Russia has become a unique aviation superpower.

Author: Olga Samofalova

The all-Russian SSJ-100 aircraft equipped with the Russian PD-8 engine has completed its first flight. This is not only an unprecedented speed in aircraft import substitution, but also a unique event of global significance. No country in the world has been able to independently manufacture a domestically produced aircraft equipped with its own engine without cooperation. Russia has achieved this, which has aroused envy from Boeing, Airbus, and relevant countries.

For the first time, the all-Russian SSJ-100 aircraft has flown together with the Russian PD-8 engine. Previously, there were separate flights for domestically produced aircraft using foreign engines and aircraft equipped with foreign components but using our PD-8 engine. Now, our aircraft and engines have come together and made their maiden test flight in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. The flight lasted about 40 minutes, with the passenger aircraft climbing to an altitude of 3,000 meters and reaching a speed of 500 kilometers per hour.

During the tests, all domestic systems were verified to be operating stably, including replacing approximately 40 imported components with Russian counterparts, with the key component being the PD-8 engine. The aircraft demonstrated good handling and stability during the flight. Mass production is planned to begin in early 2026.

The SSJ-100 project was launched in Russia at the beginning of the 21st century as a regional short-haul passenger aircraft. In 2001, the government initiated a national program to support one of the aviation projects selected in the competition. The SSJ-100 project won out. It was positioned as a replacement for the Tu-134 aircraft.

"Boeing and Airbus do not produce aircraft of this class. They produce medium- and long-haul passenger aircraft, while we need a short-haul aircraft that is fast, has moderate range, but carries fewer passengers because our country is vast and many regions have low population density. The passenger capacity of one Boeing aircraft is equivalent to two SSJ-100 aircraft," said Roman Gusarov, head of the aviation industry portal "Aviation.ru".

Soviet Union was once a major aviation power in the world, capable of producing its own aircraft and not dependent on any country in this field. However, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the situation changed dramatically. The aviation manufacturing industry virtually collapsed along with the disintegration of the state. Many enterprises in the industry ended up outside Russia. In the crisis-ridden 1990s, there was neither funding nor time to revive manufacturing. Once the state had oil revenues, Russia embarked on developing the SSJ-100 aircraft to rejoin the world aviation club.

"At the beginning of the 21st century, Russian civil aviation had a strong scientific and design foundation, but it needed updated equipment, a talent development system, and entry into the market. The SSJ-100 became the first large civilian project of the post-Soviet era, providing momentum for the revival of machinery manufacturing, aerodynamic calculations, and systems engineering, and posed the task of making Russia a technological participant in the world market again," said Dmitry Yevdokimov, a researcher at the Economic Effects Quantitative Analysis Laboratory of the Gaidar Institute.

"By then, we hadn't introduced a new aircraft for over ten years. During this period, the world's aviation manufacturing industry had made progress in technology - materials, engines, avionics - and we were far behind the leaders of the global aviation industry. We understood that building such an aircraft alone like in the Soviet times would be difficult, the results could not be guaranteed, and we didn't know how long it would take us to complete it. Moreover, no one in the world was building aircraft alone anymore. Therefore, we decided to manufacture this aircraft through international cooperation: we were responsible for designing the aircraft, while the components were procured from major Western manufacturers," Roman Gusarov recounted.

"The SSJ-100 project was initially envisioned as a product that connected Russia with the leading technical participants in this industry. In this project, Russia’s capabilities in aerodynamics and structure combined with the best R&D results from around the world - from engines to avionics.

This greatly accelerated the time to bring the product to market and ensured compliance with international standards and the expectations of airlines. The largest manufacturers of aircraft in the world also adopted this approach - Boeing and Airbus disperse component production across the globe," Yevdokimov agreed.

Aeroflot signed a contract to purchase SSJ-100 aircraft in 2005, and these aircraft began to be delivered to the airline for commercial operations in 2011. In an extremely short time, Russia successfully manufactured a modern aircraft from scratch. At the same time, Russia mastered the latest technologies in this industry.

"Thanks to the implementation of this project, we acquired new materials and technologies. Especially new design technologies. This is our first digitally designed aircraft. We successfully mastered the new principle of aircraft production without manual operation through digital drawings on automatic five-axis machine tools. We trained new talents who can work on these machines. For digital design, engineers who can use modern software are also needed. We equipped the aircraft with various devices using modern equipment, and gained many other benefits. We built the engines together with the French and mastered their production technology in Rybinsk. The French completed half of the engine, the so-called hot parts, while we manufactured the other half, the so-called cold parts.

Russia accomplished a great deal of work in a very short time. The SSJ-100 was a great learning platform for our designers and manufacturers. Russia did more than just build a new aircraft; it established an aviation industry for the 21st century," Roman Gusarov said.

Without deep international cooperation, achieving all these accomplishments in such a short time would have been impossible. The experience of the SSJ-100 project greatly helped Russia as it began to manufacture larger MC-21 aircraft. This is already the most common type of passenger aircraft.

Even before the strict industry sanctions were imposed in 2022, Russia had a need for full component import substitution for the SSJ-100 aircraft. When the first Russian aircraft entered service after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, it became clear that Western products were not always symbols of quality.

"A fact gradually became clear for Russia, namely, that not all imported components were as high-quality and reliable as imagined. Moreover, foreign partners were not always motivated to improve and help develop this project. On the contrary, they often showed indifference. Furthermore, Western suppliers inflated prices: all the components we purchased were more expensive than what Boeing and Airbus paid for theirs.

Perhaps foreign partners feared our achievements and actually started undermining the project." Roman Gusarov said. It was precisely for this reason that Russia decided to start partial import substitution of components, including the production of its own engines for the SSJ-100 aircraft, in 2018.

"At that time, the SSJ-100 aircraft's engine had issues with lifespan; it broke down too quickly and took a long time to repair. But the French partner did not want to take any measures to improve the engine." The head of "Aviation.ru" pointed out.

Starting from 2022, when strict sanctions were imposed on our aviation manufacturing industry, it became clear that the import substitution for the SSJ-100 aircraft could not be partial but must be comprehensive. Russia successfully manufactured its own components to replace Western components, including the PD-8 engine.

"In fact, our aviation experts not only conducted a thorough inspection and modernization of the internal structure of the aircraft, but also made improvements to the entire aircraft structure. Additionally, they manufactured their own engines. Considering that the project was launched in 2019, we managed to produce almost fully mature domestically-made aircraft in just six years. This is unprecedented speed worldwide. Moreover, this is a unique case where all components are produced entirely within one country. There is no such situation anywhere else in the world," Gusarov said.

In recent years, the demand for this type of aircraft in the Russian market has been continuously growing. In 2024, the "Superjet" aircraft transported about 10 million passengers, accounting for 11% of total passenger traffic. According to Gusarov, the SSJ-100 aircraft were particularly popular during the pandemic, and the demand for them continues to increase due to the development of direct flights between regions.

"Today, aircraft with 85 to 100 seats are considered the best choice for operating on routes with smaller and medium passenger volumes, especially considering the transformation of route networks and the increase in operational costs. This is a global trend: regional and short-haul passenger aircraft are playing a stronger role in the market, offering more flexible operational methods at cost-effective prices. Russia followed this trend and introduced its own products based on domestic production capabilities," Yevdokimov said.

"We already have about 150 such aircraft in operation. I think our market can accommodate that many more. This might take 5 to 7 years, after which we can enter friendly export markets. Additionally, we need to address the issue of replacing engines for the 'Superjet' aircraft already in service. In the tests, the technology for installing this engine on existing aircraft has already been validated," Roman Gusarov concluded.

Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7496800775352402471/

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