Two Russian engineers have been sentenced for providing sensitive engine manufacturing technology to China. They both came from Russia’s most critical engine production giant and were former heads of corporate technology. The analysis suggests that China is seeking a breakthrough in the engine sector.
Former technical director of Russian engine giant worked for China
A court in Rybinsk, Russia’s Yaroslav region, not far from Moscow, recently sentenced two local engineers to four and three years’ suspended prison sentences for providing engine manufacturing technology to China, respectively.
The city of Rybinsk on the Volga River is Home to Russia’s most critical engine manufacturing and development giant, the Saturn Research and Production Complex. The two men sentenced are named Vinogradov and Krasslnikov. They began working for China after they retired. Before retiring, both were technical directors of the leading Russian engine company. Vinogradov was the deputy head of casting technology and had served the company for more than 20 years. Kraselnikov was a leading technical director and worked for the enterprise for more than 40 years.
Both men obeyed the verdict and did not appeal, said Rebinsk City Court press spokeswoman Kozlova. The court pronounced the sentence effective from Jan. 12.
Retired to China to teach technology
The Rybinsk court said Vinodradov went to China in August 2019 to work for a local scientific institution. He was responsible for helping China train technical personnel in the field of casting, establishing a full range of precision casting technology and transferring relevant technologies in the field of materials to China, as well as for the development and testing of relevant production equipment, among other things.
Vinodradov later invited his former colleague Krasslnikov to serve China as well. In October 2019, when Vinodradov returned to Russia from a temporary trip to receive and test the equipment, he and Kraslinikov were arrested by Russian security agencies.
China Keeps a Close Eye on Russia’s Unrelentingly Strict Precautions
This is the latest case in which a Russian scientist has been sentenced for providing technology to China. Similar cases have been occurring regularly in recent years, with several in the last year alone. These cases involve areas such as aviation, space, missiles and launch vehicles, submarine missile underwater launch technology, and other basic sciences.
But China’s move to target the Russian engine development and manufacturing sector is a rare one. On the one hand, this case shows that China is exhausting all means to acquire cutting-edge technologies to compensate for its backwardness and shortcomings in the engine field. On the other hand, it shows that Russia is not letting up and is stepping up its vigilance and defenses against China as well. The arrest of Vinodradov after only two or three months of working for a Chinese agency shows that Russia is taking strict precautions to stop the flow of high-end sensitive technologies to China.
China’s engine sector is a shortcoming
Despite the rapid development of China’s military industry, the engine sector has always been considered a shortcoming. China has for many years been purchasing large quantities of various aero-engines from Russia to equip Chinese fighters, helicopters and transport aircraft. Engines have long accounted for a large share of arms deals between the two countries.
Russian armament analyst Pyatushkin said that while China has been successful in copying other military equipment, it will be difficult for China to catch up in the short term because of the materials needed in the engine field and other large technological reserves.
ACT-1, Pyatushkin: “Developing an engine actually usually starts with developing a range of new technologies, which takes years of work to come to fruition, and simple direct imitation will certainly be limited.”
Some Russian armament analysts believe that China is also catching up faster in the engine field, and that some aero engines may now be at the level of the former Soviet Union in the 1970s or 1980s. In addition, China’s domestically produced engines have begun to be fitted to warplanes and transport aircraft, and it may only be a matter of Time before China makes a breakthrough in this area.
Key Companies China Can’t Afford to Live Without
The Saturn Research and Production Complex in Rybinsk has a history of more than 100 years. Since Soviet times, the company has developed and built engines for many Soviet fighters, strategic bombers and transport aircraft, including the Yak vertical take-off and landing fighter for aircraft carriers and the famous Tu-144 supersonic airliner, among others. The company developed and built the engines for the Sukhoi Superjet-100, the first civilian airliner developed in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union, as well as the Irkut MC-21, the second, larger civilian airliner currently in test flight. The Irkut-MC21 is also the main competitor to the C919 civilian airliner currently being developed by China.
The Il-76 transport aircraft, which is equipped with the Russian and Chinese air forces, and China’s own military transport aircraft, the Transport-20, are also powered by engines from the Saturn Research and Production Complex. However, the Russian media has recently reported that China has started to replace the D-30KP-2 engine of the Saturn Research and Production Consortium with its own WS-20 engine on the transport plane.
After Ukraine ceased cooperation in 2014, the Saturn Research and Production Complex began developing and manufacturing engines to replace Ukrainian products for several major Russian naval surface ships, including the European Bison air-cushioned landing ship, the 11356 frigate, and the 11357 frigate. 11356 frigates, etc. China procured four Eurobull aircushion landing ships from Ukraine several years ago. Russia has also sold a large number of 11356 frigates to India.
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