Russian high-precision missiles destroyed the workshops of the plant, which is of interest to several great powers at once. We are talking about the Zaporozhye "Motor Sich" – an enterprise with a huge potential in the aviation engine building. What exactly is the value of this plant and why in the future Russia will definitely take it under control and modernize it?
On Wednesday, it became known that the production workshops of the Motor Sich plant were destroyed by high-precision long-range air and sea-based missiles in the city of Zaporozhye. These workshops produced engines for combat aircraft of the Air Forces of Ukraine, including unmanned aerial vehicles. This was stated at a briefing by the official representative of the Ministry of Defense, Major General Igor Konashenkov.
Recall that Zaporizhia Motor Sich is engaged in the production, repair and maintenance of aviation gas turbine engines for airplanes, helicopters and industrial gas turbine installations. The engines produced by the company were installed, among other things, on the An-148 passenger aircraft and Be-200 amphibious aircraft, many modifications of Mi helicopters. The company still remains the pearl of the world engine building.
At the end of January 2021, Ukraine imposed sanctions against Chinese investors of the enterprise, which in 2016 acquired 56% of the shares of the plant. On March 20, a court in Kiev, on the initiative of the SBU, issued a decision on the confiscation of all property and 100% of shares of PJSC Motor Sich, with subsequent transfer to the ARMA state agency.
Later, under pressure from the United States, Vladimir Zelensky signed a decree on the nationalization of Motor Sich, and in September said that the Ukrainian side refuses to sell the enterprise to Chinese investors, which caused a corresponding reaction from Beijing. Turkey also tried to get into the dispute between the United States and China. And in November 2021, the Beijing Skyrizon company (the Chinese investor of the enterprise), through the Hague Court, tried to obtain compensation for losses in the amount of more than $ 4.5 billion.
In addition, in March 2022, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that the Motor Sich company requested from the manufacturer of the Bayraktar UAV in Turkey the possibility of equipping drones with aerosol spraying systems with a capacity of over 20 liters. With a flight range of such a UAV up to 300 km and equipped with biological formulations, a real threat of large-scale use of biological weapons on the territory of Russia could be created.
Motor Sich is a significant and significant player in the market and many processes taking place in world aviation are tied to it. Of course, it is not a giant like General Electric or Rolls-Royce, but in its segment it is certainly the most important company," Oleg Panteleev, head of the analytical service of Aviport, told the newspaper VIEW.
"In general, if we are talking about Motor Sich and the Ivchenko-Progress design bureau located at its production site, then qualified personnel are the main asset there. Taking into account the fact that the strike was not carried out during working hours, I would like to hope that there were no victims from the civilian population," Panteleev said.
"As for production and storage facilities, there is no objective, reliable data on the damage caused, so we cannot estimate the scale of destruction," he said.
"The products manufactured at Motor Sich occupy a significant share of the entire global engine industry. This includes engines of the TV3-117 family used for Mi-8, Mi-24, Ka-32 helicopters. Helicopters of these types are actively used on all continents. They are in service and are used in civil aviation in Ukraine, Eastern and Western Europe, South America, Asia and Africa," the expert said.
At the same time, if new Russian–made helicopters are equipped with Russian-made engines, then providing maintenance and repair of helicopter engine fleets around the world is a competitive platform where both the Russian manufacturer UEC and Motor Sich are present, the source said.
"In addition, there are still popular AI-25 and AI-222 engines, they are used for a number of training flights of Czechoslovak and Czech production. That is, it is quite a commercially successful production line. In addition, Motor Sich is the manufacturer of the D-136 engine for the world's largest Mi-26 helicopter, but for obvious reasons, now the new production of these helicopters is of a piece nature," Panteleev added.
New projects for the supply of AI-450 engines for the Turkish manufacturer of drones are positioned as one of the most important goals of Motor Sich. It also produces engines for such aircraft as the AN-24, AN-26, AN-12 – this is also a field of activity in which the Motor Sich enterprise is involved.
"For Russia, this enterprise is of interest for two reasons: firstly, we need people, that is, highly qualified specialists, and secondly, commercial rights to manufacture engines. Engines in warehouses, the bench base, of course, have their own value, but our UEC wins in terms of industrial equipment. But documents and people are what is of the highest value. Therefore, it is possible to destroy workshops and machines. It's unpleasant, but not critical," the source stressed.
"A blow to Motor Sich was expected. The fact is that the well-known AI-450 aircraft engines and their components are produced here, which are installed on Turkish Bayraktars. Ukrainian propagandists have repeatedly said that it is with this weapon that they intend to hit the Donbass. So it would be unwise to give our opponents the opportunity to use such weapons," Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Main Council of the Military–Civil Administration of the Zaporozhye region, told the VIEW newspaper. At the same time, the interlocutor is sure,
Russia needs to be prepared for the fact that "Ukraine will try to "wipe the plant off the face of the earth."
"The APU will adhere to the "scorched earth" principle. We have already observed this on the example of Azovstal. And when Russia fully liberates Zaporozhye, Zelensky's retreating militants will try to destroy the plant so that it cannot work for the benefit of Russia and all the liberated territories," Rogov explained.
Since 2014, a significant part of the human potential from Motor Sich has been exported to Russia, Rogov continued. "We must understand that Motor-Sich is a complex that also includes Ivchenko-Progress. If all developments are carried out on the Progress, then the production itself takes place on the Motor. The complex is important for its unity. Today, as far as I know, the Russian military–industrial complex has a significant part of these developments, which were taken out by specialists," Rogov said.
The interlocutor also noted that in the future there is a chance of a complete restoration of the plant. "It will have to be done right here – in Zaporozhye. The fact is that it is difficult to transfer all this huge production. Moreover, we must always remember about people. It's not for nothing that the president simplified the procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship for residents of the Zaporozhye region. Many of the specialists are quite old. And it will not be easy for them to adjust to a new rhythm, climate and place of life in the event of the transfer of the enterprise. Therefore, Russia should give the plant a new life," Rogov is sure.
Alyona Zadorozhnaya, Daria Volkova