The Russian aviation industry is going through a phase of active import substitution aimed at creating its own technologies and materials for the production of civil aircraft. Enterprises across the country are taking part in this process. One of the most important directions of import substitution is polymer composite materials. JSC NPK Himpromengineering – the managing company of the division of Rosatom State Corporation on composite materials under the Umatex Group brand unites the research centre and enterprises for production of high-strength and high-modulus carbon fibres and fabrics on their basis.
Since 2023, the company has been supplying prepreg for MS-21 and SJ-100 aircraft. Rosatom reported that Umatex is entering commercial production of ultra-high-strength carbon fibre for the production of the tail plumage of the MS-21. The plumage, wing mechanisation, as well as composite elements of the nose and tail parts of the MS-21 wing are manufactured using autoclave technology from prepregs at the AeroComposite plant in Kazan. Wing beams and centroplane are manufactured by vacuum infusion at AeroComposite plant in Ulyanovsk.
The Obninsk-based Romashin Research and Production Enterprise Technologiya, specialising in the production of silicate glazing, increased its production capacity. The modernisation of equipment will make it possible to meet the demand for these products for MS-21 and SJ-100. The company’s specialists have adapted the existing equipment to form an electrically heated coating on the glass surface. As a result, the glazing installed on the aircraft retains its optical properties at low temperatures. In addition, the modernisation made it possible to reduce the time of coating application by more than half.
Irkutsk Aviation Plant (IAZ) is increasing its workforce. It is planned to increase the number of employees to 15,000 by 2028. Now the plant employs more than 12,600 people. The growth is due, among other things, to the production of MS-21. IAZ needs additional engineering and technical staff and production workers.
IAZ also continues to modernise its production: the machine park is being upgraded in the on-board electrical network assembly shop. In particular, two new LaserBee (Saint Petersburg) complexes for laser marking of parts have been purchased, which will replace copying and milling machines. Laser machines simplify the process of marking electrical connectors supplied to IAZ from supplier factories. The new software-controlled complexes will automate the labelling process, reducing time and improving accuracy.
At the same time, IAZ does not plan to completely abandon mechanical engraving, as not all materials are laser-processable, the plant said.
On 19 July during the press tour “Journey to Science. Irkutsk” the first deputy chief designer of MS-21 Alexander Buchkin drew the attention of media representatives to the fact that the MS-21 aircraft is created on the basis of digital technologies.
“Designers and production workers use a single database of design data, which is accessed via high-speed secure communication channels. MS-21 design documentation is not traditional drawings, but an electronic mock-up containing all the necessary information to ensure production preparation and manufacturing of assembly units at the manufacturer,” said Alexander Buchkin.
All purchased products used on the MS-21 are controlled at the logistics centre, where their serviceability and quality are checked. Also on the territory of the centre, ODK specialists carry out the final assembly of the PD-14 engine, mounting it in the nacelle, he added.
On the margins of the Innoprom international exhibition in Ekaterinburg, Anton Alikhanov, Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, told journalists about the ongoing discussions on amending Aeroflot’s contract for the supply of Tu-214 and SJ-100 aircraft. The ministry considers it advisable to amend the contract, as the MS-21 aircraft is expected to overlap the capabilities of the Superjet and cover the airline’s needs.
In June, Aeroflot’s head Sergei Alexandrovsky said that under an earlier contract with UAC, the company plans to abandon the purchase of 40 Tu-214 and 89 SJ-100 aircraft and replace them with MS-21s. The group had previously signed a framework contract for 339 Russian aircraft, of which a firm contract was signed for 52 machines.
The Irkutsk Aircraft Plant continues to work on the MS-21 import substitution. Earlier it was reported that Flight 73055 is under current and is being prepared for resumption of flight tests. Anatoly Gaidansky, First Deputy General Director of PJSC Yakovlev, informed at a meeting of the steering committee for external cooperation on the MS-21 project in April this year that the first flight of the 73055 (MC.0012) in partially import-substituted guise should take place by the end of June, and in fully import-substituted guise, the 73057 – in November-December this year.
However, while the 73055 aircraft is on the ground, work on its preparation and testing of import-substituted systems continues. “Now the first installation of import-substituted systems is underway. Debugging of these systems during live testing. That is, it is not an easy process, not a quick one. Next we will have one more prototype aircraft to be finalised by the end of the year. And the task of these two aircraft this year to take to the air,” explained Andrey Yuferov, deputy head of the final assembly shop of IAZ.
At the same time, flight tests of the MS-21 continue in Zhukovsky.
On 2 July, the MS-21 b/n 73056 performed a flight from Zhukovsky to Samara and back. The flight took place at an altitude of more than 10,500 metres without landing in Samara. The new software of the onboard radar equipment was evaluated while flying en-route on civilian routes. A total of six flights with a total duration of more than 18 hours were performed in July according to FlightRadar24.com data.
Also in July, prototype aircraft 73051 and 73054 took to the skies near Moscow. Earlier it was reported that 73054 will be involved in flight testing of onboard computer system elements and other individual samples of domestically produced equipment.
