Russian Civil Aviation: News #5

Of course Russia should have its own aviation industry to replace EVERYTHING the West does - sooner rather than later. But it would be nice to keep the Western planes running a good while yet just to spite the Yanks and Eurogayboys.

Would you?

I would rather dump that shit into the sea and tell them to go find them...

Keeping western aircraft running in Russia takes resources and man power and money away from Russian designs that would be rather more useful.

Once the western planes have been replaced they can be sent back to the leasing companies and the contracts can be terminated.

With money being spent on Russian airliners with upgrades and improvements they can start looking to sell them to the rest of the world too.

The sooner they can close the contracts with western lease companies the better.

Perhaps if the leasing companies are being little bitches about it and not cooperating they can just send the western planes to Iran as they are replaced in Russian service and let the Iranians keep them running.

Ideally Russia should be scrapping that crap and sell their own airliners to Iran along with support contracts so they can keep them going themselves.

The engine has warmed up: flight tests of the import-substituting SSJ-100 New will take place in early 2025, by Vladimir Gavrilov for Izvestia. 12.27.2024.

How many airliners are planned to be produced from 2026 and will there be enough of them for aircraft fleets?

In early 2025, flight tests of two SSJ-100 New aircraft with Russian PD-8 engines will be conducted, the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) told Izvestia. In parallel, work is underway to deploy serial production of the SSJ-100. About 20 aircraft are in various stages of readiness. The import-substituting airliner is essentially a new aircraft that should gradually replace the Franco-Russian aircraft with SaM146 engines. After 2026, the corporation will reach production volumes of up to 30 aircraft per year, but by that time the workload of Russian airlines' fleets will be critical due to the growing demand for transportation and the withdrawal of foreign aircraft, experts say.

New aircraft with PD-8 engine

Two import-substituting SSJ-100 New aircraft are prepared for testing in 2025. Currently, passenger cabin options are being tested on the airliners and equipment is being tested.

We expect to receive the PD-8 engines in early 2025, after which the aircraft will be transferred to the plant's flight test station in Komsomolsk-on-Amur to prepare for flight tests , — UAC (part of the Rostec state corporation) told Izvestia. After the installation and testing of the power plants, the fully import-substituted airliners with domestic equipment on board will take to the air.

Until now, only aircraft with Franco-Russian SaM146 engines have flown. Even the first import-substituted version of the SSJ-100, used since June 2024 for flight tests of aviation equipment, is armed with foreign engines . In the Russian-French PowerJet SaM146, the entire "hot part" (gas generator, high-pressure compressor, combustion chambers and turbines) was manufactured by the French Snecma. After the introduction of sanctions, problems with their maintenance arose, so a course was taken to completely update the aircraft. Import-substituted SSJ-100 New with PD-8 engines will conduct about 200 test flights during the year, UAC noted.

Replacing the SaM146 with the PD-8 is not economically feasible - it would require a similar cycle of certification tests, which is expensive and time-consuming , the United Engine Corporation (UEC, part of Rostec) told Izvestia. Therefore, the SSJ-100 New aircraft was created for the PD-8 and domestic equipment .

In fact, this is a deep modernization of the aircraft, which will allow placing about 40 import-substituting systems and units. The new equipment differs in dimensions, the airframe design has been redesigned, the production process, maintenance and repair of the aircraft have been simplified, the UAC said.

There are 46 main suppliers for the SSJ-100 New, and the production cooperation includes 20 thousand enterprises . For example, the avionics complex and auxiliary power unit are made in Moscow , fuel equipment and hydraulic elements in St. Petersburg, and engines in Rybinsk , the aviation corporation said.

The experience of many years of operation of the airliner was taken into account. As previously reported to Izvestia by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, based on the results of the recommendations of the IAC, the aircraft developer was recommended to modify the chassis design. After testing, the design solutions will be implemented on the SSJ-100 New . A service bulletin will also be issued for the modification of the flying fleet. The main landing gear doors are made in Kazan, the landing gear itself is made in Samara, and the tires are made in Barnaul.

In parallel, UAC is working to launch serial production of the SSJ-100 New. The final assembly shops of the Yakovlev production center in Komsomolsk-on-Amur are being reconstructed, where a straight-through line will be organized . A new hangar for the flight test station for two aircraft has already been put into operation. At the moment, about 20 aircraft are in various stages of readiness . According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in 2025, UEC will deliver six PD-8 engines, and in 2026 - 44, which can be used to equip up to 22 SSJ-100 New.

In the future, the enterprise plans to reach a rhythmic production rate of about 30 aircraft per year, UAC said.

What will replace foreign airliners?

With the introduction of the modernized SSJ-100 New, the old airliners with SaM146 engines will continue to be operated . As reported by UEC, the corporation's facilities have organized service maintenance of engines to maintain their airworthiness. A range of consumables that were previously supplied from abroad has been developed and is being produced, including a fuel filter, spark plug and other parts , the company added.

“Import substitution of fuel filters is extremely important, as there have been problems with them in recent years ,” Andrey Patrakov, founder of the RunAvia flight safety service, told Izvestia.

The fact is that filters for SaM146 were manufactured abroad and were not supplied after the sanctions were imposed. Imports are difficult due to the extremely limited number of manufacturers. Therefore, old filters were simply cleaned and reinstalled on the aircraft, which created risks of their incorrect operation , the aviation expert noted.

According to UAC, in less than three years the number of SSJ-100 components serviced in Russia has increased fivefold and today amounts to 311 items . Domestic analogues have been mastered for 214 components. Nine alternative components have been developed, and by 2026 their number will grow to 59.

There will be a great need for airliners in the near future. There are clearly not enough foreign planes to satisfy the growing demand for transportation , aviation expert and editor-in-chief of the Avia.ru portal Roman Gusarov told Izvestia.

Currently, the seat occupancy rate has exceeded 90%, and on some flights it has approached 96%. In 2026, the aircraft shortage will put significant pressure on the market. Therefore, the sooner the deliveries of new aircraft begin , the better, the expert notes.

“We also need to think about maintaining the airworthiness of foreign aircraft,” Andrey Patrakov noted. “This will help extend the airworthiness of the Airbus and Boeing fleet.”

For now, problems with spare parts and components are being resolved, despite the total pressure from unfriendly countries. However, the existing supply channels are not eternal , the expert noted.

— We need to prepare domestic industry to produce components for foreign airliners, even if this requires colossal investments , — Andrey Patrakov believes. — For example, to adapt the domestic PD-14 engine, as well as avionics to the Airbus A320, we need to spend up to half the cost of developing a new aircraft.

According to him, in the current reality such expenses may become justified, since it will be faster than domestic aircraft appear, the expert summed up.

https://iz.ru/1814402/vladimir-gavrilov/dvigatel-progrelsya-letnye-ispytaniya-importozameshchennyh-ssj-100-new-projdut-v-nachale-2025-go

Another Il-96-400T in the sky again, 12.30.2024.

Yesterday in Voronezh, after more than 10 years of mothballing and subsequent restoration of airworthiness, a test flight of the heavy cargo aircraft Il-96-400T (RA-96101) took place. It is expected that in the near future it will join the fleet of Sky Gates Airlines (100% of its shares belong to Red Wings), which already has one such aircraft: a year ago, in December 2023, it began cargo transportation on the Il-96-400T (RA-96103), manufactured at VASO in 2009 and then operated by Polet Airlines for three and a half years, and after its cessation of operations in 2013, it was stored at the manufacturer's plant.

https://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/165988/

https://aviation21.ru/fyuzelyazh-pervogo-opytnogo-samolyota-tvrs-44-ladoga-naxoditsya-na-finalnoj-stadii-sborki/

The fuselage of the first experimental aircraft TVRS-44 "Ladoga" is in the final stage of assembly
02.01.2025,

The assembly shop of JSC Aviakor Aviation Plant in Samara is completing the production of the fuselage of the first prototype of the regional turboprop aircraft TVRS-44 Ladoga. In the first quarter of 2025, the assembled unit will be handed over to the customer. This was reported to the Chairman of the Samara Regional Duma Gennady Kotelnikov by the General Director of the Aviakor Plant Alexey Gusev during his visit to the plant in December 2024.

"Aviacor has several projects. One of the main ones is the production of fuselages for the regional aviation aircraft TVRS-44 or "Ladoga" with 44 passenger seats. In the first quarter of next year [2025] we will deliver the first fuselage and hope that over time our plant will be the final plant for the production of these aircraft, and a lot of them will be needed," said Alexey Gusev.

According to him, to implement its part of the Ladoga aircraft project, the company has trained personnel, a design bureau, and also has close ties with the specialized, supporting university - the Institute of Aviation and Rocket and Space Technology of Samara State University.

The final assembly of the TVRS-44 aircraft will be carried out in the new production building of the Ural Civil Aviation Plant in Aramil, Sverdlovsk Region. The cooperation in the production of Ladoga aircraft also involves the Smolensk Aviation Plant, where the wing box is manufactured, the UZGA site in Nizhny Novgorod, where the tail assembly is carried out, and the TV7-117-ST-02 engines will be manufactured and supplied by UEC-Klimov, St. Petersburg.

If the delivery schedules of other units, aircraft systems and avionics from related enterprises are met, the construction of the first experimental TVRS-44 may be completed in the fall of this year. And the first flight of the experimental aircraft can be expected either at the end of December 2025 or in January-February 2026.

The editors of the magazine "Vzlet" note that in parallel with the first flight of TVRS-44, the cooperative enterprises continue to manufacture units of the static model airframe, which will be sent for testing to TsAGI.

"Then the second flight model should be ready, and after that – the service life model. To speed up certification tests, the volume of which is estimated at approximately 800 flights, the issue of building another – the third flight model – is being worked out with the customer," writes Vzlet.

In accordance with the current version of the Comprehensive Program for the Development of the Russian Aviation Industry until 2030, the first serial deliveries of 35 TVRS-44 Ladoga aircraft are planned for 2028.

Delivery planned for 2028... Hopefully the il-114 will come earlier.

Eventually after 2030 Russia should have a good mix of aircrafts for regional and mid range aviation.. too bad that they had to wait until the almost total collapse.

Il-96-400T.

mnztr wrote:It will be great if they can outsource some aerostructures work to Iran in return for airplane orders from them. Once they get a handle on it.

Please no!!
They are losing so many years to do import substitution and you want to do the opposite?
So that the west will be even more motivated to do a colored revolution in Iran to screw up again russian civil aviation?

What they could do is to organise double sourcing of some aircraft components, where aircraft exported can have some components made in friendly countries, but for aircraft for the russian internal market all parts must be done in Russia.

Furthermore if Iran wants it can maybe obtain assembly licence for some aircraft models, with most parts produced by Russia and other produced (under licence) by Iran.

Under no circumstances parts (for Russian) domestic aircrafts should be single sourced abroad.

Iran can't even safeguard its most valuable persons. What makes you think they can be trusted as a secure supplier free from sabotage?

mnztr wrote:Maybe Russia should rewing the IL-96 and develop a propfan engine from the NK-12. The need to take a leap. The west is developing propfans, Russia has the counter rotating gearbox perfected on one of the most powerful turboshaft aviation engines in history.

There was already a decent propfan engine with 18 tons thrust, the NK-92 (military version for the il-106) and NK-93, civilian derivative, which had been proposed also for the Il-96, (and for the Tu-204 and Tu-330 including with alternative fuel (i.e LPG).

If Russia wanted it could create a derivative of it starting from the PD-14 core.

Such engine, however would mean that the most efficient cruise speed would be somewhat lower than currently with a more classical turbofan. The difference would be limited for a short flight, but could be an issue for an intercontinental flight.

It would be interesting anyway to be considered for transport aircrafts.

As far as the il-96, what it needs is a derivative with new wings and 2 pd-35 engines.

Maybe Russia should rewing the IL-96 and develop a propfan engine from the NK-12. The need to take a leap. The west is developing propfans, Russia has the counter rotating gearbox perfected on one of the most powerful turboshaft aviation engines in history.

Interesting idea but I would say no.

The main thing about the engines for the Bear is that they are operated for very high speed flight (for a propeller driven aircraft). They are still the worlds fastest propeller driven aircraft and that is mostly because of their engines and blades.

For slower aircraft like the An-70 the prop fan with up to 14 blades per engine (8 and 6 blades contrarotating on two sets of blades) extra blades can increase thrust to allow heavier payloads and better takeoff and landing performance but they are not ideal for top flight speeds.

The engine of the Bear has very long blades and would not fit on an Il-96 unless you massively extended the length of the landing gear.... and even if you did that the aircraft will be slower than it would be with four PS90 18 ton thrust jet engines or two PD-35 35 ton thrust engines when they are ready.

Propellers on the bear are unique and suit its unique role and demands, but for commercial use propellers are best for shorter ranged hops where there lower costs add to the profit.

It would be interesting to develop large and super powerful propfan engines for Il-476 designs to create a Russian An-70 or even two of them on the Il-276 to create a cheaper An-12 replacement, but I would think getting the main like aircraft and engines in production first is a higher priority...

Unless it has been somewhat improved recently, the other issue of propfan engine was the noise level, which could be a negative aspect for a civilian airliner (but not for a cargo plane).

Russia has already flight tested on the il-76LL the NK-93 (18 tons of thrust) and Aerosila was responsible for designing and building the propeller/fan and for the gearbox of the Progress D-27 propfan (12 tons of max takeoff thrust) of the An-70.

Once the other engine projects are in service, Russia can think about using the cores of the existing engines (PD-8, PD-14, etc) to make propfan derivatives. It has the experience and all of the development data of previous projects. It is just a matter of priority and resources.

As an example, I believe that after PD-14, PD-8 and PD-35, the PD-16 and the PD-18R with geared turbofan will have the priority on any propfan project.

https://www.flugrevue.de/zivil/fertigung-macht-fortschritte-erstflug-2025-hier-kommt-russlands-neues-verkehrsflugzeug/

Production is progressing - first flight in 2025?
Here comes Russia's new airliner
Russia’s newest airliner is taking shape in Samara – and it does not come from Ilyushin or Tupolev.

Patrick Hoeveler
January 7, 2025

Due to the enormous distances, air traffic in Russia remains indispensable, even in the regional segment. There is a particular need for a modern model to replace the Antonov An-24, which is currently still in use in many places. The 44-seat TVRS-44 Ladoga is intended to fill this gap.

At Aviakor in Samara, the fuselage of the prototype is nearing completion. In the first quarter of this year, it will be transported to the Ural aircraft factory in Aramil in the Sverdlovsk region for final assembly. Other partners in the program are the aviation plant in Smolensk (wing box) and UZGA in Nizhny Novgorod (tail section). The TV7-117ST-02 engine comes from Klimov. The turboprop is scheduled to be completed this autumn. The first machine could then begin flight testing from the end of December 2025 - the date was actually announced for spring. Aviakor also hopes to set up a second final assembly line in Samara. The initial plan is to build two flying prototypes and two static test cells.

Once the other engine projects are in service, Russia can think about using the cores of the existing engines (PD-8, PD-14, etc) to make propfan derivatives. It has the experience and all of the development data of previous projects. It is just a matter of priority and resources.

If they try to do everything at once everything will slow down and take longer.

Using AI to analyse all the massive amounts of data they will have collected to work out what types would actually be worth working on after the critical essential stuff is done would be very productive, and of course some products might be in enormous international demand when common sense returns to the west when their economies tank because of their stupid short sighted decisions.

A propfan Be-200 or even a propfan Albatross would be cheaper to operate and possibly safer to fly in difficult conditions like among mountains etc in their role as fire bombers. Most of the world appreciated Russian fire fighting assistance but no one said thank you and no one bought the product... so let them burn.