US Sanctions Halt Composite Material Supply to Russian MC-21 Airliner

Russia has appealed against a US decision to impose sanctions against Aerocomposit, a company tasked with making wings made from lightweight composite material for its MC-21-300 airliner project which is currently undergoing prototype testing.

Earlier Kommersant business daily wrote that the deliveries of materials for MC-21’s composite wings from the United States and Japan were halted due to the US sanctions against Aerocomposit. UAC and Rostec are considering several options of tackling the issue, one of them is to abandon composites and swap them out with metal.

The United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) has not abandoned and has no plans to abandon the use of composite materials for creation of wings of the MC-21 passenger jet, TASS quoted an unnamed source as saying on Thursday.

"No one has rejected and has no plans to reject the use of composites for creation of the MC-21 jet’s wing," the source said.

"After Aerocomposit was put on the sanctions list, we initiated an appeal procedure on that decision. Such decisions mean the use of sanctions rhetoric in a competitive struggle in high-tech sectors," the source added.

"It is no secret that an absolutely civil company Aerocomposit that on no account is connected with the military-industrial complex, was put on the US sanctions list earlier. Another strong player having emerged in a high-margin niche of medium-range aircrafts with a brand-new product must be raising concerns among global players," the company’s press service noted.