Naval Air: Must Have Seaplanes

March 27, 2020: In Russia the new military version of the Be-200 twin-engine seaplane recently (February) began flight testing. The Russian Navy had ordered six of these aircraft in 2013 but cancelled the order in 2017 because Beriev, the manufacturer, was unable to get a jet engine that did not depend on some foreign components. The Be-200 uses the D-436 engines built in Ukraine. The Russian invasion of in 2014 led to Ukraine halting exports of military equipment to Russia. Ukraine continued to sell Russian D-436s for commercial aircraft, including most Be-200s, but not for a military model. This Ukraine ban halted construction of several types of Russian warships that depended on gas turbine engines only available from Ukraine.
Aircraft engines were less of a problem because Russia was less dependent on Ukraine for aircraft engines. But the D-436 was not easily replaced by another Russian made engine. There was one likely candidate but that engine turned out to be a joint French-Russian effort. France allowed that engine to be used in the commercial version of the Be-200, which entered service in 2003 but would not allow it for Be-200s sold to the navy. When it became clear that getting a completely Russian engine was still several years away, the navy cancelled the order. Apparently Beriev was told that the order would be reinstated when it had an engine that would not run afoul of the Ukraine ban. This was important for export customers and before 2014 several nations expressed an interest in the military version of the Be-200.
https://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htnavai/articles/20200327.aspx
