Russia’s aviation industry was one of the first to suffer from Western sanctions, but this could also be the impetus for complete (or at least maximum) import substitution in the industry. According to Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, in two or three years the domestic MS-21 aircraft will be produced entirely from Russian components.
“In December of the last year the airliner with the domestic composite wing took off for the first time. And within two – three years the aviation industry plans to complete the work on full import substitution of units and aggregates of this machine [самолета МС-21]. More than 60 billion rubles have already been allocated for such purposes,” Mishustin said.
Earlier, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said that the Russian MS-21 aircraft will be able to be mass-produced only with a domestic PD-14 engine. The first MS-21 aircraft were made with Pratt & Whitney engines.
According to the prime minister, the most important thing in the industry is technological independence. “The most important thing for this industry is to achieve technological independence from foreign materials and components. This removes critical risks. It protects including from unfair actions of our competitors such as trade restrictions for the supply, as you remember, of composite materials for the wing of the Russian aircraft MS-21. Our industry has already mastered their production”, – Mikhail Mishustin said.
As a reminder, earlier the United Aircraft Corporation announced a plan to bring the MS-21 to 36 units per year by 2025, and then to double that number. It is also planned to increase the production of SSJ-100 aircraft