SaM146 engine intended for Sukhoi SuperJet 100 aircraft has a great potential for upgrading and further development, Voenno-promishlenniy Courier reports with reference to the General Designer of NPO Saturn, Yuri Shmotin.

«We are elaborating the engine’s development concept for the next 30 years. We can say that the next version of SaM146 engine will be developed in 2014», - he said.

According to him, thanks to implementation of the concept, SaM146 will become even more competitive by 2016. «We understand that it is impossible to increase our market share without further development of the engine», - the General Designer noted.

He also underlined that the service life of SaM146 engine’s major components is over 16 thousand cycles and the engine is operated in accordance with its health. «By the way, the engine was being operated for just two years. The engine’s service life confirms that we have made a large step forward», - Yuri Shmotin added.

According to him, NPO Saturn has elaborated a comprehensive program for increasing the share of composite components in the SaM146 engine.