OREANDA-NEWS  The Ural Civil Aviation Plant (UZGA) announced the start of testing of the VK-800 turboprop engine, which will be installed on the Baikal aircraft, the TCB-800 training aircraft, the Czech L-410 and the Russian-Belarusian Osvey. A representative of the company told RIA Novosti about this in a comment.

Baikal made its first flight with this engine in December last year. Prior to this, tests were conducted and are currently being conducted at the Yak-40 LL flying laboratory. In the future, in 2026, the TCB-800 aircraft will take off with it for the first time.

The VK-800's power will range from 807 horsepower to 877 horsepower, depending on the modification. The engine is being demonstrated for the first time at the Drontech exhibition in Moscow.

The source did not specify when the certification of the power plant is expected, without which the delivery of the aircraft to customers is impossible. The lack of a domestic engine was cited by the manufacturer and government representatives as one of the main reasons for the delay in the production of the Baikal.

Last summer, Anton Alikhanov, the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, promised that deliveries of the Baikal aircraft should begin by the end of 2026. At that time, he said that work on the VK-800 certification would end in 2025. Such deadlines were called against the background of a statement by the presidential envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District (Far Eastern Federal District), Yuri Trutnev, that the project had reached an impasse and it was not worth waiting for deliveries of machines.