founded in Rybinsk, VolgAero, to manufacture components of the SaM146; additionally, parts and assemblies of other engines produced by PowerJet's two parent companies are also produced on this site. In terms of military engines, Safran Aircraft Engines produces the Snecma M88 turbofan. This engine was developed to power the Dassault Rafale fighter aircraft. It fulfills numerous stringent performance criteria, including a high thrust-to-weight ratio, low fuel consumption across all flight regimes, and a long engine life. Additional considerations were afforded to both the M88's maintainability and upgrade potential (73 kN to 105 kN using the same core). Qualification of the M88-2 engine was completed during 1996 while the first production engine was delivered by the end of that year. It is of a modular design for ease of construction and maintenance, as well as to enable older engines to be retrofitted with improved subsections upon availability, such as existing M88-2s being upgraded to M88-4E standard. In May 2010, a Rafale flew for the first time with the M88-4E engine, an upgraded variant with greater thrust and lower maintenance requirements than the preceding M88-2. In 2002, the Europrop International (EPI) consortium was set up by four aero engine manufacturers, Safran Aircraft Engines, Germany's MTU Aero Engines, Britain's Rolls-Royce Holdings and Spain's Industria de Turbo Propulsores. EPI GmbH is tasked with designing, developing, marketing, manufacturing and providing support for the TP400-D6 turboprop engine to power the Airbus A400M Atlas, a military airlifter manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space. The TP400 is the most powerful turboprop in the world currently in production. During 2008, the European Commission launched an open rotor demonstration led by Safran within the Clean Sky program with 65 million euros funding over eight years : a demonstrator was assembled in 2015, and ground tested in May 2017 on its open-air test rig in Istres, aiming to reduce fuel consumption and associated CO2 emissions by 30% compared with current CFM56 turbofans. With its 30:1 bypass ratio, it should deliver a 15% improvement over the CFM International LEAP already at 11:1; but Airbus is more interested in the more conventional Ultra High Bypass Ratio (UHBR) turbofan at 15:1, which could be introduced from 2025, offering 5% to 10% better efficiency than the LEAP and to be tested from 2020. Built around the M88's core, the fan blades are slower than the 1980s GE36 due to the reduction gear, lowering noise and