OREANDA-NEWS. The NPO Saturn repair shop No. 85 hosted a celebration which had brought together over fifty representatives of Saturn and Snecma having gathered to congratulate each other and the entire Russian-French team working on the SaM146 engine project with yet another significant achievement - completion of the NPO Saturn MRO operations certification by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

The certificate granted by EASA acknowledges the compliance of NPO Saturn with the requirements of the European airworthiness regulations (part 145) imposed by EASA on the organizations involved in MRO operations performed on aerospace products. To date NPO Saturn is the one and so far the only company in Russia that possesses an entire range of competences with regard to serial production and MRO operations on commercial engines, certified both in Russia and in Europe.

The meeting participants were greeted by Ilya Fedorov, NPO Saturn chief executive officer, Michel Brioude, Snecma vice-president MRO, Sergey Antropov, NPO Saturn quality director and Mikhail Berdennikov, SaM146 program director.

The EASA Maintenance Organization Approval (MOA) certificate for the SaM146 engine delivered to NPO Saturn on 6 March 2014 was presented in a festive atmosphere to Vladimir Guzanov, head of SaM146 engine MRO operations - head of the NPO Saturn shop No. 85.

In view of successful completion of the EASA certification of the SaM146 engine MRO operations, by the decree passed by the NPO Saturn chief executive officer 134 company employees received compliments for high level of diligence and self-dedication demonstrated along the certification campaign.

'It was our dream to come up with a full cycle comprising the design, manufacture and repair of modern aircraft engines. It was the most vital task for Saturn because everything else emanated from that system - new way of thinking, new production facilities, new people and a very rigorous approach, underscored Ilya Fedorov in his word of salutation. - I would like to express our gratitude to EASA. Their help was manifested, as surprising as it may sound, in making the airworthiness requirements, to which we had to demonstrate compliance, even more demanding. And for that we are very grateful to them. My gratitude also goes out to those who were working selflessly both at Saturn and Snecma to make this undertaking a success, as well as those who used to be a part of Snecma and now work for Saturn. I'm here to congratulate you all with this great success and want to emphasize that such milestones have become our everyday routine, and what's most important, they always propel us to new achievements. I have no doubt that we will be gathered here again in two years' time to witness the CFM engine family maintained in the same repair shop next to the SaM146 engines.'

According to Sergey Antropov, 'without the talented people who work at Saturn, without our partners from Snecma who constantly support us, without the resources which were committed to by the company's management, this goal would have hardly been achieved. The significance of this event is demonstrated by just one example: in the course of this certification campaign we had to train 500 people who are directly involved in the MRO operations; the volume of the training program equals 100 thousand hours which is 200 hours per person. A great repair shop has been built, the most modern equipment is being installed in it, and now we have been given official recognition of our compliance with the requirements of the European airworthiness regulations, we simply have to work now since we've already got all it takes to succeed put in place.'

Michel Brioude: 'I'm very excited to witness this unprecedented event. I'm really proud. My address to you is not only on my own behalf, it is also on behalf of Pierre Fabre, chairman and CEO of Snecma and on behalf of the entire Snecma team.

We are all aware what effort it takes to be EASA-certified. The award of an EASA certificate is a great achievement. It is difficult to obtain such certificate, but it is even more difficult to maintain it. The EASA auditors will be visiting us to make sure we operate in strict accordance with the norms and regulations of EASA, that we abide by these rules thus ensuring a high level of reliability required by the European Aviation Safety Agency.

I think as a first step towards the continuation of our collaboration we have to master all the repair operations on the SaM146 engine including repair of specific components. This will take some time. Once we have fully mastered all the repair operations on the SaM146 engine, we will be in a position to move towards what we are currently discussing - repair of the CFM family engines.

I congratulate all of you on behalf of the Snecma management and staff, and wish to express my gratitude once more for all the efforts that you have exerted to make this a reality.

“There were four key factors behind what had happened, - commented Mikhail Berdennikov. - The first is the goal orientation; we had established strategic priorities and now we are moving towards achieving them. The second is the people's stamina; we never surrender to the difficulties, we surmount them. The third factor is our drive to learn new things. We don't believe that we have achieved everything we could, we are evolving everyday. The fourth factor is the openness; there are no secrets between us and our partners, therefore we are able to find the needed solutions quickly and efficiency.

The certificate that we've received is the first step along a long journey. Ahead of us is the certification of the core-related operations and certification of repair processes; once that is done we will have integrated all the necessary competences to repair the entire engine.

I want to believe that this repair shop will soon be certified to perform MRO operations on other engines.

The key to success here are the people, all of you who work in the company. Your competence, enthusiasm and patriotism determine everything: the well-being of our families, prosperity of this great city of Rybinsk as well as the future of Saturn as a company.

The NPO Saturn Research and Production Association (OJSC) is an engine-building company specialized in the design and development, production and after-market support of gas turbine engines for military and civil aviation, naval ships and power-generating plants and gas-pumping units. The association is part of the Russian union of mechanical engineers all-Russian public organization whereby the regional branch is headed by I. N. Fedorov, NPO Saturn CEO.

NPO Saturn is part of United Engine Corporation (OJSC) and acts as the leader of the Civil Engines Division, a business unit of UEC founded on 09.10.2012 as a result of integration of the following companies: NPO Saturn (OJSC), Aviadvigatel (OJSC), PMZ (OJSC), Metallist-PM (CJSC), Energetik-PM (OJSC), REMOS-PM (CJSC), Motoservis-PM (CJSC) and Zheleznodorozhnik-PM (CJSC).

United Engine Corporation (OJSC) is a subsidiary of the OBORONPROM UIC (OJSC). The UEC structure integrates over 85% of Russia's leading companies specialized in the design and development, serial production and after-market support of gas turbine machinery as well as the key enterprises - the industry's integral players. One of UEC's prioritized fields of activity is the implementation of comprehensive programs of development of the companies in the industry by introducing new technologies meeting the world-class standards.

The OBORONPROM United Industrial Corporation (OJSC) is a multi-field machine-building group created in 2002. It is part of Rostec. The main fields of activity are helicopter building (the Russian Helicopters holding), engine building (the UEC holding) and other assets.

The Rostekhnologii State Corporation (Rostec) is a Russian corporation established in 2007 in order to facilitate the development, manufacturing and export of high-technology industrial products of military and civil purposes. Today it comprises over 663 companies, which form 8 military-industrial and 5 civil industry holdings. Rostec's subsidiaries are located in 60 regions of Russia and supply their products to over 70 countries worldwide. In 2012 revenues of the Corporation amounted to RUB 931 billion, net profits were RUB 38.5 billion and total taxation exceeded RUB 109 billion.