Russia: A country’s technological sovereignty still rests, in no small part, on whether it can build its own diesel engines. Several industries depend on that capability at once, which is why developing modern, high-power units matters strategically for any nation that wants to stay ahead.
One of Russia’s largest projects in this space is the family of high-speed DM-185 engines. The Ural Diesel Engine Plant (UDMZ), part of the Sinara Transport Machines (STM) holding, developed the DM-185 and is bringing it into serial production stage by stage.
Answering the challenges of the era
Russia’s domestic diesel engine industry took on new urgency at the start of the 21st century. Much of the fleet still in service ran on engines designed in the Soviet period, and tougher requirements for performance and service life meant the industry needed more than incremental upgrades: it needed a different technological level altogether. Meanwhile, dependence on foreign suppliers for power units and critical components kept growing.
Large state programmes to build a new generation of Russian engines answered that challenge. The high-speed DM-185 diesel family is among the most significant results. For an industry where projects often take decades, this one moved fast: from R&D through to a modern production base, series production of several modifications, and now preparations to scale up further. The engine series today is Russian from the components to the final assembly.
An engineering school for federal projects
The DM-185’s story can’t really be separated from that of the plant that builds it. UDMZ was formed in 2003, when the turbomotor plant split its turbine and diesel operations into separate businesses, but the engineering expertise behind it goes back to the 1940s at the same Yekaterinburg site. UDMZ joined STM in 2008 and began modernising in earnest soon after.
New workshop at UDMZ. Source: STM
While continuing to develop its existing DM-21 family, the plant started work on something new entirely. That became possible through the federal National Technological Base programme, which aimed to build up domestic technology and cut Russian manufacturers’ reliance on imported solutions in key industries. In 2012, UDMZ won state backing for two related projects, Energodiesel (literally Energy Diesel) and Dieselstroy (literally Diesel Construction), covering both a new family of high-speed diesel engines and a modern test base. The plant’s own engineers led the work, joined by specialists from Bauman Moscow State Technical University and Ural Federal University, with technology support from leading global engineering centres.
That experience now feeds back into the wider industry. UDMZ’s training centre was granted a licence in June 2026 to deliver supplementary vocational education and professional training, and it now runs 15 programmes covering machine tool operators, turners, millers and other trades.
From R&D to series production
By the end of 2015, the core design work was done: nine modifications of the DM-185 engine and seven diesel generator sets, each aimed at a different application. Production infrastructure went up alongside the engineering work. UDMZ opened a dedicated DM-185 production complex in 2016, giving the line a real foundation to build on. Digital design tools followed: by 2020, engineers had built and verified a digital twin of the 6DM-185T locomotive engine, letting them model dozens of performance parameters before a single part was cut.
Shifting geopolitics reshaped the project too. The DM-185 had originally relied on international cooperation to meet tight deadlines, but in 2022 UDMZ launched a programme to build high-tech production for diesel engines rated above 500 kW and close that gap. The Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade backs the programme, developed jointly with industry under the title “Creating High-Tech Production of Diesel Engines Rated above 500 kW”, with component manufacturing as the priority.
DM-185 engines in a twin-engine configuration in a shunting locomotive’s power unit. Source: STM
The project carries a price tag above RUB 7 bln ($92.1 mln): RUB 5 bln ($66.8 mln) as a concessional loan from the Industrial Development Fund, and RUB 2 bln ($26.3 mln) from the plant’s own funds. It runs through to 2032 and involves a deep overhaul of the production base, all without stopping current output. There’s a workforce story here too. Automation is expanding, but so is headcount: the plant is creating 149 new, highly productive jobs.
By the end of 2025, UDMZ had bought 194 pieces of production equipment, and construction on the new facilities had reached 83% completion. An assembly line taking shape at the plant will handle up to 400 engines a year, with five assembly stations, a cold-running test rig and more than fifty separate process steps. A fully automated warehouse is going in alongside it, along with automated systems for moving components and engines and a modern test complex.
Six new production lines are coming for the components that matter most: crankshafts, pistons, camshafts, connecting rods, cylinder heads and valve-train parts. That’s a real step towards sovereignty. Imported components in the DM-185 design have been whittled down to a handful of items, and localisation now runs above 99%. Producing the DM-185’s 1,400 components draws on suppliers across Russia, from Chelyabinsk and Barnaul to St Petersburg and beyond, and import substitution has already delivered more than 300 technical solutions, including domestically made fuel equipment.
A new generation of engines as the result of technological transformation
The DM-185 family adds up to a genuine platform: high-speed diesel engines built around a common set of unified units and components. The current line runs from in-line six-cylinder units to V-type 12- and 16-cylinder engines, rated from 750 to 3,650 kW, with more powerful modifications still to come. Each variant is built for where it will actually work. Locomotive engines run across a temperature range of –50°C to +45°C, engines destined for quarry equipment have to keep going under constant heavy loads, dust, tilting and vibration.
Engine of the DM-185 family. Source: STM
Fuel efficiency and emissions performance got particular attention during development. An intelligent, microprocessor-controlled high-pressure fuel injection system meters fuel precisely and optimises combustion across operating modes. Paired with two-stage turbocharging, charge-air intercooling and multiphase injection, the result is high specific power, lower fuel consumption and compliance with Stage IIIA emissions requirements.
Digital modelling stands out as one of the engines’ defining features: engineers can calculate how a power unit will perform before it’s built, then feed that data back into further refinement. The engines also run on domestically produced control systems and software, which adapt operating parameters to real-world conditions, manage auxiliary equipment, track fuel consumption and handle diagnostics and protection.
2TE35A mainline diesel locomotive, fitted with 16DM-185T engines. Source: STM
STM’s development strategy puts real weight behind this engine line: by 2027, the holding wants up to 30% of the Russian market for piston engines rated above 500 kW, built on further development of the DM-185. Getting there means widening the range of projects that use the new family, engine by engine, platform by platform.
Rendering of the RShP 2.0 rail grinding train with a lead locomotive section unified with the 2TE35A locomotive. Source: STM
Rail vehicle manufacturing remains the DM-185’s main proving ground, and it’s STM’s core business. The 2TE35A , a next-generation mainline freight locomotive currently in testing, runs on two 16DM-185T engines rated at 3,650 kW each. The same locomotive section, unified with the 2TE35A, is planned for the RShP 2.0 rail grinding train, which will also work on high-speed lines. STM’s TEM885, a shunting-and-trip locomotive still in development, is built around a 1,800 kW 12DM-185 engine.
Rendering of the future TEM885 shunting-and-trip locomotive with a 12DM-185 engine. Source: STM
The DM-185’s reach goes well beyond rail. The 12DM-185A engine already powers BelAZ quarry dump trucks with payloads of up to 240 tonnes. For the energy sector, DM-185-based diesel generator sets of up to 1,720 kW are supplying independent power to industrial and infrastructure sites, and gas-piston versions for distributed generation are in the works.
Oil and gas looks like a promising next market: high power output, long service life and the ability to run for extended periods under variable loads suit the DM-185 to specialised equipment such as hydraulic fracturing units. Shipbuilding is another area where the platform has traction. DM-185-based diesel generator sets already exist at various output levels, and the platform is shaping the power systems being developed for Russia’s modern fleet.
BelAZ-75319 quarry dump truck with a 12DM-185 engine. Source: STM
UDMZ’s main customers today span the STM holding’s own enterprises alongside BelAZ, Russian Railways and Gazprom. The DM-185 has grown into more than a line of engines: it’s becoming the basis for a unified, sovereign technological platform across Russian industry. Widening its range of applications is central to STM’s strategy for scaling up engine production and building a bigger footprint for Russian diesel engines, at home and abroad.
