Russian Civil Aviation: News #3

Rodion_Romanovic wrote:I believe that in case of war or other issues the VKS could have also tapped in using the An-124 currently at Volga  Dnepr. If those airplane would be sold to China, that would not be possible anymore.

This has wealth of data on PD-14 but pity it is in Russian.
Can any one help here ? Thank You

PapaDragon wrote:
Then they better start making them instead of whining about it

They can afford fleets of brand spanking new fighter jets, heavy bombers and transports but they can't afford dozen of old An-124s?

Russia’s advanced narrow-body MC-21 aircraft project has lived up to its maximum performance predictions during testing, the programme’s developer Irkut Corporation (part of United Aircraft Corporation, UAC) has announced in a progress report.

During flight tests, the platform’s base modification MC-21-300 model achieved its maximum performance targets of a 12,500-metre altitude, a true airspeed of 949 km/h (Mach 0.89) and a flight endurance of 6.2 hours.

These figures slightly exceed the listed capabilities of direct rivals such as the Airbus A320neo, which flies at an altitude not above 11,800 metres at a maximum speed of 876 km/h (Mach 0.82) and for the Boeing 737 MAX-8, whose comparable parameters are 12,300 metres and 925 km/h.

Depending on the selected cabin configuration, the MC-21-300 can carry between 165 and 211 passengers up to 6,000 kilometres. Its maximum take-off weight (MTOW) is 79,250 kilos. With a similar MTOW of 79,000 kilos, its European counterpart the A320neo takes between 150 and 180 passengers (in a double-class arrangement) over a distance of 6,300 kilometres. In a comparison similar to the MC-21, the Boeing 737MAX 8, with a seating capacity of 162-210 passengers and a 82,190-kilo MTOW, can cover a range of up to 6,570 kilometres.

The Russian aircraft’s tests regime has completed all flights at typical operational altitudes and within its normal flight envelope, confirming its systems’ functionality across a wide range of speeds and altitudes – and it has now also completed angle-of-attack limits and flutter tests.

The inflight engine and APU re-start functions have been successfully achieved, as well as take-offs and landings with simulated engine failure scenarios. Instrument landing capabilities have also been confirmed along with navigation and external lighting equipment capabilities during take-off in low visibility conditions. Minimum rotation speed tests have also been completed.

There are currently three MC-21-300 prototypes – powered by Pratt & Whitney PW1400G-JM engines – involved in the flight-test programme. A fourth prototype will join the tests programme before the end of 2019. Its systems are currently being assembled.

The order-book backlog for the MC-21 has not changed for several years and remains at 175 firm orders and 150 letters of intent.

The director of the Aviakor plant named the cost of resuscitation of the production of the An-140 aircraft

October 16, 2019 8:25 p.m.


The Samara plant began to develop the An-140 in 1998 on the basis of a license agreement with the Ukrainian state enterprise Antonov. An-140 is a regional aircraft with a high location of the wing. This allows you to operate it in unprepared airfields, including in areas of Siberia, the Far North and the Far East

In 2003, Aviakor created a joint venture with the Ukrainian company Inter-Ami Ltd, the “daughter” of the Kharkov aircraft factory, where the An-140 was produced. Another site for the construction of the aircraft was a plant in Isfahan (Iran). The Russian-Ukrainian joint venture International Aviation Project-140 (MAP-140) planned to sell approximately 200 aircraft in Russia and the same number abroad in 15 years. But in 2014, after the crisis in relations between Russia and Ukraine, the project stood up.


At that time, Aviakor was already categorically behind the production schedule of nine An-140s ordered by the Russian Ministry of Defense under a contract concluded in May 2011. In 2014, the production of the An-140 became even more problematic, and in 2015 the contract with the military department was broken due to force majeure. A year later, the director of Aviakor Aleksey Gusev became a defendant in the criminal case under the article “Abuse of authority that entailed grave consequences”. The damage from the shortage of five An-140 aircraft, the investigation estimated at 1.347 billion rubles.

Last week, Gusev was questioned in court, and he spoke in detail about the difficulties in communicating with Ukrainian counterparts, and also called the cost of a possible reanimation of the An-140 project. “If you solve the issue of import substitution of Ukrainian blocks and legal possession of documentation and produce an aircraft under a different brand name, not An, then aircraft production can be resumed and produced both on the Russian market and on the foreign market. Aviakor presented its calculations for the Russification of the An-140 aircraft, but the issue was not continued. From memory, we estimated the cost of Russification at less than 15 billion rubles. And the most important thing is to find the Russian design bureau as an alternative to the Antonov GP developer, ”the Aviakora CEO said in court. According to him, for the resuscitation of the project “the state program for the production of such an aircraft should be approved

Anatoly Sitnov(ex-chief of armaments of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (1994-2000)) wrote:
In the class of light transport aircraft, much has been done at the Kiev firm Antonov, and this experience is now being studied and is being put into service. I would like to wish to restore full-blown design bureaus. Because the scientific, technical and intellectual potential of the development companies, which is required when creating a modern aircraft, is immeasurably higher than our design bureaus have today, ”


(...) many aviation design bureaus, known from the Soviet era, are bloodless and unable to create new aircraft.
“We need to increase production at the Aviakor Samara plant, at the Voronezh, Kazan aircraft plants. These enterprises are associated with transport aviation, ”said Anatoly Sitnov. “We must have our own, not imported, vehicles in both the passenger class and the transport class.”
According to him, on the basis of new transport aircraft, it will be possible to create an Arctic version of the machines, as well as an option for operation in hot climates.

VEB.RF may finance the supply of 100 Sukhoi Superjet (SSJ) aircraft for leasing in the amount of about $ 4 billion, said Prime Minister and head of the supervisory board of the state corporation Dmitry Medvedev.

"Let's start with the aircraft industry. In accordance with my instructions, a draft proposal for the delivery of 100 Sukhoi Superjet aircraft for leasing is being submitted for consideration at today's meeting. They will be delivered within six years until 2026, the leasing term is 12 years. Financing is about $ 4 billion, a little less ", - he said at a meeting of the Supervisory Board on Wednesday.

According to the prime minister, this project is of national importance, aimed at developing the aircraft building industry and regional transportation.

In addition, the Supervisory Board will discuss at a meeting a number of VEB’s internal documents, including the development plan until 2021 of one of the commercial banks in which the state corporation is involved - the Belarusian BelVEB Bank (part of the VEB.RF group).

Flight tests continue The

new-generation narrow-body mid-range passenger aircraft MS-21-300, for which the PD-14 engine is intended, is already flying up from the airfield of the M.M. Flight Research Institute Gromova in Zhukovsky near Moscow. At present, Irkut Corporation PJSC (the developer and lead contractor of the liner program, which is being implemented by leading enterprises of the United Aircraft Corporation) continues to test the aircraft in order to obtain Russian and European type certificates. All three aircraft on which certification flights are performed, equipped with PW1400G engines manufactured by Pratt & Whitney (USA).

The PD-14 flies in the same place, in Zhukovsky, but so far separately from the MC-21-300: the motor mounted under the wing of the IL-76LL flying laboratory passes the third stage of flight tests. “The third phase of flights is underway, two engines have already been there, almost all altitudes have been checked. A very modern stand, two thousand parameters are dumped to the ground online. The engine flies in Zhukovsky, and here we are (in Perm -“ AviaPort ”) we can watch all the parameters, "said Alexander Inozemtsev, Managing Director and General Designer of UEC-Aviadvigatel JSC at a meeting with reporters in August.

Recall that in June the Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov, in an interview with Zvezda television channel, said that tests of the aircraft with a domestic engine will start in early 2020: PD-14 will be installed on the fifth MC-21-300 in a row. "Now the third car has joined the tests. Until the end of the year we will connect the fourth car to the tests. The PD-14 will be put on the first production, but at the same time on the fifth car by serial number. This work will begin at the beginning of next year. I mean the cycle tests from PD-14 to MS-21, "the head of the department assured.

In the future, customers of the MS-21-300 will be offered both engine options. A. Inozemtsev believes that, in the first place, the choice in favor of the PD-14 will be affected by the lower cost of the flight hour. “Everything will determine the cost of the flight hour. Airplanes, when we filled out the relevant documents with them, admitted that we beat Pratt & Whitney about 3-5%,” A. Inozemtsev stated.

There are no boundaries for perfection

The type certificate issued by the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) actually confirmed the readiness of the PD-14 for sale and operation in our country. “After almost a quarter century of inactivity, we were able to make the engine in ten years, our Western colleagues work in approximately the same way. The certificate is the first paper. This document allows the engine to be mass-produced, put on a plane and transport passengers,” said Inozemtsev.

During the implementation of the PD-14 program, critical technologies were developed and new materials were created, thanks to which the developer, in collaboration with other UEC enterprises and leading industry institutes, managed to catch up with Western fellow engine builders who began developing their motors 10 years earlier. “We haven’t done anything for 25 years, and the Americans were moving forward at that time. In order not to be inferior to Pratt & Whitney, we created and introduced new technologies and materials into production,” A. Inozemtsev emphasized, adding that complexity created 16 critical technologies and about two dozen new materials. So, for example, innovations touched one of the sites of the manufacturer: in preparation for the production of PD-14, the specialists of the ODK-PM foundry mastered the technology of thin-walled casting,

The developer claims that in terms of technical characteristics PD-14 is no worse than its foreign counterparts that are currently in operation, and surpasses them in a number of parameters (in terms of air emissions, noise, and so on). Nevertheless, work on its further improvement continues. In July, AviaPort reported that the Design Bureau sent to Rosaviatsia applications for major changes to the PD-14, necessary to improve the operational characteristics of the motor and increase its competitiveness. By that time, work had already been completed to replace the material of the typical design of the blades of the nozzle apparatus of the second stage of a high-pressure turbine. Also, Aviadvigatel specialists conducted additional lengthy tests of the PD-14 in redline mode (with the maximum allowable values ​​of the main parameters). In total, we are talking about eleven changes: five of them will be introduced this year, three next year, and five more - in 2021. “After the slightest changes, additions to the certificate are made. In other countries, work related to certification and validation of technical specifications usually ends when the last engine is written off,” the head of design bureau noted. “We have a three-year contract (to make changes - AviaPort” ), but the work will not end in 2021. The engine will be improved, we will begin to treat "childhood diseases". associated with the certification and validation of technical specifications, as a rule, end when the last engine is written off, ”the head of design bureau noted. - We have a three-year contract (for making changes - AviaPort), but the work will not end in 2021 either. The engine will be improved, we will begin to treat "childhood diseases." associated with the certification and validation of technical specifications, as a rule, end when the last engine is written off, ”the head of design bureau noted. - We have a three-year contract (for making changes - AviaPort), but the work will not end in 2021 either. The engine will be improved, we will begin to treat "childhood diseases."

Now UEC-Aviadvigatel continues to work on the validation of a certificate of type PD-14 by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). According to current plans, it will be completed next year. “There is such a thing - shadow certification. They (EASA representatives - AviaPort) sit here and look at all our materials. We agree with them in advance that we will not remodel, re-test, and they accept all our Russian materials. This is the validation of the Russian certificate, that is, we do not do any special tests, because we made sure that the entire scope of the work carried out was recognized not only by the EASA, but also by the American FAA (Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Aviation Administration of the USA - "Av Fetch "), - explains Alexander Inozemtsev.

Worldwide production

Almost all plants of the United Engine Corporation and other industrial enterprises of the Russian Federation take part in broad cooperation under the PD-14 program. So, for example, the Perm enterprise JSC "ODK-STAR" developed and launched the release of an automatic control system (ACS), which has improved reliability indicators and can work without a hydromechanical reserve (electronics is responsible for all engine operation modes - from start to stop). Only modern Russian components and components are used in the design of self-propelled guns. PJSC "UEC-Ufa Engine-Building Production Association" (UEC-UMPO) is assigned the production of more than 30% of parts and assembly units of the PD-14 engine. In particular, The plant's area of ​​responsibility includes the manufacture of hollow titanium fan blades (such blades were not previously made in Russia), a high-pressure compressor rotor, a separation housing, castings for the drive assembly housing, a central drive and a shaft shaft, as well as the development of design documentation and the manufacture of a low turbine module pressure with a back support. In addition, PJSC UEC-Saturn, Salyut Industrial Complex UEC UEC, Metallist-Samara AO, Obninsk Scientific and Production Enterprise Technologiya named after A take part in the supply of parts and assemblies PD-14 .G. Romashina ", PJSC" Voronezh Joint-Stock Aircraft Engineering Company ", Perm Plant" Mashinostroitel "JSC and other industrial enterprises.

Earlier, UEC did not create engines in such a broad cooperation, so now enterprises are trying to come to common standards, are establishing interaction with each other. "If the level of localization of the production of PS-90 engines (at the OEC-PM - AviaPort site) is 70-80%, then in the PD-14 we only do about 40-45% on our own," said the managing director of JSC UEC-Perm Motors "Sergey Popov. - Cooperation management has acquired a semantic load. Enterprises that participate in cooperation are used to working according to slightly different standards. But in preparation for mass production of PD-14, we are developing relationships that align our standards. We try so that all enterprises were at the level that we and EASA set. "

The entire assembly cycle of PD-14 is carried out on the site of the ODK-PM plant - in workshop No. 53, where the PS-90 engine and its modifications are also assembled (installed on Tu-204, Tu-214, Il-76 and Il-96 aircraft ) The workshop is divided into two parts: PS-90 assembly sections are located on the right side, and PD-14 assembly sections are on the left. The production process is built according to the flow diagram, starting from the assembly of units and ending with the final assembly of the engine, its inspection and registration for testing. For convenience, PD-14 tooling is indicated in bright orange. Due to new technologies, including the manufacture of modules (low-pressure turbine, separation casing, and others), the labor intensity of the assembly in comparison with the PS-90 was reduced by half. When manufacturing a new motor, UEC-PM uses modern digital technologies. There are both mobile and stationary stations with monitors in the workshop, and the installed software allows the assembler to receive all the engine information online, including information about ongoing improvements and upcoming tests. According to the head of the workshop, Ivan Bogdanov, 362 people are working on the assembly of engines here today. Most sections of the workshop work in two shifts five days a week, with the exception of section No. 6 (a total of 60 people work in this section in three shifts). Each collector, as a rule, is assigned to perform a certain operation. “There are people who can do everything, but there are few of them,” said I. Bogdanov. including information on ongoing improvements and upcoming tests. According to the head of the workshop, Ivan Bogdanov, 362 people are working on the assembly of engines here today. Most sections of the workshop work in two shifts five days a week, with the exception of section No. 6 (a total of 60 people work in this section in three shifts). Each collector, as a rule, is assigned to perform a certain operation. “There are people who can do everything, but there are few of them,” said I. Bogdanov. including information on ongoing improvements and upcoming tests. According to the head of the workshop, Ivan Bogdanov, 362 people are working on the assembly of engines here today. Most sections of the workshop work in two shifts five days a week, with the exception of section No. 6 (a total of 60 people work in this section in three shifts). Each collector, as a rule, is assigned to perform a certain operation. “There are people who can do everything, but there are few of them,” said I. Bogdanov. performance of a certain operation is fixed. “There are people who can do everything, but there are few of them,” said I. Bogdanov. performance of a certain operation is fixed. “There are people who can do everything, but there are few of them,” said I. Bogdanov.

After assembly, all engines pass a performance test at the ODK-PM suburban testing station (ZIS) in the village of Novye Lyady (Perm Territory). Reconstruction of test bench No. 1 was completed in December 2017. As part of this project, not only the stand itself was completely reconstructed, but also two halls for preparing engines for testing. The total investment in the project over three years amounted to about 1 billion rubles. Today this stand is the most modern in Russia. Thanks to the adapter technology, it is possible to test different types of engines on it (now ZIS has adapters for PD-14 and PS-90A). “A relatively inexpensive product - an adapter - allows you to test different types of engines on an expensive stand. The second advantage is that all the routine preparatory and final operations are taken to the training room. If at stands Nos. 3 and 4 the preparation of the PS-90A engine takes about 9 hours, then at this stand it takes only 30 minutes. After preparation, the engine moves to the test box, in just a few minutes it connects to the stand at the expense of the quick disconnect connection board, and immediately after that you can start the test process, "explained Nikolai Andreev, Director of Infrastructure Engineering Department of UEC-PM. - The serial stand removes about 200 parameters, but the system allows you to take up to 2000 parameters. Of course, this is not an experienced stand, but, nevertheless, there is such an opportunity. "

In the future, UEC plans to produce up to 50 PD-14 aircraft engines per year. According to S. Popov, the ODK-PM plant expects to reach its design capacity by 2025. At the moment, the capacities of workshop No. 53 allow assembly of only 12 PD-14 engines per year (for comparison, the capacity of the PS-90 assembly site is seven engines per month). While the assembly of one PD-14 takes from 14 to 22 days, depending on complexity. However, a small remark needs to be made here: while all motors are being assembled, partially disassembled and reassembled before shipment to the customer. Therefore, after the transition to a one-time assembly, which will become possible with the beginning of the commercial operation of engines, the throughput will immediately almost double. At the same time, several projects are already being implemented at UEC-PM which will allow to further increase the pace of production in accordance with the needs of customers. In particular, they suggest the allocation of additional space and the purchase of new equipment for the planned increase in throughput. Part of the equipment has already been purchased and installed in the shops of the plant.

Since the start of production development of PD-14, "ODK-PM" together with "ODK-Aviadvigatel" assembled 16 motors. The first 13 of them were intended solely for conducting internal "experiments." These motors have passed a large number of natural tests, including the throwing of birds and ice. Three more engines (Nos. 14, 15 and 16) were assembled by order of Irkut for testing as part of MS-21-300, while they remain in Perm for safekeeping. As of August 2019, motor No. 14, which will be mounted on the left wing of the MC-21-300, was located in the ODK-PM assembly shop, its understudy (No. 15) was on the ZIS, and No. 16 was in the Aviadvigatel ( was installed on an open test stand KB). In addition, last month the manufacturing plant began assembling two more engines for Irkut (Nos. 17 and 18): this work is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2020. The first serial engine will be engine number 19, its assembly will begin next year. “This engine will no longer be supplied to Irkut’s flying laboratories, it will be used for aircraft manufacturing. We must begin assembling this engine next year,” S. Popov said.

In parallel with the work of the Design Bureau to validate the type certificate in EASA, the ODK-PM plant is engaged in certification of PD-14 production according to European standards. At the recent International Aviation and Space Salon MAKS-2019, S. Popov told reporters that the Perm company plans to receive a certificate next year. “In 2017, we applied and for the whole of 2018 we prepared a package of documents for EASA, made a description of the organization, formed documents according to their requirements, translated everything into English. The first audit was held in March this year, the second audit will be held in October-November 2019 “The task that we set for ourselves is to obtain an EASA certificate by the end of 2020,” said the head of UEC-PM.

Everything for the convenience of operators

One of the main objectives of the PD-14 program, which will be phased in the next few years, is to create a high-quality, efficient, and most convenient for customers after-sales service (PPO) system. As AviaPort has already written, UEC will offer operators a comprehensive solution for the supply of a new engine, taking into account the life cycle cost, including software. The corporation previously noted that the modular design of the engine in conjunction with a digital automatic control system, an integrated diagnostic system and the organization of a software system will ensure the successful application of the concept of engine operation in technical condition.

Extensive work on the formation of a software system is already in full swing at once in several directions. To date, a "technical kit" for Irkut has actually been formed, it will include spare parts that may be needed by the corporation at the first stage of operation. “Already there is an understanding of what details will be in demand in the initial period, at the moment this“ technical kit ”is being filled,” S. Popov commented.

At the same time, UEC is negotiating with partners and potential operators. At this stage, issues of creating a pool of replacement engines, which will be managed by the parent company, as well as launching repair shops and training personnel, are discussed. “First of all, in terms of developing the software system, we are working with partners who can support us in this project. We have already met with representatives of S7 Technics and discussed the possibility of their participation in the software PD-14. They have certain capacities at Domodedovo, and their employees already have experience with CFM56 engines (installed on Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 aircraft, AviaPort). This is what we are doing in the field, ”S. Popov said.“ A detailed manual is being developed inside the plants operation, release of technical publications, which will allow changing modules and replacing parts. It will be impossible to do without it after 2022, when the serial operation of the aircraft with the PD-14 engine will begin. ”

The UEC intends to create several centers where the PD-14 engines of various degrees of complexity will be repaired. It is expected that they will be located close to future operators, which will minimize possible downtime. Most likely, the modular repair shop will appear first in the Moscow region, from where the majority of potential customers make flights. “We understand 90% that this will be a Moscow hub, but at Sheremetyevo or Domodedovo it’s not so fundamental. The list of start-up operators is approximately clear: Aeroflot, Red Wings, IrAero had a desire to participate. Also it is necessary to agree who will do the boroscopy, whether it is necessary to train personnel (airlines - “AviaPort”) in replacing the fan blades after bird contact. These are the nuances that are being spoken to with the operators right now, ”S. Popov commented. - The operator should not feel any inconvenience. By the beginning of operation, that is, by 2022, all these elements should be ready. "He added that a large overhaul workshop will appear a little later, the UEC expects to implement this project by 2023-2025.

Finally, for the convenience of customers, UEC plans to launch a special portal where all the necessary information about motors will be presented. “Now the parent company is developing common standards that we can use not only for PD-14, but also other UEC products, including military engines. Creating a portal is a complex work of the parent company, design bureau, UEC-PM and others cooperation enterprises. By combining our efforts, we must create an interface that will allow customers and operators to obtain the information they need both about the condition of the engines being used and about existing commercial offers, "commented S. Popov.

Of course, the organization of an effective software system, including the initial filling of spare parts warehouses and the creation of a pool of replacement engines, requires large financial investments, so the UEC cannot do without state assistance. In August, at a meeting with media representatives, S. Popov noted that the relevant applications for state financing had already been submitted to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and so far it was allotting about 36 billion rubles in the period until 2030. The final amount of public investment, divided into several stages, will vary slightly depending on the number of engines used. "There is a certain constant - the organization of repair production, the creation of a network of field representatives, an information system, but a certain part of the investments that will be required to fill the reserve pool, will depend on the fleet of aircraft flying with UEC motors, ”S. Popov explained. “I expect this funding to begin next year.”

Looking to the future

In conclusion, we add that in the future KB Aviadvigatel plans to develop several modifications of the PD-14. "For a heavier aircraft, MS-21-400, we plan to make a forced engine, which will be called PD-14M. We will also work on a deformed PD-14 with a thrust of 10 tons for a near-medium-haul aircraft," - shared the plans of A. Inozemtsev .

A family of industrial gas turbine plants will definitely be created on the basis of the PD-14 gas generator - UEC announced this in December 2018. At that time, the corporation’s press service reported that as part of a cooperation program with Gazprom PJSC, designed until 2030, UEC is going to implement a project to develop a family of gas turbine units (GTU) for industrial purposes with a capacity of 6-8 and 12-16 MW. The head of the design bureau confirmed that work on designing a gas turbine with a capacity of 12 MW in the interests of the energy company has already begun.

In addition, the scientific and technical backlog obtained during the creation of the PD-14 will be used in the development of the promising PD-35 large thrust engine. This motor will be installed on wide-body civilian airliners and transport aircraft. It is possible that the Russian-Chinese wide-body CR929 aircraft being created now will also be equipped with this engine (a joint project of the United Aircraft Corporation and Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, mass production should be launched by 2025-2027). The engine demonstrator of PD-35 technologies will be created in 2023, and it will be able to start mass production of ODK-PM in 2028.

Thirteen years after it was abandoned, Polar Airlines and the Ural Civil Aviation Plant (UZGA) brought back the L-610 to life with an order for 10 of the regional aircraft, to be delivered between 2023 and 2025.

The development of the 40-seater L-610 started in 1985 at Let Kunovice Aircraft Industries in former Czechoslovakia. The Czech plane maker wanted to develop a bigger successor to its popular L-410. The latter had encountered quite a lot of success during the Soviet era, both as a civilian regional plane and a military reconnaissance aircraft and is in fact still operated by multiple airlines and air forces around the world. With a capacity of 19 passengers, the L-410 is competing with the likes of the Canadian Twin Otter.

Its successor, however, did not meet the same fate. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Let tried to adapt its new airplane to the global market by westernizing its avionics. Eight prototypes were made and the aircraft achieved its maiden flight on December 18, 1992. But due to a lack of funding, the program was eventually abandoned in 2006 and Let went on to focus on the L-410 and on gliders.

In 2008, 51% of Let's shares were acquired by the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company (UGMK), with the prospect of developing the market of Russian regional aircraft. In 2018, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Oleg Bocharov announced the decision of acquiring the documentation for the L-610 in order to continue its development.

While the development of the new L-610 is carried out on the basis of the existing scientific and technical work, it should differ from the original prototype. “The maximum take-off mass, cargo capacity, flight range and speed of the aircraft will increase, moreover, even the fuselage of the aircraft will be presented in a more modern design,” claims the director-general of UZGA Vadim Badeha. The type certificate is expected for 2023, with mass production commencing the same year.

Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov told Vedomosti that the project should reinforce international cooperation through a partnership with Kazakhstan and the Czech Republic.

With 10 aircraft ordered at the MAKS 2019 air show, the L-610 should replace the An-24 and An-26 within Russian Polar Airlines’ fleet, according to Semen Vinokurov, Director General of the airline. The partially state-owned regional carrier, subsidiary of Yakutia Airlines, already operates three L-410s.

Insight: The dominance of western-built aircraft in Russia looks set to continue
Posted on October 29th, 2019

Last year only 6.4 per cent of the combined total number of passengers carried by all of country’s airlines travelled aboard Russian-made aircraft (Alexander Listopad)

The Russian airline industry’s widespread reliance on western-built aircraft now exceeds 90 per cent, according to analysis undertaken by Russian Aviation Insider’s sister publication ATO.ru. Furthermore, the research also shows that the dominant share of foreign-made aircraft in Russia’s collective fleet is likely to increase.

kvs wrote:

Austin wrote:Does any one know answer to this question , kvs ?

https://twitter.com/caetuscap/status/1186291394828263424

The only difference is that the ATR72 can sit closer to the ground.   Aerodynamically there is not much difference.   For some reason
Bombardier builds high wing turboprops and low wing regional jets.   Scaling a low wing jet with the jet engines replaced by propeller
engines is perfectly fine.  

If you go back to the 1930s there was mix of high wing and low wing designs and all of them were propeller driven.  

The Ural Civil Aviation Plant continues to localize the serial production of L-410UVP-E20 light multi-purpose turboprop aircraft in Russia. The most important areas of Russification of a popular Czech car, in addition to actually mastering the assembly at the plant in Yekaterinburg, are its remotorization using the currently created domestic VK-800C turboprop engine, import substitution of a number of onboard equipment systems, and the development of new chassis options for it - ski , float and cross-country ability (with larger diameter wheels). At the MAKS-2019 airshow, one can see some practical results of these works: next to the demonstration aircraft L-410UVP-E20, which also uses a Czech-made machine (factory number 2906, released in 2013), All three new chassis types designed and manufactured in Russia for the L ‑ 410 are shown. In addition, a prototype VK-800S engine was installed in the right engine nacelle of this demonstrator.

Specialists of TsAGI, OSKBES MAI and one of the Taganrog companies took part in the design and manufacture of the float chassis for the L-410. TsAGI hydrodynamics performed the necessary calculations and accompanied the development and testing process. The fiberglass floats themselves were designed in Taganrog, and their manufacture, as well as the development and production of their attachment systems to the aircraft, were carried out at OSKBES MAI.

For installation on floats, the L-410UVP-E20 with serial number 3101, built in 2016, was selected. Its flight tests have been carried out since August 2018 on the Volga near the Volzhanka airfield in the Tver region. Last September, the float “Elka” was publicly displayed at the “Hydroaviasalon-2018”, where it arrived from Volzhanka, landing in the waters of the Gelendzhik Bay. According to UZGA, the L-410UVP-E20 can fly on a float chassis from a water surface with waves up to 2 points and a wave height of up to 0.5 m. In June, this “Elka” on a float became a member of the Army-2019 forum. The UZGA says that the L-410 has already been tested on skis and tests have begun with wheels of larger diameter (an all-terrain chassis, which is carried out in fixed gear).

New domestic VK-800S turboprop engines for the L-410UVP-E20 are developed by a separate unit of the UZGA in St. Petersburg on the basis of the gas generator of the VK-800V helicopter engine created by OEC-Klimov JSC. Bench testing of the engine has already begun, and in the near future it is planned to begin flight tests of the VK-800C at the flying laboratory. After certification, the VK-800C will be launched into serial production at UZGA in cooperation with a number of other industry enterprises and will be able to be installed on the serial L-410UVP-E20, replacing the GE Aviation Czech engines M601 and H80 currently used on them.

Since last year, the long-announced assembly of L-410UVP-E20 aircraft from glider components manufactured by the Aircraft Industries factory in the Czech city of Kunovice (this company is 100% owned by the Russian Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company) has also been deployed at UZGA. The first set of airframe assemblies (fuselage, wing consoles, plumage) arrived by road from the Czech Republic to Yekaterinburg in the spring of 2018, and so far the first Russian L-410UVP-E20 is completely ready. According to Czech sources, in April of this year, the sixth set of units was delivered to UZGA, and the seventh in July. So soon the L-410UVP-E20, fully assembled in our country, will begin to arrive at Russian customers.

Meanwhile, UZGA continues to supply such aircraft manufactured in the Czech Republic for domestic airlines, but which have been customized and received a number of domestic airborne systems already in Yekaterinburg. So, in December 2017, the Siberian Light Aviation (CILA) airline received two L-410UVP-E20s; in February 2018, two aircraft were ready for the 2nd Arkhangelsk Combined Squadron and one for Khabarovsk airlines ". At the end of last year, five L-410UVP-E20s were immediately handed over to SKOL Airlines. Deliveries of L-410UVP-E20 to Russian carriers are provided by the State Transport Leasing Company (GTLK).