Globally, aerospace engineering is experiencing an exciting and transformative evolution. The conventional method of aircraft engine development—comprising design on paper, prototyping, testing, confronting failures, revising, and retesting—has become excessively slow and costly to satisfy contemporary demands. Leading industries are moving towards digital twins, simulation-based design, and virtual certification, facilitating numerous phases of development to be conducted wholly within a digital environment well before any physical hardware is produced.
Russia is now clearly accelerating this transition. Although Western aerospace companies such as General Electric, Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce, Airbus, and Boeing adopted simulation-centered engineering approaches many decades ago, Russia’s projects remained erratic until just recently. This situation evolved due to sanctions, supply chain limitations, and increasing demand for independent technological capabilities, which prompted Moscow to drastically boost its digital infrastructure, especially in the area of engine development. Within this extensive transformation, the most notable advancements are occurring in digital engine testing, which Russia is attempting to bring about on a large scale with the assistance of universities, research institutions, and state-owned engine manufacturers.
The Russian perspective: digital certification
Russian aerospace specialists currently identify digital certification as the key strategic focus for the upcoming 15 to 20 years. Alexey Borovkov of Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU) and its Advanced Digital Engineering School has been an influential proponent, directly linking digital twins and standardized modeling techniques to accelerated and more competitive aerospace development. The objective is not to eliminate physical testing entirely but to transition the majority of incremental procedures into the virtual realm, thereby ensuring that wind-tunnel experiments, bench tests, and full-scale qualification cycles primarily function to validate the results of simulations already confirmed, with the goal of achieving “first-pass success” in certification.
This digital-first approach also allows engineers to go beyond simply reproducing legacy designs. By developing high-fidelity digital twins comprising thousands of parameters, teams can investigate engine efficiency, thermal performance, compressor aerodynamics, and structural stresses with a level of detail that exceeds what traditional experimental methods can achieve within practical cost and time constraints. In practice, this establishes a foundation for the development of next-generation products that exhibit significantly enhanced performance features rather than merely incremental improvements.
The Importance of Digital Tools for Russia
Russia’s quest of digital engine development is partly rooted in its historical background. During the Soviet and post-Soviet eras, certification cycles for complex engines often extended over a span of 15 to 20 years, involving countless hardware changes and limited availability of advanced testing infrastructure. In an environment where international competitors currently pursue development cycles of approximately 5 to 7 years, such timeframes are no longer feasible. Digital engineering is now regarded as the sole viable approach for accelerating schedules while effectively managing costs and risks.
Sanctions intensified this urgency by significantly restricting access to Western testing equipment, CAD systems, simulation suites, and specialized sensors. Numerous essential modeling environments previously employed in Russia were developed internationally, and restrictions compelled domestic developers to substitute foreign software and hardware with indigenous digital twins, finite element analysis tools, computational fluid dynamics codes, and comprehensive virtual certification frameworks. This import-substitution initiative has served as a catalyst, promoting the consolidation of expertise into integrated digital platforms capable of supporting a national aerospace supply chain.
Russia’s first digital engines
One of the most widely publicized examples of Russia’s digital transformation is the AI-222-25, a turbofan engine used to power recent trainer aircraft such as the Yak-130. A pilot project centered on this engine implemented AI-enhanced digital platforms that combine data acquisition, centralized information repositories, and analytical modules to facilitate simulation-driven development and production optimization. Developing a digital counterpart enables engineers to evaluate performance under various environmental conditions, predict wear patterns, and optimize fuel consumption characteristics virtually, thereby advancing toward comprehensive digital bench testing.
Another flagship initiative pertains to the TV7-117ST-01 turboprop, employed on the Il-114-300 regional aircraft and its associated variants. Klimov and its affiliated organizations have reengineered recent updates to this engine through the application of digital twin technology, facilitating virtual acceleration tests, blade-failure simulations, and thermal analyses prior to physical testing. These capabilities facilitate certification processes, decrease the necessity for tangible prototypes, and assist engineers in systematically addressing longstanding challenges such as temperature fluctuations, turbine reliability, and control-system robustness.
Developing the digital ecosystem
Universities now occupy a central position within Russia’s digital certification ecosystem. SPbPU, Bauman Moscow State Technical University, and the Central Institute of Aviation Motors (CIAM) have emerged as principal centers for digital engineering, integrating research initiatives with educational pathways for industry. SPbPU’s programs in system digital engineering and digital twins encompass multiphysics modeling, the development of tailored algorithms, and close collaboration with engine and airframe manufacturers, while CIAM offers specialized expertise in engine thermodynamics and materials behavior.
On the industrial front, the state-owned United Engine Corporation (UEC) increasingly demands comprehensive digital models of compressors, turbines, combustion systems, transmissions, control architectures, and fatigue life cycles as integral components of its development processes. A basic idea is the “digital bench,” a virtual environment that simulates sensor outputs, dynamic loads, vibration profiles, heat distribution, fuel system operation, and emergency modes, enabling engineers to evaluate hazardous or infrequent failure scenarios that would be too dangerous or damaging to replicate on physical equipment.
Russia in comparison to Western methodologies
Western aerospace companies retain a substantial advantage, having incorporated simulation-focused methodologies over many decades. Companies such as GE, Rolls-Royce, and Pratt & Whitney utilize advanced digital twin technologies and virtual certification environments for their main engine families, whereas Airbus and Boeing employ integrated platforms such as CATIA/3DEXPERIENCE and Siemens NX throughout their entire aircraft programs. These ecosystems facilitate decreased prototyping, enable predictive maintenance across millions of simulated flight hours, and continuously optimize in-service fleets through real-time operational data collected from thousands of aircraft.
Russia continues to close the gap in computing hardware capacity, sophisticated CFD algorithms, AI-enhanced simulation techniques, extensive operational datasets, and high-fidelity materials libraries, all of which advantage Western entities with extensive global fleets and comprehensive sensor networks. However, Russia’s centralized, state-coordinated aerospace framework and its emphasis on domestic standards such as GOST for digital twins offer potential advantages in the swift nationwide implementation of new methodologies and the development of more closely integrated university-industry collaborations.
Strategic Significance of Digital Certification
Digital engine testing and certification have emerged as strategic priorities intrinsically linked to national security and industrial sovereignty. For Russian policymakers and engineers, proficiency in these tools is crucial for sustaining autonomous aviation capabilities, mitigating the effects of sanctions, and maintaining competitiveness within the global aerospace industry. Accelerating engine development cycles through comprehensive virtual testing diminishes reliance on expensive, time-consuming physical prototypes and enables Russia to undertake more ambitious upgrade and new-build initiatives across both civilian and military domains.
Digital duplicates further facilitate enhancements in safety and reliability by allowing engineers to simulate critical phenomena such as compressor surge, stall, thermal runaway, and lubrication failures without risking damage to hardware or personnel. These simulated experiments guide design modifications and operational protocols in accordance with international safety standards, reducing uncertainty prior to engine flight-testing and entry into service.
Expanded aerospace applications
Russia’s digital transformation encompasses not only particular engines but also a broader range of propulsion systems and aircraft initiatives. Digital engineering principles are being implemented in families such as PD-8, PD-14, and the upcoming PD-35 heavy engine, in addition to unmanned aerial systems and sophisticated helicopter powerplants. The main goal is to develop reusable digital platforms—comprising unified twin environments, modular CAD and simulation libraries, and adaptive models—that can be swiftly customized for various engine lines and airframes, thereby decreasing costs and development timelines in a manner comparable to leading Western integrators.
By exchanging models, data, and methodologies across various programs, Russian engineers seek to adopt a “create once, apply everywhere” approach. This approach facilitates the rapid dissemination of innovations in aerodynamics, materials, or control strategies from one engine to others, thereby enhancing the overall competitiveness of the domestic aerospace industry.
Remaining Challenges and Future Perspectives
Although notable progress has been achieved, Russia continues to confront multiple structural challenges. High-fidelity simulations require substantial computing resources, and while Russian supercomputing capabilities are expanding, they remain behind leading Western and Chinese centers. The limited size of Russia’s civil engine fleet restricts the amount of long-term operational data accessible for the refinement of digital twins, while deficiencies in materials modeling and metallurgical databases hinder the virtual certification process of high-temperature turbine components.
There remains an ongoing deficit of experts in digital engineering, including modelers, mathematicians, software developers, and materials scientists, which universities and advanced engineering institutions are actively striving to mitigate. Even so, Russia’s swift advancement in digital engine testing—driven by institutions such as SPbPU and manufacturers including UEC-Klimov and “Salyut”—represents one of the most substantial transformations in its aerospace sector since the Soviet era, with digital certification expected to become a defining characteristic of Russian aviation in the coming two decades.