UZGA UTS-800 turboprop trainer

Trident

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Considering at least a full-scale mock-up if not prototype (shades of Checkmate) was presented at the Army-2021 exhibition, mods feel free to move this to Aerospace if that is felt to be more appropriate!

Looks like the Yak-152 (powered by the 500hp RED A03 V12 diesel) has some competition - I suspect the German heritage of the engine is considered as leaving the project vulnerable to sanctions. Enter UZGA (Ural Civil Aviation Plant, Yekaterinburg), hitherto specializing in licensed manufacture of various non-Russian airframes such as the Let L-410 and Diamond DA42 (the Evektor EV-55 and L-610 were to have been built there too).

It is the Diamond connection which seems relevant here, the UTS-800 with its majority-composite construction has many similarities to the DART-450 in size (PC-7 class) and configuration. Yet, the aircraft is clearly not a straight copy like the Chinese TA-20 (also produced by a local Diamond JV). The empennage has been cleaned up to a PC-21-like design, there is a framed windscreen, it has a fairly voluminous wing-body fairing and there are minor differences in the wing design.

If uncertainty over the Yak-152 engine is a concern, the powerplant question for the UTS-800 is also not fully answered - there currently is no off-the-shelf Russian turboprop in the eponymous 800shp class. As for the Kazan Ansat (currently powered by PW207s) or Ka-226T (Turbomeca Arrius) helicopters the Klimov VK-800 is proposed, but this project has been a long time coming and may now in fact have morphed into the VK-650. You also have to wonder about the implications for the Altius-M HALE UAV which relies on the RED A03 to get its class-leading endurance if the Yak-152 engine became unavailable to Russia.



View: https://twitter.com/MuxelAero/status/1430102816740282370
 

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Those forward exhaust stacks look more like a P&WC PT6A or Walter/General Electric 601 engine. Both have free-turbines at the front of the engine. Exhaust leaves via a pair of curved exhausts at the front of the engine. Only the propeller speed reduction unit is forward of the exhausts.
 
Most turboprops/turboshafts are free-turbine engines these days, especially if a helicopter application is also envisioned (as is the case with the VK-800). Not all adopt the reverse flow mounting scheme, but it's not as distinctive as all that. Still, given the immaturity of the VK-800 it's not clear to me that it might not be a M601/H80 - UZGA obviously has access to those for its L-410 production.
 
You know, having considered the engine situation a bit I think the more recent, less powerful VK-650 would probably suffice, actually. 650shp at a MTOW of 2560kg per the placard gives a power-to-weight ratio right in between the 550shp/2300kg DART-550 and the 750shp/2850kg PC-7MKII - very appropriate for what the UTS-800 is apparently intended to achieve. So if the VK-800 remains moribund that's likely not a show-stopper providing the newer VK-650 comes through - I wonder if 800shp isn't driven by a perceived need to match the Yak-152 at 500hp and 1700kg? Yet you can find MTOW figures as high as 2000kg for the Yak, which puts it on a par with a 650shp UTS-800, and the PZL-130TCII is also smack in this power/weight bracket.

That said, if only for the sake of the very interesting Altius-M I hope the RED A03 remains available. RED Aircraft is led by a Russian and much of the funding for the A03 seems to have come from Russia, with an eye toward fitting it specifically to the Yak-152. Manufacture in the country was planned, and I suspect locating development and testing in Germany was intended to take advantage of the extensive automotive ecosystem (supplier and talent base) to smooth the process.
 


These blog posts have some more detailed images of the mockup. If the Russians are pursuing this project, does that spell the end for the Yak 152 ?
 
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As it seems, it flew ...

View: https://twitter.com/Roberto05246129/status/1749450245828751849


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Speaking of the RED engine … it is based upon German diesel technology and Germans have an excellent reputation in that specialty.
Last summer I saw the RED engine conversion of a DHC-2 Beaver, first at Sealand’s shop at Campbell River and secondly performing at the Boundary Bay Air Show. It took off like it was renting runway by the foot! … even shorter than a stock piston-engined Beaver.
We all hope that the RED engine program progresses to production, though I doubt if it will end up in helicopters …. something about thousands of torsional vibrations per minute.
 
But there's one small problem
 

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