The new Russian PD-8 engine surpasses the French SaM146 in some criteria. This was reported by the United Engine Corporation.
The first flight of the test Il-76LL with the PD-8 took place in December 2022. The most difficult part was fine-tuning the parameters, and specialists were involved in cooperation to eliminate comments.
This stage lasted for more than a year until, in the second half of 2024, good news arrived at the enterprise: the PD-8 confirmed the specified characteristics in terms of responsiveness and controllability and surpassed the SaM146 in these aspects.
Yegor Matyushov, a fitter at the Rybinsk ODK-Saturn plant, honestly admitted that the assembly of the PD-8 differs little from the SaM146. However, the requirements for the new power plant were even stricter.
Earlier, "Pervyy Tekhnicheskiy" pitted the PD-8 and SaM146 against each other in a direct comparison and identified the advantages of each.