Saturn Scientific Production Association Joint-Stock Company, JSC

JSC «NPO Saturn»

NPO Saturn is a diversified engine manufacturing company. The company specializes in the development of aircraft engines and industrial gas-turbine units beginning from creating their philosophy, concepts, design to carrying out the state testing, putting into production and in-service maintenance. The company develops dynamically, year-by-year increasing output and sales volumes, making investments into production development.

The enterprise was founded in 1916 as an automobile plant Russian Renault. Later, it changed its product line to manufacture aircraft products. The history of NPO Saturn is the history of formation and development of domestic aviation, its most vivid pages. For more than 80 years the NPO Saturn engines have been raising Russian planes into the sky.

 

NPO Saturn includes production and experimental design subdivisions located in Rybinsk (Yaroslavl region), Moscow and Moscow region, Scientific-and-Technical Center in St.Petersburg. The total production space is about 1 mln m² with about 12,000 units of modern equipment used in the manufacture.

Number of personnel amounts to 18,000. Among them 5,000 are engaged in research and development works. The design division of the company with 11 Doctors of Science and 51 Doctors of Philosophy is the most powerful in the country.

 

Currently, three main directions of NPO Saturn activity are:

-          Aircraft engines for Air Forces and engines for Navy of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation;

-          Civil aircraft engines;

-          Gas-turbine engines and units for Gazprom, RAO EES Russii and independent customers of power units.

 

 

Serial products. The D-30KU, D-30KP, D-30KU-154 aircraft engines form the basis of the NPO Saturn present-day business activity.

In the nearest future decrease in demand for overhauled and new aircraft engines of the D-30KU/KP/KU-154 family is expected. This is stipulated by tightening-up ICAO ecological requirements, obsolescence and physical aging, possibility for the airlines to use the alternative scheme of western aircraft import on the territory of the Russian Federation. With all this in mind, NPO Saturn realizes a major project of serial engine modernization aimed at extension of its life cycle. In 2004, introduction of the low-emission combustion chamber into the serial production and overhaul started. At present the D-30KU-154 with a low-emission combustion chamber is the only domestic engine meeting all ICAO emission requirements. Realization of the NPO Saturn program on engine noise abatement will make it possible for domestic aircraft to perform international flights after 2010 – 2012 when ICAO plans to introduce new noise restrictions.

Against the background of the expected growth of air traffic and shortage of the carrying capacity that will arise after 2010, NPO Saturn civil aviation products perspective activity is bound with 2 main directions:

- Introduction into the market of the new SaM146 turbofan engine for regional jets. The engine is jointly developed by NPO Saturn and the French Company Snecma Moteurs;

- Implementation of the production aircraft engine modernization program up to the D-30KP-3 Burlak level. This is the program of creation of a power plant meeting all modern and future ecological and economical requirements.

 

 

Military engines

In the interests of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, NPO Saturn carries out:

-          Research and development works and putting into serial production of IV+ generation engines;

-          Putting into serial production of the power plants for the family of unmanned air vehicles;

-          Implementation of the programs of development and serial production of the engines for Navy,

-          Works on profound modernization of the engine for military-transport aviation.

 

Manufacture of industrial gas-turbine units has moved from the stage of priority intensive development, at which it stayed for recent years, into the stage of serial production.

In terms of sales volume of 2004, the share of gas-turbine products for ground application ranks next to the aircraft engines manufacture for the first time. The range of power plants has been expanded, i.e. the GTES-2.5, GPA-4, GPA-6.3, GPA-10, GTA-6/8, GTE-110.

The GTE-110 high capacity gas-turbine power plant is considered by  RAO EES Rosii to be the basis for  the technical reequipment of the country’s power industry.

2003 appeared to be the turning point for the Saturn medium capacity power plants, as the company started active introduction of these plants into the market.

Since 2001 NPO Saturn and Gazprom have been jointly financing and manufacturing gas-pumping units rated at 4-6,3-10 MW.

Besides gas-pumping units NPO Saturn also manufactures heat and power stations rated at 2,5 MW-GTES 2.5 to the Gasprom orders. These units are recommended by Gazprom as a basic source of electric power for the industry projects.

Assembly check tests of this power station, successfully performed at NPO Saturn in the presence of the Customer, were the first full-scale tests conducted in Russia at the enterprise-manufacturer to the Gazprom order.

Multipurpose GTD-6/8 gas-turbine engines are based on the D-30 series-produced aircraft engines. They are efficiently used for heat and power supply and applied in heat and power stations with capacity divisible by 6/8 MW. The heat and power station with the capacity of 12 MW was put into operation at the NPO Saturn site in Rybinsk in September 2002. It consists of two GTD-6 modules with fuel utilization factor more than 80%. As an independent source the Saturn GTES-12 station provides half of electric power consumed by the enterprise.

At present a number of enterprises from different regions of our country take an interest in construction of such stations. A heat and power station similar to the station in Rybinsk was built and put into service in 2003 in Narian-Mar. Works on construction of power stations in a number of industrial cities of Russia are currently under way.

Later on, the gas-turbine and combined cycle power plants shall become one of the main types of NPO Saturn products. Their planned share on the domestic market is 30% minimum with the share in the volume of the enterprise production in medium-term outlook of 50%. The main strategic objective is getting into the new sales markets for oil-and-gas producing industry, housing and communal services, regional power networks of Russia and foreign countries.

 

Modernization is one of the company’s top strategic priorities making the basis for technological break-through. NPO Saturn carries out purposeful investments of funds into the technical reequipment of the manufacture. In its production process the enterprise uses equipment with the following main characteristics: high capacity, accuracy, efficiency and productivity. Introduction of the world’s best models of machine-building equipment will increase considerably technical and technological potentialities of the enterprise giving the possibility for development and putting into the serial production of the latest generation gas-turbine units.

 

The Agreement concluded between NPO Saturn and Japanese company Sumitomo Corporation is of fundamental importance for accomplishment of the task of complete modernization of the production facilities and reaching the new technological level of world standards. The Agreements signed by the parties provide for:

-          Implementation of joint projects in the field of power generation machine-building;

-          Supply of modern high-technology equipment and technologies from Japan;

-          Comprehensive program of enterprise specialists training;

-          Realization of joint long-term innovative projects on the territory of Russia.

 

In 2004, within the framework of the stated agreements, the first deliveries of equipment from Japan were effected. These were the latest generation electric discharge machines and high-precision turning and milling equipment produced by the world’s leading machine-building companies Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Electric Industries and Mori Seiki.

 

Implementation of activities on technical reequipment makes it possible to increase technical equipment of the enterprise, to decrease labor intensity, specific consumption of materials and production power consumption, to decrease surplus number of personnel, to improve the level of production organization and conditions of work.