperation and the pairing of potentials in the design and manufacture of complex equipment. Any attempts to isolate oneself from such cooperation in our scientific and technological environment testify to the opposite, and this cannot but be understood by numerous commentators who dream of crossing Hegel with Gogol.In relation to the continuation of the history of "Ruslan" they go very far. And if the most experienced expert R. Pukhov talks about the economic grounds and options for the transfer of An-124 from Volga-Dnepr Airlines to the balance of government departments, then his colleague A. Sitnikov is looking for options for “remotorizing” the transport worker, citing American military expert E. Wertheim believing that the UEC already has the necessary competence and technology for the fundamental improvement of existing engines. Ratuya for the prompt replacement of D-18T with the NK-32 engine of Kuznetsov, expert Sitnikov, referring to anonymous letters from Ukrainian Internet forums, mentions the alleged intractability and excessive appetites of the Zaporozhian inhabitants (KB Progress and Motor Sich JSC). Not to face the analyst with the experience of operating in their arguments with rumors and speculation. Sitnikov speaks about the task set for 2019 by OAO Kuznetsov to create a domestic for 100 percent (but which means domestic in terms of market and technological competition) for Ruslan. As they say, good luck. The more our developments will be introduced into mass production, put on the wing, the better for Russia and the reproduction of its scientific potential.
But why make air locks with an unknown final effect, if there are tangible results of a deep modernization of the very “outdated” D-18T. Already in 2017, the D-18 3М series engines will be tested in flight, which will ensure a reduction in noise and emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere, and their economic efficiency will increase significantly. Or is this information from open sources unknown to specialists who deliberately put the competitive manufacturer out of the brackets, even in the current conditions that are incompatible with any foreign economic activity and which manage to preserve joint projects, to fulfill obligations to customers and suppliers?
Air sellers
Another technology of the import-replacing lobby is massive attacks under expert cover not on equipment samples, but on enterprises whose normal economic and technological well-being is the key to the rise of the aviation industry. Not so long ago, the focus of attention was on the Stupino NPP "Aerosila" - the recognized flagship of the production of auxiliary power units (APU) for the new generation of aircraft Su-34, Su-35, Yak-130, Ka-52, Mi-28М helicopters , a large family of Mi-35 / 8. The reason is a public statement by the head of the Technodinamika holding, subordinate to Russian Technologies, of a certain M. Kuzyuk that Russia is completely dependent on foreign-made APU. To overcome this “dependency”, he proposed a non-existent product TD-17, the project of which even set out to finance the Industry Development Fund with 901 million rubles.
Very Pogossian style of air movement to the masses. Citizen Kuziuk cannot fail to understand in whose favor he plays, when he publicly declares the absence of a full-fledged production of the Armed Forces of Ukraine inside the country, and what reputational damage is caused to a truly advanced domestic enterprise in this field.
The illustration of the completely unceremonious behavior of the “fifth column” is the situation at NPO Molniya, founded in 70-ies specifically for the creation of a reusable orbital spacecraft. Despite the Americans ’advice received in 90, the work on hypersound and other directions, the destruction of project documentation, unique drawings, archives, models, including the“ Energy ”-“ Buran ”program, was saved, everything was saved. At that moment, when the Americans in 2011, with fanfare, launched the full analogs of the development of NPO Molniya - X-37B, H-51 and one "closed" product - they put new managers on the enterprise who suppressed all production activities, and the lack of The results were explained to the customer and the team by limited funding. Today, when in spite of everything, engineers and designers came out with new space developments (for example, a reusable accelerating first stage for the Angara rocket), superior to the competitors, the next composition of "stranglers" - this time some Boutique management company - began to roll the undoubted achievements of advanced scientific school in the asphalt. While the lead pilot of the ISS “Buran” I. Volk and his colleagues are sounding the alarm, trying to convince the president to introduce NGOs into Roscosmos, the Americans are concentrating the available resources to save personnel and the design school in the aerospace industry.
Work on failure
In the rocket-space industry and the aviation industry, the obvious surrender of national interests has to be observed more often, the more intense the Supreme Commander-in-Chief demands from his subordinates to carry out genuine import substitution, to provide Russia with own-made aircraft. But this does not mean abandonment of cooperative ties. On the contrary, we are talking about a wide and effective integration with debugging production chains, involving the maximum number of enterprises in the turnover of creating value added.
According to this scheme, for decades, the Zaporozhye enterprise Motor Sich, which fell into disgrace of envious persons, or the Zaporozhye enterprise Motor Sich, ordered by foreign “partners,” has been used to working regularly. The history of any of its engines includes hundreds of cooperation threads diverging from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok, productive and mutually beneficial relations are built with everyone, they all speak the same technical language, understanding common tasks and not succumbing to difficulties. Such a network of mutual supplies existed under any authority in Kiev, and there is no doubt that the current political storms will survive.
But it is precisely on the belonging of Motor Sich JSC to the “enemy” state that the emboldened “refusers” from Zaporizhzhya engines rest. Motivating the curtailment of cooperation with Zaporozhye and doing almost nothing to restore their own scientific and technological base, these figures fall at the feet of Western manufacturers, calling out about new shipments and supplies, not forgetting, as we found out above, about their 10 commission percentages.
And cooperation, maintenance of scientific and industrial exchange at the proper level, in their opinion, let them burn with fire. Covering their own helplessness, they hit political science: they say, relations will not be the same and they will never be the same, so if we cannot produce anything due to excessive ties to a partner, then we will buy it behind the cordon. Someone clearly does not give rest, that even in these difficult circumstances, the scientific and technical cooperation of Motor Sich JSC with its Russian colleagues in the whole range of civil engineering equipment continues: under the talk of political controversy, “effective managers” thought to write off the successful enterprise from the accounts and open the road to imports. But in order to destroy cooperation, it is necessary to give an approximate idea of what it means to create and launch a modern engine into a series, which ensures the production process. This is neither taught in the HSE or in Chicago.
If it did not work out from the gate, they try to sneak up on the sly, sneaking. Within two weeks of August, several “exposing” works appeared to discredit the enterprise. The author of the publications, judging by the style of presenting information, is one and is well acquainted with the enterprise. Not bothering to update the certificate, obviously, in due time received from the manufacturer itself, in the course of the narration makes gross mistakes and impermissible blots. This alone is a pretext for going to court with a claim for protection of business reputation.
What is, in fact, the claim of this pseudo-analyst to Motor Sich JSC? The fact that even in a crisis the enterprise expands the geography of its presence in the countries of the Commonwealth? Plus his leadership. Or dissatisfaction is caused by the fact that the flagship of the motor industry continues to meet the needs of Russia in aircraft and helicopter engines? In the end, is there a difference for the Russian aircraft industry, how or through what procedures and formalities will the finished product get to them? As the saying goes, gentlemen, you "checkered or go"? There is a feeling that the "checkers", because behind the veil of reports about the successes and reports of authorized companies and corporations hides misinformation of the manual.
Against this background, the critical situation with the loading of production capacities is taking shape at U-UAZ JSC and Kazan Helicopter Plant PJSC, as announced by the Director General of Russian Helicopters Alexander Mikheev in a letter from 5 of May. I will note in this message concern for the unpredictable consequences “on the eve of the elections to the State Duma” if, in the absence of orders, there is a need for “a significant reduction in the capacities of the plants and their personnel.”
Well, honestly said. But something else is worse - when factory directors and their curators in state corporations and departments work for the public, declaring about getting rid of imports and creating their own production competencies of a closed cycle. And then they come to the partner (on the same “Motor Sich”) and shovel from its warehouse sets of ready-made engines together with spare parts. There were such precedents, and if the partner had allowed himself at least a grain of dishonesty, he would have called the petitioner, betraying him and showing his true capabilities. But this is not done only for the reason that the true values of cooperation and partnership cannot be betrayed even in the most difficult times, otherwise you will become an outcast among your own - professionals, designers, engineers.
However, the desire to wishful thinking, to report on the non-existent is also a kind of technology for putting down the vigilance of political leadership. And if the accumulated cooperation collapses for dozens of years, promising projects are rejected, entire factories collapse with the inevitable impoverishment of labor collectives, and somewhere in the Urals they are going to organize a large-unit assembly of western helicopter technology - this is a form of sabotage. In a state that claims to technological independence and economic breakthrough, it must be strictly punishable.
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