During the plenary session of the Eurasian Aerospace Congress, Andrey Dutov, Director General of the Zhukovsky Institute SIC, told about the promising projects the SIC is working on. In particular, work is underway on a regional aircraft with a hybrid propulsion system and a wide-body airliner with PD-24 engines.
The project of a regional multi-purpose aircraft with hybrid propulsion system has received the working name “Region-Integral” and represents an aircraft of integral aerodynamic layout with a laminar wing and a passenger cabin with 40 seats. The design provides for the possibility of converting the cabin into a cargo version. The maximum takeoff weight will be 15 tonnes, cruising speed – about 700 km/h, maximum range – up to 2500 kilometres.
The hybrid propulsion system will consist of a VK-2500 turboshaft engine and a distributed electric propulsion system on hydrogen fuel cells, with six electric impeller motors blowing the wing and wing mechanisation to increase lift.
Andrei Dutov’s presentation says that the creation of a flight demonstrator of the Region-Integral aircraft technology is scheduled for 2026. The mass of the demonstrator will be about five tonnes, with a cruising speed of up to 600 km/h. Instead of the VK-2500 engine, the demonstrator will be powered by the TV2-117 gas turbine turboshaft engine.
The Director General of the Zhukovsky Institute also spoke about the creation of a wide-body aircraft with large internal volumes to accommodate passengers and cargo, working name “Magistral-Integral”. The creation of a flight technology demonstrator is scheduled for 2027. According to Andrey Dutov’s presentation, the aircraft will be powered by PD-24 engines, with a cruising speed of up to 870 kilometres per hour and a range of over 10,000 kilometres. The aircraft will be able to carry up to 260 passengers.
Earlier, in an interview with TASS, Denis Manturov, Deputy Prime Minister and Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, spoke about the creation of a wide-body aeroplane with engines located not under the wing, but above the wing. A similar aerodynamic scheme was used in the M-60 concept aircraft, a joint project of TsAGI and the Myasishchev EMZ. The design of the aircraft with an oval fuselage and integral wing provided for the placement of two RTDs in the tail section above the fuselage.
In August 2022, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation announced a tender for the research work “Study of the efficiency of non-traditional aerodynamic schemes of mainline aircraft (MAA) taking into account the use of new technologies and alternative fuels”. The R&D work code is “Integral-MS” and the Ministry of Industry and Trade has allocated more than 2.5 billion roubles for this promising research. Within the framework of this R&D it is planned to study the efficiency of integral aerodynamic layouts for mainline aircraft. Such layouts offer a wide range of opportunities to increase passenger capacity, accommodate additional fuel and electrical equipment within the framework of electric propulsion technologies. Various innovative integrated layouts for transport category aircraft have not been developed to date either in Russia or abroad. However, in combination with new composite airframe structures, innovative layouts can realise their advantages.
