Russian Civil Aviation: News #5

Indeed, the funding is there and the infrastructure to make and support these engines is being built too.... this is all positive news moving forward.

If Russia is going to market internationally, I don't think "Yak" is the best name.
Look at the Western planes - "Megatop", "Superjumbo", "Dreamliner" etc
The West even gave Soviet planes some good names eg Antonov 124 was called the "Condor" in NATO reporting.

Yaks are associated with dirty animals in the mountains in S America, that spit at people, and carry pan pipe playing coca leaf carrying midgets about.

Firebird wrote:If Russia is going to market internationally, I don't think "Yak" is the best name.
Look at the Western planes - "Megatop", "Superjumbo", "Dreamliner" etc
The West even gave Soviet planes some good names eg Antonov 124 was called the "Condor" in NATO reporting.

Yaks are associated with dirty animals in the mountains in S America, that spit at people, and carry pan pipe playing coca leaf carrying midgets about.

The South American spitting animal is the 'guanaco', a close to llama camelid. Not the Asian Yak

Cool names don't help if the product is rubbish and a bad name does not hurt if the product is basically good.

Marketing is a waste of energy most of the time... customers who object to a name that sounds too Russian are not likely to be customers anyway... or at least not good customers.

They should continue paying their leases to the Russian ruble bank accounts like the government requested. And these funds should be able to be used to keep the airplanes operational, i.e. maintenance, or buy aircraft from the lessors outright.

They shouldn't pay the leasing companies because the leasing companies have stopped supporting the aircraft they leased... which is a fairly important part of any lease... being able to safely continue to use the leased vehicle.

Let the loss be the cost of western sanctions on Russia... who cares about the leasing companies.... the leasing companies didn't consider the situations of the Russian airlines or the Russian customers, why should Russia care about these companies... they can ask the US government for compensation from the 300 billion in seized Russian assets/funds.

And of course Russia can seize 300 billion in foreign assets to cover those losses too.... everyone wins.

Import-Substituting Tu-214 Takes Flight for the First Time, 11.20.2024.

Import-substituting Tu-214 aircraft takes to the air for the first time.

MOSCOW, November 20 - RIA Novosti. The import-substituting Tu-214 aircraft took to the air for the first time as part of a flight test programme, according to a statement from the United Aircraft Corporation ( UAC ).

"The Tu-214 aircraft, which is used as a flying laboratory, has begun a flight test programme with new Russian components.

Today, the aircraft took to the air for the first time after import substitution," the company noted.

The flight took place at the airfield of the Kazan Aviation Plant (KAZ) named after S.P. Gorbunov and lasted 1 hour and 10 minutes. The aircraft was piloted by the crew of JSC Tupolev, according to them, the flight task was completed in full.

The Tu-214 aircraft with tail number 64509 was operated by Transaero Airlines since 2007. In 2015, the aircraft ceased flying and was stored. In June 2024, after restoring its airworthiness, the aircraft took to the air again. In July, the flying laboratory was sent to Minsk Civil Aviation Plant No. 407 for painting in a new livery in accordance with the UAC corporate style. After painting, the aircraft returned to KAZ for further additional equipment.

https://ria.ru/20241120/tu-214-1984907148.html

Further details:

Testing of Russian systems and equipment has begun on the Tu-214 flying laboratory, 11.20.2024.



The Tu-214LL aircraft, after work on replacing imported components with Russian analogues, made its first flight at the airfield of the Kazan Aviation Plant named after S.P. Gorbunov. This was reported on my TG channel reported the Managing Director of JSC Tupolev Konstantin Timofeev.

The flight was performed with the landing gear retracted, its duration was 1 hour 10 minutes. The flight task included the necessary checks of domestic systems and equipment. After landing, the Tupolev crew reported that the flight task had been successfully completed in full.

The replacement of imported components affected 15 primary and about 30 secondary systems of the aircraft. The replaced components included computing devices, ground proximity and air collision warning systems, and onboard radar systems. The modernization also included improvements to the lighting systems and electrical equipment, hydraulic system, and integrated control system.

According to the managing director of Tupolev, further tests on the Tu-214 flying laboratory will include checking the interaction of the new Russian systems with each other, as well as with the rest of the aircraft's equipment. "Based on this machine, we will continue flight tests, further modernization and development of the Tu-214 platform, including the creation of a two-member cockpit," Konstantin Timofeev said in a statement on the TG channel.

UAC plans to organize the flow production of Tu-214 aircraft. "A conveyor line is planned, it has been contracted. The task is to reach the production of 20 aircraft per year. More is not needed, we'll see later, anything is possible," he told. He was giving a lecture to students of the Kazan National Research Technical University – KAI in the summer of 2024.

https://aviation21.ru/na-letayushhej-laboratorii-tu-214-nachalis-ispytaniya-rossijskix-sistem-i-oborudovaniya/

Peculiar and redundant project that keep surviving, imo, only buy political weight of regional Tatar government who kept it alive during the 90's as well, by financing development and production.

Not redundant at all.

If you cancel the project, which already has aircraft in service you already have to spend money replacing the foreign components in the operational aircraft, so you are going to Russianise the existing aircraft anyway.

Cancelling the project means you then need to spend money to convert all the factories and producers to change to produce aircraft you will be making, which will take time and wont be free and will be added to the costs of stopping production of the Tupolevs and converting them to Yaks or Sukhois.

In other words there will be a long period where they wont be doing anything at all while getting ready to make different types while costing money.

Continuing to make Tupolevs means the existing fleet can get Russian parts and upgrades to improve their performance, and testing and work can be done that does not effect the work on the MS-21 or Superjet, so all three can run in parallel getting planes that Russian or Russian friendly airlines can use instead of foreign types from companies that hate Russia.

The Russian military does not need super advanced composite airliners with the super low cost flights, the Tu-204/214 is just fine as it is and will be even better with all Russian components and systems. There are plenty of Russian military types that need replacing including the Il-20 and Il-22 in elint roles, as well as Tu-154M and Il-38.

They could also develop the Tu-330 transport plane that is largely based on the Tu-204 and is a 35 ton payload transport plane.

A light AWACS and inflight refuelling model would be useful too.

The way this is being done is by replacing Western components with ones which were originally designed for the MC-21 modified to be used in this aircraft. Which is one reason why I think this project is a bad idea. It is consuming scarce resources which would be better put to use to finish the more modern MC-21.

Standardisation is a good thing. Production capacity of the parts used in both or all three aircraft should be funded accordingly and capacity for production increased.

Having said that, after claiming they needed just over 1,000 new aircraft by 2030 they have since revised the number down to just over 800 aircraft, so the requirements will be changing over time anyway, so planning and development need to be flexible as well.

Worst case scenario 20 aircraft a year they could produce them only for the Russian military and that would allow them to upgrade their MPA fleet of aircraft and Intel aircraft and VIP aircraft over the next five to ten years and not one airliner need be made.

If you cancel it, then when the Russian military starts placing orders that is going to be even more pressure on MS-21 and Superjet production.

Import substitution means Russian computers and cabling and equipment manufacturers getting orders and producing stuff... which is the only way for them to grow and develop their businesses.

There will also be aviation systems like weather and other systems based at airports as well as command and control systems for air traffic.

The fact that they have three aircraft is a good thing, while extensions and reductions in aircraft lengths will allow other niches to be filled relatively quickly and efficiently... and with Russian types too.

Like I said before, if Kazan wanted to manufacture civilian aircraft they could have made a small regional jet transport aircraft. There used to be a Tupolev project for one. And there is no such aircraft right now. Instead money is spent on duplicate projects.

Another alternative would be making military transports.

The Tu-330 has 70% commonality with the Tu-204... and is probably more urgently needed than most other types as a 35 ton payload transport between the Il-276 and Il-476.

Except that there aren't that many Tu-214/204 in service to begin with. Probably like a dozen or two.

The plans for the Tu-330 and production as a civilian airliner and future use by the Russian military suggest money spent on it wont be wasted.

They are building a new factory and a new workshop to make the parts for the Tupolevs. My suspicion is they were building the Tu-214 from old part stocks. And that is why production stopped. I wouldn't be surprised if the Tu-214 started being produced again after the MC-21.

So MS-21 production wont be impacted because they are making their own parts. Also demand for the MS-21 will be reduced because there will be another aircraft type available.

Aeroflot said they would not buy any Tupolevs because they had three crew, well that problem is being solved, but of course they have made so many bad decisions in the past it is hard to say what really drives them...

No. They could be building the PAK DA.

They might be building two or three PAK DAs, but nothing like serial production, they will need ground and air prototypes for testing and evaluation... and you say that will use up the people and resources they were going to use to make 20 Tu-214s a year?

Except it does impact the work on the MS-21 because those aircraft use the same suppliers. The engine supplier, like I said before, is one example. Both the PS-90 and PD-14 are made in the same factory under the same roof

The plans for production have not changed a huge amount... some serial production dates have been delayed by a year or two... if they cancel one aircraft type then they wont suddenly be able to make that number of extra airframes of one of the other two and put the engines that were going in the Tupolev in them instead.

Engine production needs ramping up anyway... no matter how many new aircraft are produced, because a few older aircraft could probably benefit from new engines too.

Except the PS-90 used in the Tu-214 takes more man hours to build and consumes more fuel. It is just dumb to continue building the old aircraft. Period.

All airline production in the west should cease? Which western aircraft are newer than the Tu-214?

You make it sound like it was designed and built in the 1970s... it first flew in 1989 and was significantly upgraded and updated in 2010 as the Tu-204SM... its core problem is that it was never produced in serial numbers with a volume large enough to fund upgrades and improvements over time.

Now it is going to get that production, so why are you so bitter about it.

The government in Kazan seem rather keen to support it, what is the problem... it is not like it is made in Belarus or Ukraine and spending money is helping a foreign power... that is or could be turned by the evil empire contained between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

Just remember that modern engines use electronics for fuel control, and the older engines use analog computers. You have a gazillion mechanical parts to hand assemble, a goddamned mechanical clock, instead of a single computer chip.

It is what it is. Claiming pens are more advanced than pencils and should replace them... well sometimes the advantages of the pens does not matter and it is easier to repair a mechanical clock than something with a computer chip in it. Ask the John Deer customers.

Having different aircraft with different components from the same suppliers will mess up mass production and increase the unit cost of both aircraft. But then again this is what happens when you get people who don't understand engineering dictating industrial policy in modern Russia.

Well they managed to cope with a mix of Airbus and Boeing types just fine...

Those "super low cost flights" are due to the aircraft using less fuel. You are telling me the military isn't interested in that?

If there are no other problems the lower fuel user might be appealing, but Tu-204s have been used in very small quantities for quite some time and their teething problems should be less than two brand new aircraft types using all the latest technology. I would think having one conventional type that is more conservative makes sense. It uses the PS-90 engine in the 16 ton thrust class... over time that can be replaced with a PD-16 of all new design moving forward...

As for the other aircraft you mentioned, I think they could be replaced with the Superjet once that is in production.

So add another type to the Russian military... who already use a few Tu-204 types and were planning eventually to have Tu-330s as an option too.

The Tu-214ON for open skies inspections could also be used for mapping and recon missions, while they only have 2 replacing Tu-154 and AN-30 types, they do have 6 Tu-214PU airborne command aircraft for Putin, and 5 communication relay Tu-214SRs, and two more communication relay Tu-214SUS for Putin.

The recon Tu-214R is to replace the Il-20 recon types, even the Tu-214LMK to replace the Tu-135 that was used for training for the Tu-160, for training for the Tu-160M2.

There are easily enough military types to warrant continuing with the type and I think that is why Tupolev has set up a centre for improving and upgrading the type to make it more appealing to other airlines. If Russian airlines turn up their noses at the aircraft, then that is just fine... airlines from Cuba and North Korea are likely interested in an aircraft that can be a bit heavier to carry more fuel for longer ranged flights.

I have looked at the aircraft and it doesn't look that common to me.

70% commonality is not my assessment, it was figures given by experts.

They should just have built the Il-276 regardless of the Indians wanting it or not.

They likely will but without modification the Il-276 is going to have problems carrying a few armoured types with its payload capacity of 20 tons and most of the Kurganets and Boomerang types being rather heavier.

Even 35 tons might not be enough for some, but for 30 ton payloads it might just make more sense to have two in each Il-476 than stripping them down and taking off armour and turrets to fit them into Il-276s, but that is something they have to work out for themselves.

Instead they wasted money on the Il-112 when they didn't even have a working engine to power it initially.

So all the work on the Su-57 is also wasted because the new more powerful engine is not ready yet?

Please tell me you are joking... leaving design until the engines are perfected and ready for serial production is rather short sighted.

The Il-112 is what they wanted and just needs more powerful and more reliable engines... the feedback from the Il-114 suggests the engine power has increased and the reliability has improved as well so we might see the Il-112V before we see the Il-212 and its PD-8 engines are ready... but that is OK because Russia could do with an An-72 replacement along with a replacement for the other twin turboprop antonovs.

They don't need to be ground breaking record breaking super planes, they just need to fill a gap and over time they can either be upgraded or replaced with something better.

They scaled down the Il-276 design to make the Il-112 and then it the design was just too heavy.

Sometimes scaling is the quickest way and sometimes you don't get the results you hope for. Computer models these days can be amazing but you never know till you actually build it full sized... ask any country that makes ships...

Back then the PD-14 was still not available but they had the PS-90. The initial design of the Il-276 was supposed to use the PS-90.

With the PD series based on new technology eventually they will get a choice of engine sizes and engine powers... they might find PD-12 or PD-14 will do, but equally they might find PD-18 for the smaller aircraft is what they wanted all along to get it to 30 tons payload and extended flight range options.

Placing them above the wing for rough field performance...

Russia seldom does expeditionary warfare.

Smaller lighter cheaper AWACS types might be considered for Army use for ground operations and monitoring for drone activity and perhaps swarms. Eventually they will likely transition to Airship based AWACS platforms, but an AWACS based on the Tu-204 would be more attractive to export partners by being more affordable and more flight efficient than the Il-78 for long range and long endurance operations.

I think the Il-76 tanker is good enough for now.

My personal opinion is that the Il-78 is a bit slow for strategic bomber support and its rough field capacity would make it more interesting for refuelling tactical aircraft, though the risk of operating near a front line might require more protective measures. I would say an Il-96 aircraft as a tanker would make more sense for strategic bombers... its higher altitude and speed capabilities would mean it could fly further with the bombers before topping them up with more fuel extending their flight range, and then return to base.

You can bet those parts will have to be modified. For one the electronics standards used in modern aircraft are totally different so the hardware interfaces won't be the same. They might start from the MC-21 designed components but then they will have to make it interface with the older Tu-214 aircraft. And test and certify everything all over again.

Unifying the components so they are standardised should be a priority, and each having different connectors and interface standards would be something that should be sorted out now rather than later. Standardised avionics for civilian aircraft should be a priority... making separate systems for each aircraft type is ridiculous.

The first flight of the import-substituting MS-21 with the PD-14 engine has been announced, by Dmitry Zubarev for VZGLYAD. 11.21.2024.

Alikhanov announced the first flights of the import-substituting MS-21 in March-April 2025.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade announced that the first flights of the fully import-substituted MS-21 aircraft, equipped with domestic PD-14 engines, are scheduled for late March – early April 2025.

According to him, the first flights of the fully import-substituted MS-21 aircraft are planned for the end of March – beginning of April 2025, TASS reports .

Alikhanov stated: “At the beginning of next year, we will, in fact, begin certification flights on our completely domestic PD-14.”

He also noted that work on a domestic wide-body aircraft with PD-35 engines is ongoing and will be completed after 2030. According to him, the exact dates have not yet been determined, but "the work, most importantly, is ongoing."

As Vzglyad newspaper wrote, the first deliveries of the Russian MS-21 passenger aircraft to airlines could begin in 2025, and Rostec CEO Sergei Chemezov announced plans to begin serial production of the MS-21 aircraft in 2025 and the Superjet New in 2026, despite difficulties with the key rate.

https://vz.ru/news/2024/11/21/1299092.html

@Garry: a bit of but what is your opinion about the future of profan design on An-70 and future operators ?

@Garry: a bit of Off Topic Off Topic Off Topic but what is your opinion about the future of profan design on An-70 and future operators ?

It hasn't got a future.

The main customer was the VDV who wanted a large four engined aircraft able to carry multiple vehicle cargoes for ground delivery or air dropping missions. In the air dropping role a safe low flight speed is an advantage, which is where the An-70 was better than the Il-476.

There is a limit to how fast a group of 100 paratroopers can jump out of an aircraft in flight, and that speed of jumping out can be improved by jumping out each side of the front doors and over the rear ramp in two lines all at once, but the faster the aircraft is flying determines how far apart they end up landing on the ground from the first to jump to the last. The closer they are to each other on the ground the faster they can form up and move to their vehicles and start working as a ground force.

If it would have been, as originally planned, a An-12 replacement with around 20-30 tons payload. it would have been ready much before and an industrial success.

Its 47 ton payload capacity suggests to me it was always to replace the Il-76, and to replace teh Il-76 in the role of airdropping troops and equipment and vehicles for the VDV. They were its main and probably only customer, so when the Ukraine decided it wanted nothing to do with Russia it died.

It was already dying before this because as mentioned they were doing everything to extract money from Russia over this deal.

Their nationalists probably thought they could offer it to western governments who will look at it as a better performing A-400M that is much cheaper to buy and cheaper to operate and being a useful type they could buy in enormous numbers to replace the absent C-141 and to replace the C-17 for missions that don't require such heavy payloads. Essentially a double C-130.

But of course the Europeans would rather destroy the project than risk their A-400M programme and the US wouldn't buy it either, so they would kill it or certainly allow it to die. Being cut off from the Russian VDV customer base it is a dead project and I don't see them wanting it now...

Instead Ukraine tried to replace the only non Antonov plane among the large transport airplanes and then tried to blackmail Russia many times during its development.

And that was the plan... to get rid of the Il-76 so all the transport planes in Russia are Antonovs.

The result is actually the opposite, but it is going to take time to fully implement.

Who knows maybe Russia will consider its design again for new generation medium and large transport planes (to replace An-12 and il-76).

It makes no sense as a standard transport plane... it only makes sense as a specialised air dropper... and the Il-476 does a better job. They could develop new turboprop engines and they already make the propellers already if they desperately wanted an An-70 like aircraft, but there might be a lot of competition from high speed helicopter projects and just drones.

I see the current modernised il-76 as a (extremely important) stop gap, with much less remaining modernisation potential than the An-124.

Except it is the An-124 with the stopgap engine D18T, and the new engine of 35 tons thrust really does not make sense for the An-124 in its current form.

Just two PD-35 engines on the An-124 and it will be an 80 ton payload aircraft that is probably too big for the job and therefore not a lot cheaper to operate, and with four PD-35 engines it is probably too small for all that power...

A smaller twin and a larger quad engined aircraft simply make sense.

Just like an overwing PD-8 powered Il-212 (replace the An-72) and an overwing PD-14 powered Il-276 (replace the An-12) make sense as well for rough field operations.

new light 8 tons payload turboprop
Il-212 (turbofan, 10-15 tons payload)
XX1 - something similar to a shorter An-70 with 2 turboprop or propfan engines (20-30 tons payload)
Tu-330 derivative (turbofan or propfan, 30 to 35 tons payload)
XX2 - modern derivative of An 70 with 4 propfan engines
An-22 replacement, i.e il-106 with 80 tons payload and modern propfan engines (modern derivative of NK-93 with PD-14 core or with PD-18R engines).

From development with the engine for the Il-114 we know the engine is now more powerful and more reliable so the Il-112V can probably go ahead.

The Il-212 with overwing engines is probably a good idea to replace the An-72, and doing the same to the Il-276 could create an ideal replacement for the An-12.

The Tu-330 I have to agree with now they are going ahead with improving and upgrading the Tu-204 et al... a transport version just makes sense.

The Il-476 seems to fill that space just fine with no requirement for replacement for quite some time.

The gap of the An-22 could be the Il-106, or a scaled down model of the new four engined Slon in the 180 ton payload range.... a two engined and four engined aircraft would make the 150 ton payload capacity An-124 no longer critical and they can be used till they need replacement and then be replaced with the newer aircraft in time, unless foreign operators want more An-124 airframes...

Russia takes final step toward full independence from Boeing and Airbus, by Olga Samofalova for VZGLYAD. 11.22.2024.

The first flights of the fully import-substituted MS-21 and SJ-100 with domestic engines should take place in 2025, the Ministry of Industry and Trade announced. In this way, Russia will show the West that it can not only independently build aircraft, but also make them 100% from its own parts, regardless of Western engines and components.

"The PD-14 is already ready, certified, and we are on schedule here. At the beginning of next year, we will actually begin certification flights on our completely domestic PD-14, and at the end of March - beginning of April, flights will begin in the completely import-substituted version of the MS-21," said Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Anton Alikhanov in an interview with the Russia 24 TV channel.

The MS-21 is already flying, including with the PD-14 engine, and its deliveries to airlines were supposed to begin in 2022. However, Western sanctions imposed on Russia prevented the implementation of these plans. The delay is due precisely to the fact that Russia is import-substituting the entire aircraft, including composite materials, etc. And of course, a new aircraft without Western components requires certification tests in the sky. After receiving this document, airlines will immediately begin to put this aircraft into operation.

"As a new import-substituting system appears and is installed on the aircraft, the airliner flies to test it. And they promise to test a 100% import-substituting aircraft next year, when all components will already be domestic. This will be the final stage of certification flight tests," says Roman Gusarov, head of Avia.ru.

The head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade also confirmed plans to begin certification flights of the short-haul SJ-100 with the domestic PD-8 engine next year. Unlike the MS-21, for which the domestic PD-14 engine was initially developed, its smaller brother PD-8 is only being developed.

"There were many different complex stories with individual units, they have all been resolved at the moment, and we really hope that in the near future, literally next month, we will go to a flying laboratory and stop testing all this on the ground, and will move on to tests in the air. And of course, then, next year, our task is to test on the Superjet, on the machine itself," Alikhanov said.

Russia also plans to develop a series of high-thrust engines PD-35, which after 2030 are supposed to be used on the planned Russian wide-body aircraft. "The most important thing here is the materials. Several R&D projects have already been completed. This is a long-term project, and we will certainly continue it. Funds for this have already been partially included in the draft budget," Alikhanov noted.

As for the MS-21, 10 of them have already been produced. “That is, serial production has already been launched, but these aircraft are not being transferred to airlines, since not all units have been certified yet. The aircraft are in storage awaiting the completion of certification tests. As soon as the document is received, these aircraft will be immediately transferred to airlines. That is, we can expect that in 2025, airlines will receive at least 10 aircraft. Plus, the same number can be assembled within a year,” says Roman Gusarov.

The production facilities are ready to produce 36 aircraft per year, but to reach such volumes, it will take about three years, the expert believes.

"If the demand for these planes grows, then the production in Irkutsk can be increased to 72 planes per year, but this will take a few more years. The main thing is that there is demand, because as long as foreign-made planes fly, we will fly them, and they, according to my calculations, will fly for another 10-15 years," says Gusarov. But gradually, foreign-made planes will be replaced by domestic planes.

The situation with the SJ-100 is more complicated for two reasons. First, the MS-21 has a certified PD-14 engine, while the engine for the SJ-100 is only in development. Second, the Superjet needed to import-substitute a larger number of components than the MS-21.


"The Superjet consisted almost entirely of imported components, except for the hardware itself and heat exchangers. The MS-21 was initially planned to have 50% domestic components. Therefore, the scope of work on the SJ-100 is significantly greater," says Gusarov.

The SJ-100 was created a long time ago, and was the first aircraft that Russia created since the Soviet Union. Then the task was to do it at all, and international cooperation in the aviation industry has always existed. The MS-21 was created based on experience, and they immediately began to make both a domestic engine and domestic components for it.

However, there should be no problems with the PD-8 engine for the SJ-100, since, in essence, we are talking about creating a smaller copy of the PD-14 engine.

As for the PD-35 engine for wide-body aircraft (the largest ones), this is a longer-term task, as is the creation of our own wide-body airliner.


"PD-35 is a very complex engine with a diameter of more than three meters. It takes time to create a large number of new technologies that the country does not yet have. But the problem of not having our own wide-body aircraft is not so critical.


If 500 narrow-body aircraft are needed, then only 100 wide-body aircraft. In addition, narrow-body aircraft can fly long distances, for example, to the Far East, with only one stopover. Therefore, even if there is some shortage of wide-body aircraft, we will still not be left without the ability to fly long distances," Gusarov believes.

Having its own line of aircraft with domestic engines and fully import-substituted components is extremely important for Russia.

"There are two main manufacturers in the world - American Boeing and European Airbus, and we cannot get planes anywhere else. No other country produces such planes. Only China. But if you take the Chinese analogue of the MS-21, it is completely assembled from Western components, and it has Western engines. China is very vulnerable. If the Americans introduce the same sanctions against China as against us, then all their planes will stop - both foreign and Chinese. And they will not be able to overcome this technologically. And first of all, because they do not have their own engines. But we do. It is important not only to create planes ourselves, but also to be independent," the interlocutor concludes.

https://vz.ru/economy/2024/11/22/1299176.html