New Il-100 "Elephant" military transport aircraft may receive an engine based on the PD-35 gas generator with a thrust of 24 tons

Aviation expert Panteleev: civil aircraft do not need a power plant of this size

The prospective Il-100 "Elephant" military transport aircraft may receive engines based on the PD-35 gas generator with a thrust of 24 tons. This assumption was made in an interview with"Perviy Technicheskiy" by Oleg Panteleev, Executive Director of the Aviaport agency, an aviation expert.

PD-35, PD-26 will be created on its basis
Image source ODK

According to him, a few years ago there was a discussion about whether the first commercial engine based on the unified PD-35 gas generator would be created in the 24-ton or 35-ton thrust class.

Now we are talking about an engine with 20+ tons of thrust. Let's recall the plans to produce a new super-heavy military transport aircraft (Il-100) in Ulyanovsk. Now everything fits together.

Oleg Panteleev, Executive Director of the Aviaport agency

The specialist explained that engines with a thrust of 24 tons are needed for a four-engine super-heavy military transport aircraft.

At the same time, Panteleev noted that the advanced development of the PD-35 project without a specific carrier should not be confusing - all over the world, the time it takes to create new engines exceeds the time it takes to create new aircraft.

Therefore, we get a situation where it is possible to quickly build an aircraft that meets the current requirements of the state customer. The PD-35 should be viewed more broadly than just an engine. This is a promising family of power plants based on a unified gas generator. What was tested on the test bench is not a commercial engine that will be placed under the wing of an aircraft, but a technology demonstrator. But on the basis of the developed set of technologies and the created gas generator, it will be possible to create an engine of the required size.

Oleg Panteleev, Executive Director of the Aviaport agency

Aviation expert Roman Gusarov, in an interview with"Perviy Technicheskiy", also explained that the PD-35 is more difficult to produce than a space rocket, so a prototype engine shouldnot be expected until 2030.