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PFI 1969 - One vs Two Engines

During the work on the formation of shape future aircraft had to solve a variety of tasks. In his memoirs, E.A.Fedosov gave the following example of one of the issues encountered at the stage of TTP for the PFI:

"... there was a problem: what should the aircraft be - a single or twin-engined? A major role in its decision wss played by our institute. ... We analyzed everything, coming to the conclusion that the twin-engine plane was more stable, reliable in combat than single engine. Therefore, we proposed the creation of two power plants. But ...

"Deputy Minister of Aviation Industry for experimental aircraft A. Minaev ... was an erudite man, very knowledgeable in aviation affairs, he picked up the statistics, the majority of the Second World War, on the basis of which he showed that no significant difference in single and twin-engine aircraft losses were observed. ...

"And here we come to the aid of P.S.Kutakhov. He ordered his services to collect statistics of losses of aircraft and pilots in time of peace, and it turned out that most die single-engine machines, and together with them and the pilots. Based on this information Kutakhov concluded: "To fight back when our country is, and combat training of flight personnel should be carried out monthly, daily and hourly, so our air forces need a new machine with two engines." This solution Commander and became the basis for the creation of future twin-engine cars, which provide a higher level of security."

This quotation should still be supplemented by certain considerations of a constructive plan. The fact that the question of the choice of number of engines for the TFIs can not be viewed in isolation from the choice of the dimension of the projected plane. It is clear that when creating an analogue of an aircraft, the aircraft must have a projected close to the prototype specific characteristics. In this case, this means close values, first and foremost, on the thrust-weight ratio.

And when creating an analogue of a twin-engine airplane single engine option, it will inevitably have to put much greater engine thrust. In the example of an analog of the F-15, this would require the creation of a new engine in a class of about 20 tons of thrust, which was essentially more of a challenge than creating engine of smaller dimension. Furthermore, such an engine would have a much more limited scope, because it would be hardly possible to apply it on the aircraft of smaller dimension.

Thus, it is obvious that the solution of the above problem, not only lying in the plane of improving reliability and survivability of the aircraft. Later, it successfully demonstrated the aircraft designers in the United States, creating paired with heavy twin-engined F-15 lightweight single-engine F-16.