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Aviation History
1990
1990 - 3108.PDF
Moscow AEROSPACE ' 9 0 TU-134 replacement decision due Yakovlev and Tupolev expect to know within a few months which of them has won a contest to supply Aeroflot, the Soviet airline, with hundreds of medium-range airliners. The result of the competition the two design bureaus have entered will mean life or death for the three designs involved. Aeroflot has a requirement for a long-overdue Tupolev Tu- 134 replacement and was be lieved to be taking the Tu-334 as part of a long-term re- equipment strategy. Following delays in the Tu polev development, however, the airline has received bids from Yakovlev with two ver sions of a stretched Yak-42, known as the Yak-46. Despite the delays, Tupolev says its bid is aimed at an entry-into-service by 1994. Tupolev has proposed a two- stage development of the Tu- 334. The initial design, powered by two Progress (ZMKB and formerly Lotarev) D-436T tur- bofans, will carry up to 102 passengers. A second, definitive variant, will be powered by two Progress D-236 propfans and will carry 126. It will offer a range of 3,450km, with a pay- load of 11,430kg, or a slightly shorter range, with a maximum payload of 13,500kg. The D-436T-powered variant is to have a maximum range of 2,000km, with a 9,251kg pay- load, or a shorter range, with a maximum payload of 11,000kg. Tupolev is confident about winning the competition. "We now have a definite project and we are thinking of starting flight testing in 1993," says vice presi dent Viacheslav Sableu. "We offer a comfortable aircraft, with up to 50 litres of baggage space for each passenger in the cabin." Yakovlev is waiting for Aer- oflot's decision before going ahead with its proposed Yak-46 development. It has, however, formed a joint venture with engine builder Progress (Lo tarev) and the Ministry of Civil Aviation to prepare the ground. "The Aeroflot situation is good, the airline has signed all the documentation concerning our association and is prepared to donate several million rubles to help us build a prototype," says Yakovlev chief designer Yuri Yankevich. "This money would come to our joint ven ture, if it is not given to any other programme, by the end of this year." Two very different designs have been offered. One Yak-46 has a T-tail and two D-27 propfans, while the other re sembles an Airbus A320 and is powered by two turbofans. Both offer considerably more passen ger capacity than the Tu-334, with room for up to 168 people. The turbofan version is being offered for ranges of up to3,450km with a normal pay- load, while the propfan has slightly longer range of 3,500km. Yankevich says that if it is selected, construction of a prototype will begin early next year, leading to an eventual production run of up to 100 per year until 2005. Other new aircraft to be in troduced include the Let L-610, the llyushin 11-114, Yak-42M, Ilyushin 11-96-300 and the Tu polev Tu-204. •Yakovlev has approached BMW-Rolls-Royce over possible re-engining of the Yak-42M with the BR700 family of new turbofans. The most likely can didate would be the top-of-the- range lOOkN (22,0001b) BR720, replacing the 74kN thrust Lo tarev D-436. Development of the 42M is going ahead, despite being far behind the original schedule calling for entry-into- service in 1987 — the pro gramme is expected to take a further three years. Deliveries of a previously un recorded Yak 42 variant, the D, are going ahead. The aircraft is representative of the second -42 prototype, which had three more rows of seats offering ac commodation for 120. The first of up to 10 aircraft for Cubana and China. • Yakovlev Yak-46 (turbojet high by-pass engines) © Reed Business Publishing Group Cryogenic A300 feasibility study Deutsche Aerospace and Tu polev are planning to begin feasibility studies of an Airbus A300 fuelled by hydrogen meth ane later this month. The devel opment follows news that the Tupolev-developed Tu-156 liq uified natural gas (LNG) pow ered aircraft will fly in 1993, a year earlier than expected. German aerospace minister Erich Riedl said in a joint state ment issued with his Soviet counterpart Apollon Syszow that Deutsche Aerospace is "...ready to proceed on the (cryogenic fuel) project". Reidl also said that a testing and development phase will follow the feasibility study first an nounced four months ago. Tupolev's indigenous cryo genic fuel programme, now re lying on LNG rather than hy drogen, is set to begin flight testing in 1993 according to Vladimir Andreev, the design bureau chief designer responsi ble for the scheme. Outlining the bureau's three point cryogenic fuel strategy , Andreev says "We will convert between 100 and 300 Tu-154Ms to LNG. Kuznetsov NK-8 turbofans will be modified to burn either standard kerosene or LNG and re-designated NK-89s (Flight, 9- 15 May). The engine bureau is designing a new pump and heat exchanger unit to enable the turbofan to handle the fuel in gas form. "A new combustion chamber will be needed and other systems will be changed" says Andreev. "In an emergency it will take only five seconds to change fuels." Stage two of the alternative fuel strategy is the conversion of a bigger type, in this case the Tu-204 medium range airliner currently under development. Stage three would be "an LNG- only powered aircraft which would be lighter because it would lack all the heavy instru ments needed for dual fuel" says Andreev. "The main result of all this is ecological, and I think the second result will be eco nomical. It's half the price of jet' fuel and in the future it will be even cheaper." • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 10 - 16 October, 1990
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