Russia successfully flies its first fully domestic Sukhoi Superjet SJ-100

The fully Russian-made Sukhoi Superjet SJ-100 manufactured by PJSC Yakovlev in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, went for its maiden flight, representatives for the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation said.

The aircraft showed the stable operation of all domestically-made systems. The controllability and stability of the aircraft in the air were confirmed as well.

Test pilots Leonid Chikunov and Dmitry Demenev piloted the aircraft. Test engineer Denis Velizhanin was on board as well.

The flight duration amounted to 54 minutes. It was conducted at an altitude of nearly 3,000 meters. The speed of the aircraft reached 343 km/h. The crew checked the stability of the aircraft in the air according to the flight task and performed "landing on the cloud" manoeuvre and missed approach operation.

When building the aircraft, Russian specialists had to substitute as many as 40 systems and units made in other countries.

"Russian developers and manufacturers managed to implement their own design solutions and technologies, including avionics, landing gear, auxiliary power unit, integrated control system, as well as power supply systems, air conditioning, fire protection and many others,” said Denis Manturov, the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) Director General Yuri Slyusar noted that the launch of the airliner demonstrated Russia's technological independence. The new Suprjet will be certified in its new Russian form before it can be supplied to airlines.

It took engineers four years to develop the aircraft from sketches to the first flight. This is a very short period of time, especially if compared with the creation time of such aircraft as A320neo and Boeing 737max.

The press service of the Ministry of Industry and Trade added that the first prototype of the aircraft used Franco-Russian SaM146 engines in order to speed up the test period. The second prototype will be equipped with domestic PD-8 engines that are currently being tested as part of the Ilyushin Il-76LL flying laboratory.

In the summer of 2022, the Russian government approved a comprehensive program for the development of the air transport industry until 2030. During this time, over 1,000 aircraft will be produced in Russia, including Superjet New, MS-21, Tu-214, Il-114-300, Baikal and Ladoga.