Successful First Run Of Powerjet’s SaM146 Engine
MDS is the chosen supplier of test facilities for the SaM146 engine, which completed its first successful run on July 9, 2006 at the NPO Saturn Test Cell No. 26 facility in Rybinsk, Russia.
PowerJet (a joint venture between Snecma and NPO Saturn) is responsible for the development of the SaM146 Engine. With a range of 14,000 to 17,500 pounds thrust, this engine is designed specifically for the regional aircraft market and will be the common engine for all versions of the Russian Regional Jet (RRJ) family.
In addition to completion of this upgrade to Test Cell 26, MDS will provide NPO Saturn with two new indoor test facilities for production and development testing of the SaM146. The test facilities will also be equipped with provisions for testing turbofan engines of up to 50,000 lbf thrust. The new test facilities shall be analogous to NPO Saturn’s existing test cell 26 and installation will be completed in 2007.
PowerJet plans to construct nine SaM146 engines to be used for certification testing, logging more than 4,500 accelerated mission cycles in the process.
