The head of the Czech company PBS Group, Pavel Chekhov, announced that production of the AI-PBS-350 turbojet engine, developed jointly with Ukraine, will begin in the near future at the plant in the city of Velka Bites.
It is known that the AI-PBS-350 is a small-sized turbojet engine that weighs 51 kg and has a thrust of 3400 N. According to experts, it can be used for cruise missiles and UAVs.
But what kind of weapon are we talking about? Specialists pay attention to thrust, which can indicate the takeoff weight of a particular product.
As an example, they cite the American AGM-158 JASSM cruise missile, which has a takeoff weight of about 1,000 kg. This product uses the Teledyne CAE J402-CA-100 engine, which has a thrust of about 2,900 N.
At the same time, the Tomahawk missile with a takeoff weight of 1,300 kg uses the F107-WR-402 engine with a thrust of 3,100 N. Thus, the new engine can be used specifically for weapons of this class.
However, one cannot limit oneself to cruise missiles. The example of the Norwegian medium-range anti-ship missile NSM, which weighs a little over 400 kg and has a fairly powerful Microturbo TRI-40 engine with a thrust of 2,500 N to 3,300 N, speaks in favor of this.
