Alternative engine option emerges for PAK-DA
An engine that would have powered a long-cancelled Russian supersonic tactical bomber has emerged as a potential alternative to a proposal based on the NK-321, but how realistic is this prospect?
A new possibility emerged at the Army 2020 exhibition in Moscow in August as to the powerplant for the prospective Tupolev PAK-DA strategic bomber.
Soyuz Aero-Engine Scientific and Technical Complex shed light on a prototype of the R119-300 engine, which has a maximum afterburner thrust of 19,800kgf and a cruising thrust of 11,100kgf.
R119-300 is nothing new in itself; in fact, it was designed for the Sukhoi-T60S supersonic tactical bomber, which was cancelled in the 1990s.
However, it is noteworthy that the engine specifications are lower than those of the existing NK-321 engine used on the Tu-160 bomber (25,000kgf maximum
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