Russia increased the production of aluminum cores needed for Su-57s

MOSCOW ($1=61.69 Russian Rubles) — Russian state-owned company Rostec has announced that one of the key construction components for the Su-57 is now in increased production. It is a question of aluminum honeycomb cores, which are used not only in modern fighter jets but also in rocketry.

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The increased production is good news for Russia’s defense industry amid economic sanctions imposed on Moscow. Besides strength aluminum cores, the production of polymers and fiberglass has also increased. “600 cubic meters of construction materials will be produced annually, thanks to the increased production,” says Rostec.

Oleg Yevtushenko, executive director of Rostec, said in an interview with the company’s website that Russia was threatened by a shortage of these construction components after Western companies left the country. The expected shortage did not occur, as Rostec took action to produce sufficient quantities of them, says Yevtushenko.

New Su-57 plant

As we reported, Russia is building new production facilities for the serial production of its Su-57 stealth fighters. Russian sources report that the new production assembly lines have been opened at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur aviation plant in the Far East.

It is expected that the number of Su-57s produced will increase in the coming years. Most likely, the new production lines will also take over the production of another Russian aircraft – the Su-75. Inside the new production facilities, the Russian Federation is building avionics test facilities, a fuel dock, and an engine test station, people familiar with the matter said. The new production facilities will have facilities for pilot training with virtual reality systems.

The Russian site Voennoe Delo [Military Affairs in English] says the new manufacturing will increase the quality of the series-produced fighters as well as their stealth capabilities. The new plant will have modern technologies that will be competitive with those in China and the USA, says Voenno Delo.

Need for electronic components

Russia’s main problem, however, continues to be the shortage of chips and electronic components. Sergey Chemezov, Director General of Rostec announced today, October 24, that Russia still buys these components from Southeast Asia, trading through rubles, yuan, rupees, etc. Chemezov reported that Russia is trying to produce its own base of electronic components.

“More than 700 types of electronic components have been created, and about 1,300 samples of foreign electronic components have been replaced. Not only we but also other local companies are working. The work is very painstaking, it is not done in a flash. Patience and work, as they say, they will grind everything,” adds the Russian leader.

Russia continues to develop and produce power units for the navy and its combat helicopters, Chemezov assured. The main manufacturer of engines for the Russian Ka- and Mi- helicopters are UEC-Klimov in St. Petersburg.

The bigger problem

However, it turns out that Russia will experience a bigger problem in the civil aircraft industry. The main reason is that Russian engines use French-American and British units. According to the companies CFM International or the British Rolls-Royce. For this reason, Russian enterprises are beginning to specialize in the repair of already delivered and existing engines. Something Ipan did for many years under an embargo with the repair of Western and Russian weapons systems.

“Airlines will last a while. It is clear that in the foreseeable future the resource of foreign units will end and the purchase of new ones [engines] is out of the question. We now have a variety of options for the ongoing repair of foreign engines. Such work with airlines is underway. However, the only strategically correct solution to the problem is the mass production of our own engines and aircraft,” Chemezov said.

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