Flight series: Russia no longer depends on imports for aircraft production

Russia is one of only four countries capable of providing a full production cycle of aircraft engines, and in the face of sanctions, we have completely replaced imported technologies in this area. Vladimir Putin said this on June 24 at a meeting on the development of domestic aviation in Zhukovsky. Here, the head of state personally evaluated the latest Russian aircraft — SJ-100, MC-21 and IL-114-300. In many respects, our equipment already surpasses its Western counterparts, the president noted. In his opinion, the ability to produce the entire range of civilian and military aircraft once again confirms Russia's technical, scientific and industrial sovereignty.

What is unique about the new Superjet

Vladimir Putin spent June 24 in Zhukovsky, the aviation capital of the Moscow region. In a special hangar of the Flight Research Institute named after Gromov was presented to the head of state with key developments of the domestic aviation industry, which are designed to ensure the technological independence of the country. These are the IL-114-300, SJ-100 and MC-21 aircraft. The President also held a meeting on the development of the industry, the main topic of which was import substitution.

— We have just looked at the equipment. In a number of areas, we have certainly not only achieved that the equipment is not inferior to the best world standards, but also exceeds foreign and Western standards in a number of components," Vladimir Putin stated.

The Head of State personally got acquainted with each of the presented airliners: he boarded, communicated with designers and testers. The president paid special attention to the import-substituted version of the short—range SJ-100, which is one of the most anticipated projects in the country's civil aircraft industry. Russian engineers managed to replace the main part of the aircraft — the engine. Now the aircraft is equipped with a fully domestic PD-8, which replaced the Russian-French SaM146. Taking the pilot's seat, Vladimir Putin personally assessed the cockpit of the new Superjet.

Until 2022, these airliners were produced as part of a broad international cooperation, but due to sanctions, the project had to be restarted from scratch. The flight test program for the all-Russian SJ-100 is scheduled to be completed this fall, and deliveries are expected to begin in 2027. As Leonid Chikunov, commander of the flight detachment, test pilot and Hero of Russia, told the head of state, 400 flights have already been completed as part of the inspections (half of them are certification flights), and the new engines have performed well.

— Certification work is proceeding according to plan. The entire volume of tests of the import—substituted aircraft is designed to be completed this fall with the necessary documents for approval," Kirill Kuznetsov, chief designer of the Yakovlev SJ-100 program, confirmed to Izvestia.

How MS-21 got rid of Western dependence

Another strategic development is the medium—range MS-21-310. Vladimir Putin got acquainted with the machine's design from the cockpit and personally appreciated the convenience of the passenger cabin. The basic version of this liner is designed for 175 people in two classes of layout and will be able to cover distances up to 3,830 km.

Until 2022, this project was also heavily dependent on foreign components. The Head of State recalled that due to the sanctions on American composites, problems arose with the "black wing", the key know-how of the MS—21, created from carbon fiber. Because of this, the entire program had to be shifted "to the right" for almost two years. Nevertheless, Russian engineers successfully coped with the challenge.

— Until 2022, we actively cooperated with Western partners. Of course, not everything was imported. For example, we initially had Russian chassis, cabin instrumentation, and many computing systems. We did not bow to the West — it was just that no one in Russia was making the ultimate systems at that time or was doing it at the old level, and we could not compete with Boeing. Of course, the sanctions blow was unpleasant. But we have succeeded in replacing 71 large systems as soon as possible," Vitaly Naryshkin, Chief Designer of the MS—21 at Yakovlev PJSC, told Izvestia.

The start of serial production of the MC-21 is scheduled for 2027, Hero of Russia, test pilot Roman Taskaev told Izvestia. According to him, the country has fully coped with the pressure: now the aircraft consists exclusively of domestic components, the production of which is localized within the country. An import-substituted serial aircraft is already being prepared for its first flight at the Irkutsk plant.

The President also praised the new IL-114-300 turboprop aircraft, designed specifically for local lines in remote regions of the North, Siberia and the Far East. The airliner with a capacity of up to 68 passengers is designed to replace the outdated Soviet fleet of AN-24 and AN-26. The airlines are waiting for the transfer of the first three such aircraft by the end of this year, and three more aircraft are planned to be delivered next year, followed by an increase in production rates.

What instructions did Putin give to the Ministry of Transport

Russian air carriers and aircraft manufacturers were among the first to take the brunt of sanctions and attempts at economic isolation. The industry is faced with a unilateral termination of contracts, the termination of services for foreign vessels and the closure of international routes, the president stated. However, strict restrictions have become a powerful incentive for the revival of its own industrial base. As a result, Russia has developed a fully import-substituted line of civil aircraft. Today, our country is one of the four world powers capable of independently providing a full production cycle of modern aircraft engines.

— What is the principle: The ability to independently create the entire range of military and civilian aircraft is one of the key indicators of a country's technical, scientific, and industrial sovereignty. Indeed, few states have such unique competencies, and Russia is one of them," Vladimir Putin said at the meeting.

The President called for accelerating the production of civilian airliners and forming a stable long-term order for manufacturing plants and their related companies. The fact is that the demand for domestic flights continues to grow, but there is a risk that the targets set by the government will not be reached. According to the plans, by the end of the current 2026, Russian airlines should carry 110.4 million passengers. If deliveries of new domestic aircraft are delayed, it is more difficult for carriers to increase their carrying capacity and open new routes. It is for this reason that the Ministry of Transport has been instructed to adjust forecasts and propose additional support measures for the industry during the transition period.

The head of the department, Andrey Nikitin, later told reporters that Russian passengers would not be left without planes. The Ministry will definitely balance the tasks of maintaining the airworthiness of the existing fleet and the commissioning of a new domestic fleet.