Rostec announces UAC structural reform
The Russian aircraft industry is on the verge of a large-scale reform: Rostec unites Sukhoi and MiG companies and UAC, which includes Ilyushin, Tupolev and Irkut. The total effect of the creation of a single aviation engineering and design center should be up to 130 billion rubles. The details of the reform were dealt with by the military observer of the newspaper.En " Mikhail Khodarenok.
Rostec will merge the United Aircraft Corporation( UAC), Sukhoi and MiG companies into a single corporate center for aircraft construction, which will consolidate the management of UAC's aircraft programs and other assets.
"The structural transformations, the cost optimization program, the transformation of the industrial model, the research and development unit, and the digital transformation of the UAC are aimed at increasing the utilization of production capacities and increasing labor productivity. The total optimization effect of the ongoing transformations should amount to up to 130 billion rubles, " Rostec quotes Yuri Slyusar, General Director of the UAC.
Moving aviation design bureaus to other regions is not on the agenda.
Such decisions were announced by the General Director of the Rostec State Corporation Sergey Chemezov at a meeting with the management of the United Aircraft Corporation and its leading engineering centers, where they discussed the tasks of developing the aircraft industry in the coming years.
The UAC Corporate Aircraft Center, which will include Sukhoi and MiG, will consolidate the functions of managing aircraft programs, and will also become the management organization for the Tupolev, Ilyushin and Irkut companies.
"We are forming a single management organization and a single center of design competencies for all UAC companies in Moscow. System reforms should improve the company's structure and address issues of its financial stability, increase the competitiveness of domestic civil aircraft and cover Russia's significant needs for modern aircraft for passenger transportation.
The optimization will not affect the engineering and design personnel. It is assumed that design schools will remain independent, get new opportunities for development, as well as improved working conditions in the format of a Single engineering and Design Center. The reform will be implemented in stages over several years. At the same time, it is necessary to work out all the key changes with the design unit, the directorates of aircraft programs, and production sites.
There has been talk that a "military aviation division "will be formed in Russia on the basis of Sukhoi and RSC MiG companies for a long time. However, the matter went further, the military division was not limited, and moved on to the creation of the Corporate Center of Aircraft Construction of the UAC. It, as already announced, will become the management organization for the companies "Tupolev", "Ilyushin" and the corporation "Irkut".
By and large, this is an objective process. In the United States, too, at first there were many firms that were engaged in the design and mass production of fighters, but over the years they are becoming fewer and fewer. So far, only China is able to conduct parallel development - China has a lot of resources, there is no shortage of personnel. Among other things, and this must be admitted frankly, Russia today does not pull large parallel projects in the field of tactical aviation.
For example, the Sukhoi Design Bureau today has a truly nationwide project-the Su-57. There are no deliveries of these fighters to the troops yet - there are both objective and subjective reasons for this. Resources are now being concentrated on fine-tuning the machine, as well as on the engine, weapons for this aircraft. At the same time, a comparable development in terms of complexity - a strategic unmanned aerial vehicle - is also at Sukhoi.
Thus, in the near future, only one design bureau will remain in Russia, which is engaged in the development of modern fighters. In the 1990s, the Sukhoi Design Bureau survived, rose, and JSC "RSK "MiG", by and large,"lost".
Projects are sent to the shelf
The MiG tried to make a dash. In this regard, it is enough to recall the UAV "Scat", but, by and large, it ended in nothing. In addition, the influence of JSC "RSC "MiG" in the Russian aviation industry was significantly less than the Sukhoi Design Bureau. Accordingly, the possibilities are also less.
As for the project of the MiG-41 fighter, the development of JSC "RSK "MiG", about which there has been so much talk in the media recently, today these are unconfirmed spells and slogans. The Mikoyan leadership does not deny anything in this regard, but at the same time does not confirm it.
At the present stage, the MiG-41 is a discussion, research, study, but nothing more.
There is no sane concept of PAK DP. And even more so, there is no full-fledged project, and there is no clear answer whether it is necessary in principle. Currently, work on the MiG-41 is at the stage of research and development. This should be followed by development work, prototype construction, testing, and fine-tuning. And this, by modern standards, is at least 15 years of hard work.
And it is not clear what advantages the PAK DP will have over the Su-57. And what do the tasks that the Su-57 cannot solve today look like? Any new threats? But they haven't been drawn yet.
The talk that the PAK DP, aka the 6th generation fighter, will fly in near space, is, to put it mildly, in some contradiction with the laws of physics and aerodynamics.
And then an independent design bureau disappears, which theoretically could be engaged in the MiG-41.
Meanwhile, a full-fledged design bureau in the field of fighter aviation is at least 1000 people. What should they do if there is no major project? MiG-35? However, this is an export machine. For its modernization and fine-tuning, a full-fledged design bureau is not required. And then what? How to load designers, specialists, and engineering staff, and what will they do when they come to work every day?
The issue of competition
But what about the internal competition in the field of fighter aviation, which, as we know, is the engine of progress? You can also raise this question.
However, all the talk about competition at this stage is from the evil one. No money, no songs.
If an aircraft-building monopoly with a huge weight and influence grows in the state, then, having access to the military-political leadership, it will be able to push through any solutions, and not always optimal.
To balance these processes could be a qualified customer, that is, the military department with its unambiguous vision of the future. But the influence of military science on these processes is now significantly weakened.
The science of the military department has not recovered from the powerful organizational, staff and voluntary strikes of the period 2008-2012. Accordingly, the qualification of the customer has also fallen in comparison with the times of the USSR. And this is a huge problem, especially for the future.
Nevertheless, the integration processes in the field of aviation in the very specific Russian realities today are absolutely objective.
Mikhail Khodarenok