SaM146 engine gets EASA approval

On June 23, the SaM146 turbofan engine jointly developed by Russia’s NPO Saturn and Snecma of France exclusively for the Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional aircraft, received a type certificate from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Thus it became the first Russian-built aero engine certified under the European regulations.
Receiving the certificate, Jean-Paul Ebanga, Chairman and CEO of the Russo-French Powerjet joint venture that runs the SaM146 program, said: "This is a landmark in relations between the European and Russian aerospace industries. We are now looking forward to seeing the SaM146 enter revenue service in the next few months."
The SaM146 completed its certification tests at the end of May by passing the final medium bird ingestion test. During the certification test program the engine logged 7,100 hours, including 3,500 hours in flight. According to NPO Saturn, the engine’s approval from the Russian aviation authorities is expected within several weeks.
The end of certification will make it possible to ramp up SaM146 production. The shortage of powerplants has seriously delayed the certification trials of the Superjet 100 itself. But now the Russian government plans to support NPO Saturn. When visiting the company in mid-June, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told about the possibility to allocate additional budget funding to launch the engine’s serial production. NPO Saturn intends to deliver 13 powerplants to Sukhoi Civil Aircraft by the end of the year, and to increase its output to 33 engines in 2011. According to Putin, the annual production rate should grow up to 140 by the year 2014.