First Prototype of Russian Superjet NEW Airliner Revealed at Sukhoi Plant

A prototype of Russia's all-new Superjet-100 aircraft- called Superjet NEW - assembled with import substituting indigenously-made compenents, was revealed at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur plant of United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) on Friday.

The Superjet-100 is Russia's most successful civil aircraft project with exports to Mexico's Interjet and Irish carrier Cityjet. Some 197 units have been delivered so far to Russian and foreign customers.

The prototype was unveiled to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov during his visit to the Komsomolsk-on-Amur plant. The Deputy Prime Minister was shown the production of the first prototype Superjet NEW aircraft - which is an import-substituting version of the Superjet 100, according to a UAC statement.

Andrey Boginsky, Deputy General Director of the UAC for Civil Aviation - described what is being done in preparation of serial production of a "Russified" modification of the aircraft. A pool of suppliers of Russian components has been formed. The plant has begun reconstruction of the production complex to create a straight-line assembly line for the Superjet NEW.

Another task is to ensure the efficient and safe operation of the current fleet of Superjet 100 aircraft. Today, Russian airlines operate about 150 aircraft of this type, and spare parts warehouses have been created, including a pool of replacement engines.
Completion of the certification of the MC-21 (MS-21) aircraft with a domestic engine and the Superjet NEW aircraft with the replacement of imported systems and components with Russian ones is planned before the end of 2023 in order to reach serial deliveries by the beginning of 2024.

“The production of the Superjet NEW will be consistently increased with the production of at least 20 aircraft annually in the coming years,” said Yuri Borisov. - The main area of ​​work under the MC-21 program is flight testing of the MC-21-310 aircraft equipped with Russian PD-14 engines. Testing is going on intensely."

MC-21 with foreign engines received a type certificate in December 2021. Currently, intensive work is underway in a Russified form, more than 80 imported systems and units are to be replaced.