Over the next few years, Russia is going to increase the output of passenger aircraft up to 200 annually. These would break into 70 MC-21 narrowbody jets, up to 50 SSJ100 regional jets, 20 Il-114-300 regional turboprops, a handful of Il-96-400M quads plus some L-610 larger and L-410 smaller commuter airplanes. Besides, through CRAIC joint venture with China’s Comac, the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) is going to produce the CR929 next-gen widebody jetliner.

“So, we will have technologically advanced products for all key sectors of the civil market,” UAC president Yuri Slyusar said in a recent interaction with the media. He explained that the need to boost civilian production arises from the fact that the state defense order is going to subside.

Meantime, the Russian domestic air transportation market continues to grow at high rates which run above expectations based on purely economic factors. If that tendency stays, there will be a considerable surplus demand for modern passenger airplanes, which UAC wants to meet primarily with the MC-21, SSJ100, and Il-114. “Domestic market will be the primary one for us,” Slyusar says. “Further development of the local aviation industry is a high-scale project, prompting us to focus on creation of competitive products, ones that would feature high reliability, safety, operational economics, comfort, and fleet readiness.”

Thanks to generous governmental aid and big military orders, the manufacturer was able to procure large numbers of advanced manufacturing equipment. This, however, contributed to the increase of the consolidated corporate debt, now at some Rouble 350 billion (U.S.$5.71 billion), but Slyusar hopes UAC will soon emerge operationally profitable. Besides, through the synergy effect from being incorporated into the powerful Rostec (Chalet J31) corporation, the manufacturer expects various savings and benefits amounting to Rouble 120 billion (U.S.$1.96 billion) over the next few years.

Following President Vladimir Putin’s decision in October 2018 to move UAC under Rostec’s umbrella, the two corporations have made much work on involving various longstanding Rostec members into UAC projects through the supply of various systems and components, as well construction materials, notably titanium and composites. Today, UAC and Rostec continue to transform the current industrial model into a more modern one targeting higher productivity through the creation of “centers of competence,” such as that for composite materials.

Aircraft Projects

Product-wise, the focus has been firmly on the MC-21, which is going to be the single most important Russian civil aviation product in decades to come. “Through creation of this airplane [Russia’s] aircraft manufacturing industry attains a new technology level,” Slyusar explained.

Certification of the baseline MC-21-300 seating 163 passengers in a two-class layout is expected later this year, in an initial version with Pratt & Whitney PW1400G geared turbofans. Shortly thereafter, certification of a completely indigenous version will commence with the Aviadvigatel PD-14 high-bypass engines. The fifth MC-21 operational prototype is now under final assembly; it will become the first one with the Russian propulsion. It is likely that one of the already flown airframes will be refurbished with the PD-14, so as to have 400 test flights to be performed this year and next. “We hope to win certification for the MC-21 with an indigenous power plant in 2022,” Slyusar says.

However, the tightening regime of U.S. economic sanctions on Russia has been causing delays to the original schedule. The matter is now so serious that Putin had to address the issue himself. “We have done a good jetliner—competitive, for middle-route operations—the MC-21. It provides competition to the Boeing 737. But the United States placed components for wing manufacturing on the sanctions list. Mind you, there is no connection to defense. Now, we will have to do everything ourselves.”

Although the newly imposed U.S. sanctions will delay a start to MC-21 production by 18 to 24 months, the replacement of imported construction materials with local substitutes “will do good” to the program, since the Russian industry will no longer depend on export items.

The Superjet 100, which is the only serially produced passenger jet in Russia today, will be made in 20 copies this year and 130 more in the 2021-2024 time frame. Around 2025, the current production SSJ100 is to be replaced by a more advanced 100-seater with a redesigned wing and indigenous PD-8 turbofans replacing the PowerJet SaM.146.

In a recent speech, Putin called for a boost in the air traffic inside the country through the formation of a more effective air route network, by bypassing Moscow. “We have big hopes that the practical materialization of the national transport infrastructure development projects would stimulate solvent demand for…our 100-seater, which seems to be an ideal aircraft to serve this improved network of routes,” Slyusar responded. According to a recent market study by the Ministry for Transportation, there is a need for 150 regional aircraft in the Russian domestic market.

Under the Kremlin’s orders, UAC is restarting production of the Il-96 widebody quad. The Il-96-300 shrunk will be followed by the Il-96-400M version whose maiden flight is planned for late 2020 or early 2021. It will provide the platform for special mission aircraft, including for transportation of top government officials, but will also be available to those Russian airlines that maintain scheduled services from the European part of the country to destinations in Siberia and on the Pacific coastline. Later, the Il-96 will be offered in a twin-engine version with the indigenous PD-35 turbofans now in development. These are also being considered for the CR929.

According to UAC, the Il-96/PD-35 may serve as a contingency to the CR929. Should the latter program proceed according to plan, the airplane will first go in production with a Western engine (which is yet to be selected). At a later stage, the initial version shall be supplemented by the PD-35 or an alternative engine to be developed jointly with China. The manufacturer continues interaction with potential suppliers on over 50 onboard systems and large sub-assemblies. At the request-for-proposal (RFP) phase, over 100 vendors were evaluated, of which half came from Russia or China. Today, about 40 systems are at the stage of “detailed requests and proposals” as the airplane manufacturer communicates with favored vendors.

Most of the key suppliers will be named in 2020, at the Gate 3 phase. Production localization on the territories of the CR929 partner nations is “an important priority” during the vendor selection process.

Following Putin’s decision to move UAC under Rostec umbrella, a process was launched to update the company’s long term strategy. It has already been decided to transform the corporate structure by creating four divisions, including one that will undertake all current and future civil aviation programs. The base for it is provided by Irkut, which now leads the MC-21 program. Steps are being made to move SCAC under Irkut’s control so that the single entity would carry out the Superjet program as well.