ST. PETERSBURG, December 13. /TASS/. Flight tests of the cutting-edge VK-650V engine on the light multirole helicopter Ka-226T will start in 2023, chief designer of the VK-650V engine in UEC-Klimov Anastasia Solovyova told reporters on Monday.
"We will initiate flight tests on Ka-226T in 2023 and will further continue to work with Ansat," the designer said. Engine certification is scheduled for 2023 also, she noted.
The engine is currently undergoing engineering trials and validation of its design solutions. The engine already has a fairly good number of hours in operation and is working according to plan, Solovyova said.
"Next year is active testing under the engineering program, preliminary confirmation of all characteristics and confirmation of all scoring parameters for submission of documentation, for obtaining a type certificate," the designer noted.
In 2019, UEC-Klimov announced the start of developing the new gas-turbine turboshaft engine VK-650V. This power plant is intended for Ka-226T and Ansat helicopters.