About the history of application and modern theaters
Continuation. The beginning is here .
A brief history of theater applications
The golden age of turboprop aircraft engines occurred in the 1950s and 1970s. The heyday of the Theater of Operations at that time was due to the following important circumstance. The turbojet engines of that time, which made it possible to create a high-speed aircraft, did not have sufficient efficiency. Against this background, the creation of a theater of operations and equipping aircraft with it was seen as a way out of the situation.
At the first stage, turbofan engines and theater of operations in domestic aviation successfully complemented each other. Moreover, this happened both in civil aviation and in the Air Force. Thus, in the second half of the 1950s, the heavy strategic bombers M4 and Tu-95, created respectively by the Design Bureau of V.M. Myasishchev and the Design Bureau of A.N. Tupolev, were almost simultaneously adopted. These vehicles were designed to deliver atomic special munitions to enemy territory. The Myasishchevsky M4 was equipped with a turbofan engine, and the Tupolev machine was equipped with a NK—12 twin-shaft propellers. In terms of flight range, combat radius and payload, the Tu-95 was superior to the M4, but inferior to it in flight speed.
Since the 1950s, Soviet military transport aviation has flown almost exclusively in theaters. It was the AI-20, AI-24, and NK-12 turboprop engines that were equipped with the Antonov Design Bureau aircraft — An-8, An-12, An-22, and An-26. At the same time, such machines as the Tu-142, Tu-95RC Tupolev Design Bureau, Il-38 Ilyushin Design Bureau, and Be-12 flying boats of the Beriev Design Bureau were adopted in service with naval and anti-submarine aviation. All of them were equipped with NK-12 and AI-20 turboprop aircraft engines.
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| Be-12P-200 with AI-20D turboprop engines. |
| Source: Aldo Bidini / wikimedia.org |
Airliners flew from theaters and in Soviet civil aviation. The first machine of this type was the Il-18. This machine, equipped with the AI-20 theater of operations, was one of the main ones in Aeroflot at that time, featuring the best performance and safety indicators. In 1957, the Tu-114 four-engine passenger airliner took to the skies, which became the flagship of Aeroflot for several decades, also equipped with the NK-12MV theater with coaxial propellers. The Tu-114 operated on long-range lines, as well as on international routes. It was he who brought the Soviet delegation headed by N.S. Khrushchev to the United States in September 1959. Antonov An-24 Design Bureau aircraft, which were also equipped with AI-24 turboprop engines, were intended for local and medium-length overhead lines.
As you can see, the main theater models in the Soviet Union were the following engines:
— NK-12 and its modifications developed by the Design Bureau of Nikolai Dmitrievich Kuznetsov. Today, this company is called PJSC UEC-Kuznetsov and is part of the United Engine Corporation Rostec.;
— AI-20, AI-24 and their modifications. They were developed at the Design Bureau under the leadership of Alexander Georgievich Ivchenko and produced at the Zaporizhia Machine-Building Plant.
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| NK-12MP turboprops on Tu-95MS. |
| Source: Vasily Zimin / wikipedia.org |
Airplanes from the Theater of operations were built not only in our country. At the same time, a number of turboprop-powered aircraft were created by foreign companies. Here are just the most famous of them: the Short Belfast transport, the Canadair passenger CL-44, the Douglas C-133 Kargomaster transport, the Lockheed Orion patrol P-3, the Vickers Viscount passenger, and many others.
With the improvement of turbofan engines and the growth of their efficiency and reliability, turboprop engines have gradually begun to be displaced and lose their positions, but in some sectors they still do not have a worthy alternative.
Turboprop aircraft engines today
Currently, the fleet of aircraft equipped with turboprop engines has decreased. Today, the Russian Air Force is armed with Tu-95MS strategic missile carriers and Tu-142 anti-submarine bombers equipped with NK-12 MP, air command posts and Il-20/Il-22 RTR aircraft, as well as Il-38 anti-submarine and An-12 transport aircraft equipped with AI-20M. The AN-24, AN-26, and IL-18 turboprop aircraft fly. Most of the listed cruise missiles have served their time with honor and have long been awaiting a worthy replacement.
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| Tu-142 with NK-12MP turboprop engines. |
| Source: Rob Schleiffert / wikimedia.org |
Unfortunately, the collapse of the Soviet Union had a very negative impact on everything, including aircraft and engine manufacturing. The ties that had existed for decades between the country's enterprises were destroyed. In the 1990s, the policy of purchasing foreign aircraft for domestic airlines played an extremely negative role for the domestic aviation industry. Serious damage was inflicted on the domestic aircraft manufacturing complex.
The situation began to improve gradually in the 2010s. One of the most acute problems requiring immediate solution is the problem of regional air transportation in different climatic and geographical zones of our country. The solution was the IL-114-300 aircraft with the TV7-117ST-01 engine. It was with a turboprop engine, and not with a turbofan engine, since only it could provide the new aircraft with the required characteristics. The engine was developed by the St. Petersburg-based ODK-Klimov company (part of the Rostec United Engine Corporation).
The new turboprop Il will replace the AN-24 on local airlines and compete with foreign aircraft of this class. Largely due to its power plant and complex of aerobatic equipment, the IL-114-300 will be able to operate autonomously from airfields with short runways, regardless of their infrastructure. The machine can be used in the Arctic and polar regions.
The decision to equip the IL-114-300 with two TV7-117ST-01 six-bladed AV-112-114 propellers was made in the summer of 2017. The power of the TV7-117ST-01 in normal takeoff mode is 2,900 hp, at maximum takeoff mode — 3,100 hp. The first flight of the IL-114-300 with such a theater took place on December 16, 2020. The power plant was certified in December 2022 and surpasses its foreign counterparts in terms of its technical characteristics. As already noted, it has increased take-off power and includes an AV-112-114 propeller with increased thrust of 4 tons.
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| The second prototype IL-114-300 aircraft with TV7-117ST-01 engines. |
| Source: UAC |
Commenting on the first flight of the second prototype IL-114-300 this spring, Vsevolod Eliseev, Deputy General Director and Managing Director of UEC—Klimov JSC, noted: "The TV7-117ST-01 engines successfully lifted another prototype aircraft into the sky. The engine performed well both during certification flights as part of the first prototype IL-114-300 aircraft and now. As a manufacturer and developer of the power plant, it is necessary for us to demonstrate that the TV7-117ST-01 works reliably. The engine is certified, its production is technologically mastered at the ODK-Klimov enterprise and there are all the necessary production facilities for mass production."
The new domestic regional aircraft is equipped with a new turboprop propulsion system, which means that the life of the Theater of Operations in aviation continues!
