[FPSPACE] Re: NK-33 more

[Robert G Kennedy III]

Digging into other notes, I see that Aerojet/NPO "Trud" had access to
almost 200 (!) NK-33 type engines. In Oct 1994, the total inventory
comprised 102 x NK-33, 18 x NK-43, 31 x NK-39, and 7 x NK-31. Since they
had been mothballed since the early 1970s, presumably they are in much the
same condition now.

Refurbishment was reckoned to cost $2.6 million per unit, whilst the unit
cost for eventual production Stateside was reckoned to be $4.2 million, one
half to one third the cost of the nearest alternatives, the RS-27 and the
MA-5A.

Also, the engine did get here sooner, as I thought. Aerojet imported an
NK-33 engine for test/qualification in October 1993.


--
Robert Kennedy, PE
http://www.ultimax.com