Putin reported bad news for Ukraine
The Russian NPO Saturn has launched the construction of gas turbine engines for the newest ships of the Russian Navy. Previously, these components were supplied from Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced this today, opening a meeting of the military-industrial commission.
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“I am pleased to note that the work has been completed, almost ahead of schedule. We assumed that we would shift the schedule “to the right” for the construction of the corresponding warships by two years, but it will turn out to be a little less, about a year and a half shift,” Putin said.
The President recalled that work at NPO Saturn began in 2014, when Ukraine refused to supply engines, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“You know that until this time, until 2014, we purchased such engines in Ukraine. Unfortunately, through no fault of ours, the cooperation fell apart, and the opportunity to cooperate with our Ukrainian partners disappeared. We were forced to engage in import substitution. And, frankly speaking, this benefited us from a technological point of view, because during this time, from December 2014 to the present day, we have actually created a new scientific industry, a new industry of production. There was no such competence in Russia before,” Putin said.
He noted that import substitution turned out to be the right strategy, since Russian gas turbine engines have 10–15% higher efficiency. The situation is similar for aircraft engines: new enterprises have been built and started working in St. Petersburg. At the same time, Putin said, if the situation changes, Russia is ready to return to cooperation with Ukraine.
In December it was reported that Russian gas turbine engines produced by NPO Saturn, developed to replace Ukrainian analogues, will be the first to be received by frigates of Project 22350, then by corvettes, ships with a dynamic support principle, and by mid-2018 by frigates of Project 1135.
Putin delivered some unpleasant news for Ukraine.