AL-31ST gas turbine drives, based on the AL-31F aircraft engine from Su-27 fighters, operate not only in the sky but also on the ground — as part of gas pumping stations across Russia. This was reported by Rostec.
In its industrial version, the engine received a "second life" and is used for pumping natural gas through main pipelines — from northern fields to end consumers.
The total operating time of AL-31ST engines has already exceeded 3 million hours. In terms of time, this is more than 342 years of continuous operation.
The unit's power reaches 16 MW. In real conditions, one such drive can pump up to 36 million cubic meters of gas per day, providing energy resources to up to 2.5 thousand homes annually.
The use of aviation units in energy is a long-standing practice for ODK. For example, GTD-6RM engines based on D-30KU/KP for Il-76 have accumulated over 5 million hours in industrial operation.