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- The engine has warmed up: flight tests of imported SSJ-100 New will be held in early 2025
The engine has warmed up: flight tests of imported SSJ-100 New will be held in early 2025
Two SSJ-100 New aircraft with Russian PD-8 engines will undergo flight tests in early 2025, the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) told Izvestia. At the same time, work is underway to deploy serial production of the SSJ-100. About 20 airplanes are in various degrees of readiness. The import-substituted airliner is actually a new airplane, which should gradually displace the French-Russian machines with SaM146 engines. After 2026, the corporation will reach production volumes of up to 30 airliners a year, but by that time the workload of Russian airlines' fleets will be critical due to the growth in demand for transportation and the retirement of foreign aircraft, experts say.
New airplane with PD-8 engine
Two import-substituted SSJ-100 New aircraft are prepared for testing in 2025. Now the airliners are practicing passenger cabin options and testing equipment.
- We expect to receive PD-8 engines in early 2025, after which the airplanes will be transferred to the flight test station of the plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur to prepare for flight tests," UAC (part of Rostec State Corporation) told Izvestia. After the installation and testing of power units, the fully imported airliners with domestic equipment on board will take to the air.
So far, only airplanes with Franco-Russian SaM146 engines have flown. Even the first import-substituted SSJ-100 variant, used since June 2024 for flight tests of aircraft equipment, is armed with foreign engines. In the Russian-French PowerJet SaM146, the entire "hot part" (gas generator, high-pressure compressor, combustion chambers and turbines) was manufactured by France's Snecma. After the imposition of sanctions, problems with their maintenance arose, so a course for a complete upgrade of the aircraft was taken. Import-substituted SSJ-100 New with PD-8 engines will conduct about 200 test flights within a year, UAC said.
Replacing SaM146 with PD-8 is economically inexpedient - it would require a similar cycle of certification tests, which is expensive and time-consuming, the United Engine Corporation (UAC, part of Rostec) told Izvestia. Therefore, the SSJ-100 New airplane was created for the PD-8 and domestic equipment.
In fact, it is a deep modernization of the aircraft, which will allow to place about 40 import-substituted systems and units. The new equipment differs in dimensions, the airframe design has been redesigned, the production process, maintenance and repair of the airplane have been simplified, UAC said.
There are 46 main suppliers for SSJ-100 New, and production cooperation includes 20 thousand enterprises. For example, avionics complex and auxiliary power plant are made in Moscow, fuel equipment and hydraulic elements are made in St. Petersburg, and engines are made in Rybinsk, the aviation corporation said.
The experience of many years of operation of the airliner has been taken into account. As "Izvestia" was earlier reported in the Ministry of Industry and Trade, based on the results of IAC recommendations, the aircraft designer was recommended to finalize the landing gear design. After testing, the design solutions will be implemented on the SSJ-100 New. A service bulletin will also be issued to finalize the flying fleet. The flaps of the main landing gear support are made in Kazan, the landing gear itself - in Samara, and the tires - in Barnaul.
In parallel, UAC is working on the deployment of serial production of SSJ-100 New. The final assembly shops of the Yakovlev Production Center in Komsomolsk-on-Amur are being reconstructed, where a straight-through line will be set up. A new hangar of the flight test station for two airplanes has already been put into operation. At the moment there are already about 20 airplanes in various degrees of readiness. According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in 2025 ODK will deliver six PD-8 engines, and in 2026 - already 44, which can be used to equip up to 22 SSJ-100 New.
In the future, the company plans to reach a rhythmic rate of production of about 30 airplanes per year, UAC said.
What will replace foreign airliners
With the commissioning of modernized SSJ-100 New, the old airliners with SaM146 engines will continue to operate. According to UAC, the corporation's facilities have organized engine maintenance services to maintain their airworthiness. A range of consumables has been developed and produced, which were previously supplied from abroad, including fuel filter, spark plug and other parts, the company added.
- Import substitution of fuel filters is extremely important, as there have been problems with them in recent years," Andrei Patrakov, founder of RunAvia's flight safety service, told Izvestia.
The fact is that the filters for SaM146 were manufactured abroad and were not supplied after the sanctions were imposed. Import is difficult due to the extremely limited number of manufacturers. Therefore, the old filters were simply cleaned and put back on the airplanes, which created risks of their incorrect operation, the aviation expert noted.
According to UAC, for less than three years the number of SSJ-100 components serviced in Russia has increased fivefold and today amounts to 311 items. Domestic analogs have been developed for 214 components. Nine alternative components have been developed, and by 2026 their number will grow to 59.
There will be a great need for airliners in the near future. Foreign planes are clearly not enough to meet the growing demand for transportation, Roman Gusarov, aviation expert, editor-in-chief of Avia.ru portal, told Izvestia.
Now the seat occupancy rate exceeds 90%, and on some flights it has reached 96%. In 2026, the shortage of airplanes will put a lot of pressure on the market. Therefore, the sooner deliveries of new aircraft begin, the better, says the expert.
- We should also think about maintaining the airworthiness of foreign airplanes, - said Andrei Patrakov. - This will help to extend the airworthiness of the Airbus and Boeing fleets.
So far the problems with spare parts and components are being solved despite the total pressure from unfriendly countries. However, the existing supply channels will not last forever, the expert noted.
- It is necessary to prepare the domestic industry for the production of components for foreign airliners, even though it will require huge investments, - said Andrei Patrakov. - For example, to adapt the domestic engine PD-14, as well as avionics to the Airbus A320, it is necessary to spend up to half of the cost of developing a new airplane.
According to him, such expenditures may become justified in the current realities, as it will be faster than domestic airplanes will appear, the expert summarized.
