This illustrates the desire of the russians to rely on Soviet developments in conditions when their own engineering and design capabilities are absent
russia has been developing its own multi-purpose light aircraft (LMS-901 Baikal) for a long time, which was supposed to replace the An-2 aircraft (NATO reporting name Colt) developed by the Ukrainian design bureau. However, the russians were never able to successfully implement this project, encountering a number of difficulties. As a result, the russian designers decided to take a rather specific path – to re-engineer the existing An-2 aircraft with Soviet engines from the An-28 aircraft.
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This story clearly shows that when their own developments fail, the russians tend to return to using the achievements of Soviet times.
In particular, russian propaganda media writes that the russian Ministry of Industry and Trade has decided to stop work on the project of the LMS-901 Baikal utility aircraft. This happened against the background of chronic problems with the development of this aircraft, for which it was necessary to allocate at least 10 billion rubles in addition.
At the same time, even the allocation of this amount did not guarantee the successful completion of the work. According to Russian media, during the work on the creation of the LMS-901 Baikal aircraft, "dramatic errors were discovered, due to which the aircraft must be redesigned". These "dramatic errors" are manifested in particular in problems with stability in the air at low speeds, the need to redesign the chassis and tail, and, as it turned out, it is necessary to correct problems with the controllability of the aircraft.
Against this background, the idea arose to try to re-engine the proven An-2 Soviet mass-produced single-engine biplane utility/agricultural aircraft ( it was designed and manufactured by the Antonov Design Bureau beginning in 1947), using the TVD-10B turboprop engine, which was developed back in 1965. According to estimates, such a project should cost the russian treasury only 1.8 billion rubles, or more than 5 times cheaper than the potential continuation of work on the development of the LMS-901 Baikal aircraft.
The above-mentioned TVD-10B engine was used in Soviet times to equip An-28 win-engined light turboprop transport aircraft (NATO reporting name Cash).
It should be noted that the option chosen by the russians of installing an engine from the An-28 on the An-2 aircraft does not solve the problem of physical aging of the design of old aircraft at all, which imposes its own limitations, including Ones with its potential of modernization.
As Defense Express reported, Putin Ordered to Finish Baikal Airplane But There's No Engine and It's Too Expensive while russians Complained About High Price of LMS-901 Baikal Aircraft and Inability to Replace AN-2.
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