The age of jet engines
Continuing tradition for manufacturing aircraft engines, Turbomecanica was established in 1975 to manufacture aeroengines, aeronautical components and helicopter dynamic systems in Romania. A strong tradition in this field had been discontinued after World War II, due to political interference. The mission of the company was to develop the ability and to provide these products at the highest technological level and a reasonable degree of independence.
The best available manufacturing equipment was purchased, and licenses to manufacture and build Viper 633-41, Turmo IV C engines and PUMA helicopter gearboxes and rotorheads were obtained from Rolls-Royce, Turbomeca and Aerospatiale respectively. Due to the lack of reliable local sources for special components, accessories, and tooling, the facility was required to produce all this material on a self-sufficient basis, but at the expense of efficiency. The size of the company was gradually increased, to accommodate an estimated capacity of 4,400 employees. The company developed by successfully integrating its three initial main products and becoming an important and exclusive supplier of new products for the Romanian Minister of Defense. Subsequently, a development program for a Viper afterburner system was successfully carried out, jointly with a Yugoslav partner and Rolls-Royce. In 1980, a license was obtained through Technoimportexport from Rolls-Royce for the manufacture of the Spey 512-14 DW civil turbofan, powering the Romanian built variant of the BAC-111-500 airliner.
In 1985, the Governments of Romania and of ex – Soviet Union initiated a joint program for development and production in Turbomecanica of a 700 SHP helicopter turboshaft. The Russian partner was OMKB-Omsk. A separate production facility was built to accommodate this project, and to avoid any interference with the existing Western technologies. During the next five years, the development program progressed at a steady rate, with several demonstrators and prototypes produced and tested on the bench and on the helicopter. Production start up activities resulted in a large inventory of production tooling, purchasing materials and substantiating components and materials.