The NPO Saturn AL-55 is a high performance

turbofan A turbofan or fanjet is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used in aircraft engine, aircraft propulsion. The word "turbofan" is a combination of references to the preceding generation engine technology of the turbojet and the add ...

engine manufactured by NPO Saturn Russia, for powering advanced trainers,

unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Dron ...

s (UAV) and light attack aircraft. A variant of the AL-55I powers the HAL HJT-36 Yashas

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n jet trainer.

Development

India's

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is an Indian public sector aerospace and defence company, headquartered in Bengaluru. Established on 23 December 1940, HAL is one of the oldest and largest aerospace and defence manufacturers in the world. H ...

, from 1999, was developing HAL HJT-36 Sitara, a subsonic intermediate jet

trainer aircraft A trainer is a class of aircraft designed specifically to facilitate flight training of pilots and aircrews. The use of a dedicated trainer aircraft with additional safety features—such as tandem flight controls, forgiving flight characteristic ...

for the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the air force, air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during armed conflicts. It was officially established on 8 Octob ...

to replace the ageing

HAL HJT-16 Kiran The HAL HJT-16 Kiran () is an Indian two-seat intermediate jet propulsion, jet-powered jet trainer, trainer aircraft designed and manufactured by aircraft company Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The Kiran was developed at the behest of th ...

Design

The design comprises five main features. It has a three-stage low pressure compressor, five stage high pressure chamber, an annular combustion chamber and a single stage high and low pressure turbines.

Variants

;AL-55: :AL-55/I: A variant designed for licensed production in

Applications

* HAL HJT-36 Sitara *

HAL HJT 39 The HAL HJT 39, aka CAT (Combat Air Trainer), was an Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT) project proposal by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force. HAL HJT 39 CAT Programme was Announced at Aero India, February 2005, with mockup ...

* Mikoyan MiG-AT MiG-AT aircraft
* KB SAT SR-10

Specifications

References