The most genuine Russian aircraft

Russia has decided to make the Sukhoi Superjet 100 passenger plane 95 percent domestic and national, proving its promise that inventions are born out of necessity.

Ground tests of the aircraft, which will use newly produced PD-8 jet engines instead of the Powerjet SaM146 jet engines, which were produced jointly with French engine manufacturer Safran, are expected to begin next year.

The Russian Defense Technology Corporation, Rostec, which produces the aircraft, stated that they aim to sell the aircraft, which will be refurbished with domestic parts, at a lower price in the market. It is expected that the name of the localized Superjet will be replaced by a Russian name.

The SSJ-100 aircraft project was the Russian passenger aircraft project, which Russia started with European and American engine manufacturers and aircraft system manufacturers, using western aircraft systems, to be produced in Russia at western standards and sold to the whole world.

Unfortunately, things did not go as expected. The project, which started and progressed when Russia and the USA were on good terms, later encountered the problem of the western manufacturers withdrawing their support for the project, with the USA's trade embargo to Russia. The orders placed for the aircraft also did not reach the expected level due to the high maintenance and operating costs.

The Sukhoi Superjet aircraft, which made its first flight on May 19, 2008, has sold around 300 aircraft until today. Today, operators in Russia mostly use the aircraft. The aircraft flies on Rossiya Russian Airlines, Russian flag carrier Aeroflot Airlines, Azimuth Airlines, Red Wings, and Yamal Airlines. Rostec aims to obtain the type certificate of the new domestic and national Russian aircraft in 2023 and to deliver the first aircraft to the customer in 2024.

The head of Rostec said that the interior of the plane will also be made by Russian companies. President Chemezov stated that they even purchased the cabin interior from the USA and the United Kingdom, although there were no capability problems regarding making the cabin interior of the aircraft in Russia, and emphasized that from now on, customers will be able to purchase a real Russian aircraft, including the materials used.