Kuznetsov Design Bureau

The Kuznetsov Design Bureau (OKB-276) was a Soviet design bureau for aircraft engines, administrated by Nikolai Dmitriyevich Kuznetsov. It was created for developing German WW2 jet engine technology headed by a group of deported Junkers engineers under Ferdinand Brandner.

The Kuznetzov Bureau first became notable for producing the monstrous Kuznetsov NK-12 turboprop engine that powered the Tupolev Tu-95 bomber beginning in 1952 as a development of the Junkers 0022 engine. The new engine eventually generated about 15,000 horsepower (11.2 megawatts), far more than any Western turboprop engine of its time, and it was also used in the large Antonov An-22 Soviet Air Force transport.

Kuznetsov also produced the Kuznetsov NK-8 turbofan engine in the 20,000-pound-thrust (90 kilonewton-thrust) class that powered the Ilyushin Il-62 and Tupolev Tu-154 airliners. This engine was next upgraded to become the about 28,000-pound (125-kilonewton) Kuznetsov NK-86 engine that powered the Ilyushin Il-86 aircraft. This Bureau also produced the Kuznetsov NK-144 afterburning turbofan engine. This engine powered the early models of the Tupolev Tu-144 SST.

The Kuznetsov Design Bureau also produced the Kuznetsov NK-87 turbofan engine that was used on the Lun-class ekranoplan. (Only one such aircraft has ever been produced.)

Kuznetsov's most powerful engine is the Kuznetsov NK-321 that propels the Tupolev Tu-160 bomber and was formerly used in that later models of the Tu-144 supersonic transport (an SST that is now obsolete and no longer flown). The NK-321 produced a maximum of about 55,000-pounds (245 kilonewtons) of thrust.