RuAviation

The Irkutsk Aviation Plant (IAP) has completed docking of the next wing console for the MS-21 serial passenger aircraft. The MS-21’s composite wing significantly differentiates the Russian aircraft in its aerodynamic qualities from its competing A and B models. The aspect ratio of 11.5 is still an unattainable parameter for the most modern A320/321 and B737 MAX.

The main force elements of the MS-21 wing console: front and rear spars, as well as upper and lower panels with stringers, drainage boxes, upper and lower centre wing panels are made of polymer-composite materials at the Ulyanovsk enterprise AeroComposite. The delivery of complete aircraft kits and wing consoles from Ulyanovsk to Irkutsk is carried out by road transport. At the rate of MC-21 assembly, which is planned at IAZ – up to 36 aircraft per year by 2027 – such delivery is more economically favourable than by air.

Before being installed on the aircraft, the console undergoes incoming control, technical inspection and presentation to the customer. Then it is transferred to workshop No. 249, where the wing and centreframe are docked at station F10. In order to fulfil the specified docking parameters and to comply with the technological process, it was necessary to modernise the drilling machine with automatic feed. A system of domestic drills was installed, which provide high accuracy and quality of drilling holes in the wing structure.

After levelling and preliminary alignment with the centre wing, the cantilever is installed at a special station, where the final installation and sealing of the joint is performed. The finished joint is then presented to the representatives of the technical control bureau and the customer, after which leak tests are carried out.

Wing bracket joining is one of the most critical stages of aircraft assembly. Flight safety depends on its quality, which is why special requirements are imposed on this operation and its performance is entrusted only to highly qualified specialists with extensive experience. Upon completion of docking, the aircraft is transferred to the assembly and test facility, where systems and units are assembled in the final assembly shop and the aircraft is prepared for flight tests.

On the 2nd of December 2023 the Joint Stock Company AeroComposite celebrated its fifteenth anniversary. The mastering of the technology of composite production of the wing of the MS-21 aircraft by the vacuum infusion method began at the turn of the 2010s. On the 14th of July 2015 in Ulyanovsk the plant for serial production of composite wing consoles was launched. Today the plant is implementing an investment project with an annual output of 36 aircraft kits. The programme provides for partial reconstruction of the existing areas and construction of a new logistics building. In the future, it is planned to design and build a production building to ensure the production of 72 aircraft kits per year from 2029.

Rosatom’s Yumatex, which produces carbon fibre, and ITECMA research organisations, which develops the fibre tape and binder, are involved in the creation of Russian polymer composite materials. In order to create carbon fibre, it is necessary to build a line on the scale of production areas comparable to the AeroComposite plant in Ulyanovsk. There is such an enterprise in Yelabuga. It is set up specifically for the production of the wing for MS-21, to meet the technical requirements for physical and chemical characteristics.

In 2023, joint efforts of PJSC Yakovlev (formerly Irkut), AeroComposite, Bauman Moscow State Technical University and Platov South Russian State Polytechnic University created domestic robotic manipulators for laying out dry carbon fibre wing spars and panels with integrated stringers. Key elements of the robots, including software and lay-out mechanisms, have been developed and manufactured in Russia. In 2024, serial samples of the Russian robotic complex will be assembled and put into operation at AeroComposite’s Ulyanovsk production site.

Now at least five serial MS-21s are waiting for engines and Russian equipment at the Irkutsk Aircraft Plant in varying degrees of readiness. And the enterprises participating in the co-operation on the MS-21 project are already producing units for the eighth serial aircraft.