New Russia-Iran deal focuses on adapting missile engines - aviation expert

Aviation expert Anatolii Khrapchynskyi expressed this opinion on the Espreso TV channel.

“We see cases when missiles do not reach the target and simply fall with the engine turned off and not starting. Therefore, it is quite likely that Russia wanted to get certain technical elements regarding the capabilities of the jet engines that power the missiles fired by Iran. There are some effective mechanisms that Iran is developing, and Russia is most likely planning or has planned to purchase rocket engines and adapt them to its missiles. After all, the production of engines that Russia produces is not enough to power most of the missiles they use. This is a key component of this agreement between Russia and Iran,” he said.

Russia's problem with jet engines concerns not only civil and military aviation, but also missiles, Khrapchynskyi added.

“At one time, the Soviet Union developed two types of jet engines for Kh55 class missiles, and later the engines were used on Kh101, Kh-555 and other types of air missiles. The same engine is also used on the same caliber, and it is the TRDD-50 engine, which was once removed from production in the Soviet Union. The product 95, which was produced by the Motor Sich plant, was introduced. This happened because this engine was much better in terms of its performance. Despite the fact that this engine was used only once, the TRDD-50 had certain problems during testing and constantly malfunctioned,” explained the aviation expert.

According to him, Russia is not inherently technological. They can copy and modernize something, but they cannot create something new. The impact on such capabilities will significantly affect the ability to scale Russia's production.

“A good example is that Russia is now trying to resume the construction of the Il-76. The aircraft, which was produced in the Soviet Union, is supposedly being modernized by Russia, equipped with new PS90 engines, but at the same time, it is trying to resume production,” Khrapchynskyi added.

• Earlier this week, the United States announced the imposition of sanctions against Russia and Iran in response to Tehran's supply of ballistic missiles to Moscow.
• Subsequently, US Permanent Representative to the United Nations Robert Woods said at a meeting of the UN Security Council that Iran and the DPRK's transfer of weapons and technology to Russia makes the countries “complicit in the crime and puts them on the wrong side of history.”
• Satellite imagery captured the Russian-flagged cargo ship Port Olya 3, which is believed to have been transporting ballistic missiles from Iran.
• On September 11, the British Foreign Office summoned the Chargé d'Affaires to Iran in connection with the transfer of ballistic missiles to Russia.