Recently, the Presidential Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District, Yuri Trutnev, stated that the project of the light multi-purpose single-engine turboprop aircraft LMS-901 "Baikal" had reached a dead end. This aircraft was supposed to become the foundation of the future small aviation of Russia, replacing the outdated An-2. After that, the head of the Ministry of Finance Anton Siluanov and the First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov informed that the money for the project is being allocated and the implementation is proceeding according to the previously approved plan.
The head of the Ural Civil Aviation Plant (UZGA), where the production of aircraft and engines for them is supposed to take place, Leonid Luzgin, signaled on May 27 that work is actively underway and by the end of 2026 the first Baikal aircraft will appear in the country.
Initially, the appearance of a full-fledged LMS-901 was expected by the end of 2025, but due to problems associated with the VK-800SM aircraft engine, the deadline was shifted. Luzgin clarified that from January to the end of April of this year, the main problems of the VK-800SM, which became a stumbling block on the way to the implementation of the project, were resolved.
This allows us to say that the LMS-901 "Baikal" will still appear in the sky. To speed up the implementation of the project, the state customer, represented by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, was forced to lower the parameters of the power unit, as well as the technical and other characteristics of the aircraft.
The appearance of the VK-800SM gas turbine with a capacity of up to 800 hp in takeoff mode is of great importance for small aviation in Russia. The aircraft engine is becoming a key element for domestic promising turboprop regional aircraft. The thing is that, in addition to the nine-seat LMS-901 "Baikal", the VK-800SM is also expected in several projects - the Russian training aircraft UTS-800 and the joint Russian-Belarusian aircraft LMS-192 "Osvey".
Thus, we are talking about three aircraft at once, and the VK-800SM has become a stumbling block for them. Therefore, whether these aircraft take off or not depends on the success in creating the engine.
Earlier, www1.ru reported that the "inner world" of the PD-14 aircraft engine was shown in detail for the first time: the temperature is like on Venus.
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