This year celebrates the 85th anniversary of the Rybinsk Experimental Design Bureau (OKB)’s establishment. It is now known as the ODK-Saturn venture, which is part of the United Engine Corporation. Throughout its history, it has created distinctive domestic engines for a variety of aircraft, as well as gas turbine engines for energy and maritime purposes.
The advanced scientific and technical solutions had a considerable impact on the creation of new engine generations, as well as the industry’s overall progress.
The Rybinsk’s history began in 1939 when a team at the Moscow Aviation Institute designed the M-250, an engine with a takeoff power of about 2,500 horsepower. During the war, the team relocated many times, first to Voronezh and Ufa before settling in Rybinsk in the fall of 1943. Vladimir Dobrynin was hired as the bureau’s head and lead designer.
Under his leadership, the designers successfully built the M-250 aviation engine, which was eventually used to build the more powerful M-251TK motor. This engine laid the groundwork for the M-253K aviation engine, which became well known as the VD-4K in honor of Vladimir Dobrynin. This engine, intended for the four-engine heavy intercontinental bomber Tu-85, was the world’s best in terms of piston aviation engine production specifications.
Vladimir Dobrynin’s most recent development was the VD-7 engine, which had a takeoff thrust of 11,000 kgf and powered the subsonic long-range strategic bomber 3M. The VD-7B was Rybinsk’s first jet engine to be mass-produced, and it was mounted on the four-engine intercontinental strategic 3M aircraft. According to Russian media, it was the most fuel-efficient engine available at the time, both domestically and internationally.
Later, Rybinsk hired Pyotr Kolesov as its head designer, transforming the engine building. His finest achievement was the RD36-51A engine for the supersonic passenger plane Tu-144D. Even without afterburners, the RD36-51A engines delivered enough force to propel the aircraft into supersonic flight. These engines enabled the aircraft to fly the 8,000-kilometer journey between Moscow and Khabarovsk in three hours and 23 minutes.
Pyotr Kolesov oversaw the development of engines such as the RD36-41 for the supersonic T-4, the RD36-51V for the “high-altitude” M-17 aircraft, and several engines for vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, including the RD36-35FVR and RD-38. The RD-7M-2 became the most widely manufactured Rybinsk engine for the Tu-22K bomber.
In subsequent years, the Rybinsk design bureau created numerous significant power units for domestic aviation, including the RD-38 engine and its several variants used in the An-71 and A-40 amphibious aircraft. The bureau also developed turboprop engines, including the RD-600V for the Ka-62 helicopter and the TVD-1500 for small aircraft such as the An-38 and “Grach.” Another approach was to create naval gas turbine engines, beginning with the M75RU and progressing to the more powerful M70FRU.
The Rybinsk bureau faced significant challenges throughout the 1990s. The solution came in 1997 when it merged with the OJSC Rybinsk Motors facility, which was a critical step in building the contemporary ODK-Saturn firm. Another key milestone in its development was the 2001 merger with Moscow’s OJSC A. Lyulka-Saturn, which culminated in the establishment of OJSC NPO Saturn.
NPO Saturn became a [art of the United Engine Corporation in 2008. The Rybinsk design bureau completed several experimental design projects, modernized and improved a series of gas turbine engines, and developed the technology for creating a marine gas turbine engine with an 8 MW capacity, as well as a gas turbine unit based on the same power.
The Rybinsk bureau is involved in crucial projects for the United Engine Corporation that are critical to the growth of domestic engine production. It boasts all of the essential resources, including a modern research and testing facility, its own experimental production, and a diverse set of capabilities. ODK-Saturn’s design divisions make full use of modern design technologies such as 3D modeling, a closed-loop design cycle, and numerical simulation.
Today’s key challenges include developing with cost parameters in mind, establishing a scientific and technical foundation, enhancing serial production support, and actively mastering and using innovative technologies at all stages of operation. Knowledge management is also very important.
One major achievement has been the development and mass production of high-power turbines, notably the GTE-110M for the energy sector. The “Udaraya” thermal power plant, Russia’s most technologically advanced combined-cycle power plant, is set to commission its first series-production GTE-110M. Three new GTE-110M turbines will be produced and supplied to modernize the Novocherkassk power station.
ODK-Saturn is also the primary developer of the PD-8 aviation engine for short-haul passenger jets like the SJ-100. The company is developing a new approach to certification that uses digital twin technology and computer modeling to lower the scope of physical testing and accelerate the PD-8 engine certification.
Rybinsk engineers also worked on the development of PD-14 series aircraft engines for medium-haul passenger aircraft like the MC-21-310. Roman Khramin currently manages the ODK-Saturn design agency, which employs over 800 individuals, with a third being young specialists.