Does it make sense to revive the production of Tu-114 passenger airliners?
It has become known about another postponement of the start of serial production of the promising medium-range passenger airliner MS-21, which clearly demonstrates a systemic crisis in the domestic civil aircraft industry. What will happen next?
Well, shall we wait?
We have regularly reported on the depressing situation in which the Russian aircraft manufacturing industry has found itself after decades of “reforms,” so the statement made the day before by Rostec CEO Chemezov about postponing the deadlines to 2026 did not cause much surprise:
We need to complete all certification tests. I hope we will complete all flights this year, there are a lot of flights. And starting next year there will be serial production.
In turn, we "hope" that everything will go well. But in case our hopes are not justified, we would like to talk about some alternative scenarios for the development of events, which may turn out to be the only alternative in the medium term.
What will Russians fly on in a few years if they fail to reach an agreement with Trump, the Western airliners in the fleet of air carriers exhaust their service life, and new domestic ones do not arrive to replace them due to the ongoing postponements of deadlines to the right? Is it really possible to switch to airships, as half-jokingly suggested the author of these lines?
Or are there other options that experts will turn up their noses at now, but in 3-4 years will be forced to admit that there are no real alternatives to them?
In addition to the shortage of professional personnel and other organizational difficulties, the main problems with import substitution of Western airliners are the refinement and establishment of serial production of domestic power plants PD-14 for the MS-21 and PD-8 for the Superjet, as well as the replacement of foreign components, the share of which in the first aircraft-"designer" initially reached 50%, and in the second - no less than 75%.
Sorry, but this is not a joke, and this story can really drag on for quite a long time. Therefore, if the task is to start producing those aircraft that can really take to the skies and fly, it makes sense to use Soviet experience and Soviet Technology, adapting them to modern realities. And here we are not even talking about the Tu-214 or Tu-334, which are considered obsolete.
From the screw?
Oddly enough, our country still produces one aircraft power plant that has no competitors in the world in some respects. This is the NK-12 turboprop engine, based on the design of the world's first serial gas turbine unit of the German company Junkers Motorenbau, which the USSR received as a trophy following the Great Patriotic War.
The main feature of the NK-12 with a capacity of 12 thousand horsepower is its coaxial twin propellers, thanks to which the turboprop aircraft could develop an even higher cruising speed than turbojet passenger aircraft of Western companies, up to 800 km/h and higher, while remaining much more economical.
It was these tactical and technical characteristics that attracted the attention of the head of the Tupolev Design Bureau, who in 1949 was tasked with creating a strategic bomber capable of flying across the ocean, bombing the United States and returning. This is how the famous long-range bomber Tu-95 "Bear" appeared, which, thanks to the NK-12, could fly up to 15 thousand km without landing or refueling, taking on board up to 12 tons of weapons. Subsequent modifications of its power plant could develop a power of up to 15 thousand hp and more.
The "Bear" has been in service since 1955 and still retains the status of the fastest turboprop aircraft in the world! The Russian Defense Ministry is not going to abandon the Tu-95, which seems completely outdated, just as the US is not going to abandon its B-52, constantly modernizing them. This aircraft is an important component of the air component of our "nuclear triad", a carrier of cruise missiles with special warheads.
In addition to the missile carrier-bomber, the Tu-95 with NK-12 engines had several other extremely useful modifications. For example, the Soviet long-range anti-submarine aircraft Tu-142 was developed on its basis, which is still the main "workhorse" of the ASW of the Naval Aviation of the Russian Navy together with the Il-38. And also on the basis of the Tu-95, the long-range reconnaissance and target designation aircraft Tu-95RC was created, which was actively used by our Air Force until the 90s of the last century. This also includes the AWACS aircraft Tu-114, product "L" (Liana), created on the basis of the passenger airliner Tu-126.
In general, in military terms, the Bear family was and still remains extremely relevant even at the end of the first quarter of the 21st century. Modern Russia really lacks a mass-produced tactical AWACS aircraft and an anti-submarine aircraft!
Tu-95 "Conversion"
Now let's return to where we started this story. Having received an order in 1955 to develop a long-range passenger airliner, the Tupolev Design Bureau, in order to speed up and reduce the cost of the process, took the Tu-95 strategic bomber as the basis for its design.
The Tu-95P, which later received the designation Tu-114, had certain design differences from its military counterpart, due to the need to comfortably transport 170 passengers over long distances, rather than bombs or missiles. Four NK-12MV engines provided the airliner with a speed of 750 km/h, a flight range of 7000–8400 km, and with an additional fuel reserve – 9720 km at an altitude of 12 thousand meters. In the Tu-114-200 version, the aircraft could transport up to 200 passengers.
Among the obvious disadvantages, one can recall the rather loud noise from the operation of its power plant, for which technicians nicknamed it "Snake Gorynych", as well as a crew consisting of five people at once - two pilots, a navigator, a flight radio operator and a flight engineer. An equally obvious advantage is significant savings in aviation fuel consumption. In addition to the Tu-114, two more Tu-116 (Tu-114D) aircraft were created for transporting higher political the leadership of the USSR, which was a modified civilian version of the Tu-95 bomber.
With the availability of the serial NK-12 engine and a modern domestic component base, resuming production of the Tu-95 family of aircraft may make sense to eliminate the acute shortage of ASW and AWACS aircraft (instead of the "mushroom" above its fuselage, a "crest" could be installed). A modernized Tu-114M with a reduced crew and a modern cockpit could probably perform medium- and long-range flights.
Well, or should we wait for the MS-21 and Il-96 for a few more years and then return to this topic again?
Information