“Izvestia”: small aircraft may face a shortage of “corn”

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has decided to postpone the issue of financing the replacement of the American engine and propeller for the TVS-2MS aircraft, a modernized version of the An-2 corncob, until it is certified. About it report “Izvestia” with reference to the press service of the ministry.

In May, the newspaper reported that the Rusaviaprom enterprise (an aircraft manufacturer) asked the Cabinet of Ministers for 9 billion rubles. for this development. However, the Ministry of Industry and Trade noted that the aircraft must first be certified.

It is noted that the Siberian Research Institute of Aviation. S.A. Chaplygin, which is responsible for the development of the aircraft, has already submitted an application for certification to the Federal Air Transport Agency. The aircraft is currently undergoing ground and flight tests.

The department clarified that in order to manufacture copies of the engine and propeller according to American models and launch mass production of parts in Russia, it will be necessary to carry out a full cycle of certification work. This can take three to five years.

The TVS-2MS is a modernized version of the An-2 corncob, which was developed in the late 1940s. In 2015, the modification was completed, and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, together with the Ministry of Transport, issued a certificate of serviceability for the car. In December 2019, the Ministry of Transport approved new aviation rules for the certification of aircraft. The manufacturer must now receive a manufacturing organization approval certificate. Rusaviaprom repeatedly applied for this document to the department, but the certificate was never issued due to problems with the documents.

Now, according to newspaper sources in the aviation market, certification may be delayed due to a conflict between the leadership of Rusaviaprom and the institute, which has been going on for several years. The institute demands compensation from Rusaviaprom in the amount of more than 544 million rubles. due to the fact that the enterprise for three years has not been able to eliminate the remarks of the Federal Air Transport Agency and obtain permission to operate in accordance with the new rules.

To date, Rusaviaprom has produced 24 TVS-2MS aircraft, 17 of them are in operation. Aircraft are used mainly in Siberia and the Far East for the transportation of passengers and cargo to hard-to-reach areas. An-2, TVS-2MS and other modifications of the “maize” are used in Avialesookhrana and agricultural work. It is clarified that there is no replacement for them on the Russian market now.

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