MS-21 Family of short-medium-haul passenger aircraft

The MS-21 program provides for the creation of a family of short-medium-haul passenger aircraft with wide operational capabilities and focused on the Russian and world market of civil aircraft.

The main executor of the program is Irkut Corporation OJSC. The creation of a family of short-medium-haul passenger aircraft is provided for by the Federal Target Program for the Development of Civil Aviation.

In terms of technical level, the MS-21 will significantly exceed the aircraft currently in operation. The introduction of advanced technologies will provide a 12-15 percent reduction in operating costs, a significant increase in comfort, as well as a new level of environmental safety.

2024: Element Group of Companies signed a contract for the supply of microelectronics for SSJ 100 and MS-21 aircraft

In November 2024, the Element group of companies signed an agreement with the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) on the supply of microcontrollers, memory chips and power transistors for the production of SSJ 100 and MS-21 aircraft worth more than ₽2 billion. The contract is valid until 2030. Read more here.

2023

280 billion rubles from the NWF are allocated for the project of the Russian MS-21 aircraft

At the end of July 2023, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov spoke about the allocation of 280 billion rubles from the National Welfare Fund (NWF) for the project of the domestic MS-21 liner. He clarified that money from the NWF is directed to large technological or infrastructure projects that are "most important for the country's technological independence."

The head of the Ministry of Finance noted that the MS-21 "is no worse than the best Western analogues." Among his undoubted advantages, he named good noise insulation, a comfortable interior, ergonomic domestic seats and a modern cockpit.

About 280 billion rubles from the funds of the National Welfare Fund will be directed to the project of the Russian passenger liner MS-21

According to Kommersant, the cost of a new Russian aircraft MS-21 with delivery in 2028-2030 is estimated at 4.3-4.6 billion rubles. The State Transport Leasing Company sent such a proposal to airlines that are not part of Aeroflot. This is more expensive than the counterparts from Airbus and Boeing. Also, the MS-21 can get a long-haul version.

MS-21 is being developed by Irkut Corporation (part of the UAC) and belongs to the family of short and medium-haul jet passenger narrow-body aircraft. This is the second aircraft after the Superjet 100 in the field of Russian civil aviation, created without a Soviet reserve. It is being created as a replacement for the Tu-154 and Tu-204/214 liners, as well as as an alternative to foreign-made aircraft Airbus A320 and Boeing 737. Its flight range is more than 6 thousand km.

The MS-21 family of aircraft will consist of three models with different fuselage lengths: MS-21-200 with a capacity of up to 165 passengers in a maximum single-class layout, MS-21-300 (up to 211 passengers) and MS-21-400. Each of these models will also have basic and extended flight range options.^[1]

Start of construction of a plant for the production of components for the Russian aircraft MS-21

A plant for the production of components for the Russian MS-21 aircraft will be built in Moscow. The corresponding agreement was concluded on July 10, 2023 by the capital's mayor Sergei Sobyanin, the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov and the general director of the United Aircraft Corporation PJSC Yuri Slyusar. Read more here.

The first Russian composite fiber laying robot has been created. It will be used in the production of aircraft MS-21

On May 25, 2023, Rostec announced the creation of the first Russian composite fiber laying robot. It will replace foreign equipment and will be used in the serial production of the "black" wing of the newest MS-21 aircraft. Read more here.

2022

Foreign composites in all elements of the aircraft replaced by Russian

Foreign composites in all elements of the Russian airliner could MS-21 be replaced in a short time, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said in March 2023.

Delivery of 150 thousand square meters of non-woven material for wings

Since the beginning of 2022, the Moscow manufacturer Montem has supplied 150 thousand square meters of nonwoven materials for the manufacture of outer wings of MS-21 aircraft. This was announced on November 2, 2022 by the head of the Department of Investment and Industrial Policy of Moscow, which is part of the Complex of Economic Policy and Property and Land Relations of the capital, Vladislav Ovchinsky. Read more here.

Mishustin allocated 15 billion rubles to expand the production of aircraft MS-21

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, at a meeting with Deputy Prime Ministers on September 12, 2022, said that the Russian authorities would allocate 100 billion rubles to increase the stability of the country's economy. Part of the money - 15 billion rubles - will go to expand the production of MS-21 aircraft.

The funds will be allocated as part of a strategy to support the Russian economy in the context of sanctions pressure, the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation specified. In addition to the costs of producing MS-21 aircraft, 25 billion rubles in 2022 will be provided to support the air traffic management system.

Mikhail Mishustin

Under sanctions and a ban on the supply of Western aviation equipment to Russia, the Russian industry has stepped up a program to create its own aircraft. According to the program for the development of the aviation industry until 2030, domestic carriers should receive 270 MS-21 aircraft. At the same time, 210 such aircraft will be bought by Aeroflot, the airline's general director Sergei Aleksandrovsky said at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin earlier in 2022.

At the VEF-2022 in Vladivostok, Aeroflot signed a contract with the UAC for almost 1 trillion rubles. for the purchase of 339 domestic aircraft, including 210 MS-21, which will be leased from 2023 to 2030. Firm orders for MS-21 in 2018 were also made by Red Wings airlines (16 cars) and Iraero (10 aircraft), as well as leasing companies VEB-Leasing, Sberbank Leasing and Ilyushin Finance.

In September 2022, employees of the SibNIA named after S. A. Chaplygin conducted ground frequency tests of the first aircraft MS-21 with a wing made of domestic composite materials. The tests took place at the Irkutsk Aviation Plant (a branch of PJSC Irkut Corporation) - where a new aircraft is being developed.^[2]

2021

Flight of a passenger plane with a Russian wing MS-21-300

In mid-December 2021, the Russian MS-21-300 airliner, developed by Irkut (part of the UAC of the Rostec state corporation) and using a wing made of Russian-made polymer composite materials, made its first training flight at the standard conditions of a civil airport and landed for the first time at Irkutsk airport. The liner took off from Zhukovsky airport and, having covered more than 4 thousand km, landed in Irkutsk.

The development and production of Russian polymer composite materials for the wing of the passenger aircraft MS-21 began after the introduction of US trade restrictions on AeroComposite in September 2018.

Irkut released a passenger plane with a Russian wing

The use of durable and lightweight composites allowed designers to make a large extension wing and improve the aerodynamics of the aircraft at the same time as increasing the diameter of the fuselage, says Rostec CEO Sergey Chemezov. - I note that the specialists of "Irkutsk" in the shortest possible time were able to solve the problem of import substitution and start building serial aircraft with the Russian wing. Assembling the first liner is a big step for the UAC and the entire Russian aircraft industry. This is proof of the maturity of our aviation technology and another victory over sanctions.

The share of composites in the MS-21 design is about 40% - this is a record figure for medium-haul aircraft. Domestic materials for power composite structures were developed with the participation of scientists MSU and enterprises. " Rosatom The outer wing and center section of the MS-21-300 aircraft are manufactured at the AeroComposite-Ulyanovsk enterprise. In the production of the wing, vacuum infusion technology is used, which is patented in. Russia

As explained in Rostec, for a long time it was widely believed that composites were beneficial to use only on large aircraft - wide-body long-haul liners. Not as large, although more massive, narrow-body aircraft received only some composite parts, such as elements of wing mechanization. In the project, the MS-21 designers of the Irkut Corporation demonstrated that the use of composites for the manufacture of a wing of a medium-range aircraft is beneficial in all respects.^[3]

Plane certification MS-21 delayed due to foreign sanctions

In January 2021, it became known that the certification of the MS-21 aircraft was again postponed. So far, it is planned that the first aircraft will be handed over to the customer at the end of 2022. In 2023, it is planned to produce 10-15 cars.

One of the reasons for the braking of the launch of the aircraft on the market is the imposed sanctions. Another 40% of components require import substitution - Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov.

Previously, certification according to Russian standards was supposed to be completed in 2015, according to international standards - in 2016.

2020

The MS-21-310 plane with Russian engines made its first flight

The MS-21-310 aircraft, equipped with Russian PD-14 engines, made its first flight. This was reported in December by the press service of the state corporation "Rostec."

"On December 15, 2020, at the airfield of the Irkutsk Aviation Plant - a branch of PJSC Irkut Corporation (as part of the UAC of the Rostec state corporation), the first flight of a MS-21-310 aircraft equipped with new Russian engines took place, PD-14 Rostec said. "The flight duration was 1 hour 25 minutes."

MS-21-310

The plane was piloted by a crew consisting of test pilots Vasily Sevastyanov, Andrei Voropaev and engineer-tester Alexander Solovyov. During the flights, the engine operation modes, stability and controllability of the aircraft, as well as the functioning of all its systems were tested.

Putin called "rudeness" the refusal of Western partners to supply composites for MS-21

President Vladimir Putin called "rudeness" the refusal of Western partners to supply composite materials for the production of a new civilian aircraft. MS-21

defense complex "Well, nothing to do with our new medium-haul aircraft. MS-21 We took and, for reasons of unfair competition, our partners stopped supplying the corresponding composite materials for the wing. Well, what is it? Well, this is just rudeness in the world market in violation of all generally recognized principles and rules, "Putin said at a meeting with representatives of the nuclear industry. His words are quoted on September 23 Interfax""

"They know what we will do anyway. Well, just so that our aircraft builders come out later with this product. And by this time they intend to occupy these niches and markets, "the president added.

An experienced MS-21-300 plane arrived in Ulyanovsk for painting

On June 10, 2020, an experimental MS-21-300 aircraft (tail number 73056) flew from the Ramenskoye airfield (Zhukovsky, Moscow Region) to the Ulyanovsk-Vostochny airfield for painting.

The flight lasting about an hour and a half passed without comment. The plane was piloted by a crew consisting of Hero of Russia, test pilot of the 1st class Oleg Mutovin and test pilot of the 1st class Vasily Sevastyanov.

At the Ulyanovsk enterprise Spektr-Avia, the aircraft will be painted according to the scheme previously used for the second and third experimental vehicles. The prevailing white color allows us to demonstrate the high quality of fuselage manufacturing achieved by introducing advanced automated assembly technologies.

The fourth MS-21-300 aircraft, built to conduct flight tests, first took to the sky at the end of December 2019. After flying to the Ramenskoye airfield in March 2020, the car participates in flights under the programs of factory finishing and certification tests.

2019

Media Information

The civilian company Aerocomposit, which is in no way associated with the defense industry, was previously included in the US sanctions lists. Apparently, the emergence of another strong player in the high-margin niche of medium-haul aircraft with the latest product raises concerns among leading players in the global market.

After the inclusion of Aerocomposite in the sanctions lists, we began the procedure for appealing this decision. Such solutions are the use of sanctions rhetoric in the competition in high-tech industries.

This required us to implement additional measures to ensure the uninterrupted progress of the composite wing program for the deployment of serial MS-21 production. Fortunately Russia , there are the necessary production capacities, competencies and supplier options. With financial and organizational support Ministry of Industry and Trade , the entire chain of production of composite materials in the military and civilian spheres is being mastered in our country. In particular, for several years there has been active work with Rosatom VIAM, a number of private companies to master the production of composite materials for aviation.

As a result, within the framework of the general import substitution program, step-by-step replacement of the necessary components of the composite wing of the MS-21 with domestic analogues is underway. Replacement of the material does not entail structural changes and can be executed as an addition to the type certificate without changing the certification terms.

No one has refused or plans to abandon the use of composite materials in the design of the wing of the MS-21 aircraft.

The deployment of serial production of MS-21-300 aircraft is underway. According to the contract, the first deliveries of Aeroflot aircraft should begin in 2020.

2018

The second experimental aircraft MS-21-300 made a non-stop flight from Irkutsk to Zhukovsky

On July 20, 2018, the second experimental MS-21-300 aircraft participating in the flight test program flew from Irkutsk to the airfield of the M.M. Gromov Ramenskoye LII (Zhukovsky, Moscow Region). The flight lasted six hours.

The aircraft was piloted by a crew consisting of:

• aircraft commander - test pilot of the 1st class of the Design Bureau named after A.S. Yakovleva Vasily Sevastyanov;
• co-pilot - test pilot of the 1st class of the OKB named after A.S. Yakovleva Andrey Voropaev.

Vasily Sevastyanov said: "The flight took place normally, all systems worked without failures." Flight tests of the second MS-21-300 aircraft started on May 12, 2018 at the airfield of the Irkutsk Aviation Plant - a branch of PJSC Irkut Corporation. During flights from the factory airfield with a total duration of about 14 hours, the aircraft reached an altitude of 12,000 m, speed M=0.8, true speed of 850 km/h. The following works were performed within the framework of flight tests:

• characteristics of aircraft stability and controllability in various configurations of wing flaps with extended and retracted landing gear are confirmed;
• calibration of the system for measuring altitude and speed parameters for compliance with their real values in flight;
• various operating modes of the power plant were checked, including engine shutdown and starting in the air;
• serviceability of aircraft systems is checked.

Further tests of two experimental aircraft will MS-21-300 be carried out on the basis of the Flight Test and Finishing Complex (LiIDK) of JSC OKB named after A.S. Yakovlev.

To ensure testing operations, a new hangar was built in LiIDK, ground handling facilities were deployed, a high-performance complex for collecting, processing and analyzing flight information was created. New technologies for processing flight test results provide high information content of flights, in each of which the on-board measurement system allows recording more than 30,000 parameters.

Next Generation Digital Technologies in the MS-21 Program

An example of the use of new generation digital technologies in aircraft construction is the program for the creation of the Russian medium-range MS-21 aircraft, which is being conducted on the basis of the Irkut corporation in close cooperation with other UAC enterprises.

All participants of the MS-21 program work in a single information environment. A key component of this environment is the electronic layout of the airliner, which contains comprehensive information about the aircraft as a whole, its units, systems and equipment at all stages of the life cycle. The electronic layout is constantly detailed and evolving.

Program participants have real-time access to the electronic layout. Information is exchanged over high-speed communication channels.

Digital technologies allow you to more accurately and efficiently solve a wide range of design, production and operational tasks of the MS-21 program, during the production process they ensure high product quality and accurate docking of glider units.

During operation, data for each aircraft are recorded in the specialized information system. The interaction of the electronic layout and the information system allows you to monitor the state of each aircraft and predict its maintenance.

2017

After-sales aircraft service MS-21

Rostec will become the main operator of after-sales logistics services for the MS-21 main aircraft. The winner of the tender for the provision of relevant services was the aviation service center of the Technodinamika holding, which is part of the Corporation.

As part of the contract, the service center will provide control over the repair of aircraft products, the supply and exchange of failed equipment, as well as access for airlines to the components necessary for the operation of aircraft. To ensure uninterrupted maintenance of operators and operational turnover of products, Technodynamics storage facilities near Sheremetyevo Airport, as well as warehouses in other regions, will be used. Operators will have access to the client service service around the clock.

As part of the comprehensive logistics program, it is planned to service more than 400 aircraft within the first 10 years after the start of commercial operation of the MS-21, while the aviation service center will provide support during both warranty and post-warranty periods.

12 kilometers altitude and landing with one engine

The promising Russian passenger aircraft MS-21-300 during the test program was checked by take-off and landing with an imitation of the failure of one of the two engines. This is stated in the report of the Irkut corporation^[4]. The tests carried out made it possible to assess the characteristics of the aircraft and its controllability with one engine running.

During the development of a particular aircraft, he himself and his individual units and units undergo many stages of thorough checks and tests. This allows developers to get the most complete understanding of all the features of the aircraft and its operational characteristics.

In general, during the tests, the new passenger aircraft passed tests of the operability of the onboard systems, stability and controllability. Test pilots checked the liner in cruising, take-off and landing configurations. A system of strain gauges was installed on the MS-21-300, which make it possible to assess the distribution of dynamic loads on the airframe during flight.

Non-stop flight from Irkutsk to Zhukovsky

The MS-21-300 plane made a non-stop flight from Irkutsk to Zhukovsky

On October 17, 2017, the first experimental aircraft of the MS-21-300 flew from the airfield of the Irkutsk Aircraft Plant to the airport of LII named after M.M. Gromov "Ramenskoye," Zhukovsky, Moscow Region, to continue flight tests.

The plane covered a distance of about four and a half thousand kilometers without landing in 6 hours. The flight took place at an altitude of 10,000 meters.

The ship's commander, test pilot, Hero of Russia Oleg Kononenko noted: "The flight took place as usual. All systems were running smoothly. "

President of PJSC United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) and PJSC Irkut Corporation Yuri Slyusar said: "Today opens a new stage in the history of the creation of MS-21. Ahead is the continuation of flight and ground tests of the aircraft, the connection of new machines to this process, certification and deployment of serial production. The MS-21 program, along with Irkut, is attended by a number of enterprises of the United Aircraft Corporation, partners from Rostec and leading foreign companies. This program has brought our enterprises to a new technological level and ensured the professional growth of specialists. "

2010: Agreements signed for the supply of 140 aircraft

In July 2010, at the Farnborough 2010 international air show, Irkut Corporation signed contracts and agreements for the supply of 140 aircraft MS-21 Russian and foreign airlines.

Notes