What is the promising Aurus aircraft from Gazprom?

February 13 2024 25

Curious news came from Tatarstan. By According to well-known regional publication BUSINESS Online, the state corporation Gazprom may revive the production of the regional airliner Tu-324 under the Aurus brand. Yes, this is not a typo - we are talking about an aircraft construction project not of the UAC, but of our “national treasure”.

As you know, after the introduction of sectoral Western sanctions, our officials were surprised to discover that Soviet-designed airliners were also nothing, and therefore it was decided to increase production volumes of the short-haul Il-114-300, medium-haul Tu-214 and long-haul Il-96 in addition to “ to our everything” represented by the modern Russian “Superjet” and MS-21.

Why then did you need to remember about some Tu-324, and not even the specialized UAC, but Gazprom?

Money to the wind

The history of the appearance of this short-haul airliner is notable for the fact that Tatarstan itself became the initiator of the development of the Tu-324 (Tu-414). In the dashing nineties, President Yeltsin told the staff of KAPO named after Gorbunov (now the Kazan Aircraft Plant, or KAZ) that he would not purchase Tu-22M3 and Tu-160 bombers from him, thereby calling into question its existence.

In order to preserve the unique plant capable of producing strategic missile carriers, its management conducted a study that showed which aircraft would be most in demand in the country in the coming decades. It turned out that regional airliners would be needed to replace the Yak-40 and Tu-134, which were exhausting their service life. Then the head of the Republic of Tatarstan Shaimiev lobbied for the adoption in 1996 of a resolution of the Russian government, which ensured the start of work on a regional airliner with a capacity of about 50 passengers, called Tu-324.

This project is notable for the fact that it, and not the Superjet, became the first aircraft in modern Russia designed digitally. Software for it was purchased abroad, and specialists were trained in Germany to work with it. A whole family of aircraft was developed from three models at once: a basic version with a flight range of 2,5 thousand kilometers and a capacity of 52 passengers, a VIP version with a range of up to 7 thousand and a capacity of only 19 people, and an extended one, with a more powerful engine and an increased wing area, for 72 passengers, with a range of up to 3,5 thousand kilometers.

It would seem that here it is, a short-haul aircraft with a capacity of up to 75 passengers, with a two-member crew, the most popular in its class! This is the niche that the Superjet 75 should have occupied, had it been originally designed as such. Why didn't things work out with the Tu-324?

I remember back in 2016, President Putin called for the creation of a domestic regional aircraft, necessary for connectivity with Siberia and the Far East. To this, the then Minister of Industry and Trade Manturov said that three turboprop aircraft were being considered - the domestic Il-114, the Ukrainian An-140 and the Chinese MA-700, as well as the turbojet Tu-324:

We did not put it into further work, due to the fact that we devoted all the main resources to the MS-21 aircraft. This aircraft remained in development with us. It is supposed to use a jet engine, it is a 50-seater vehicle, it can also be used for administrative transportation.

How and why the medium-range MS-21 “ate” the short-range Tu-324 remains a mystery. It’s interesting why they decided to return to this project in our difficult times.

Tatar Aurus

The most unusual thing in this whole story is that it is not a specialized state corporation that is undertaking to revive the production of the Tu-324, but a gas monopolist, which is even creating its own design bureau for this purpose. And it's not a joke. The project is being carried out by Gazprom's subsidiary, Gazprom Tech LLC, established in 2023 in St. Petersburg. Its statutory objectives are “consolidation of high-tech assets in the field of shipbuilding, aviation and automotive industries, as well as radio electronics, space and other activities.”

Last year, it acquired Aurus-Aero LLC, established by the investment and venture fund of Tatarstan and a subsidiary of UAC, whose main activity is the production of helicopters, airplanes and other aircraft. According to the BUSINESS Online publication, the project of a short-haul airliner based on the Tu-324 will be worked on by a creative team that was previously involved in the development of the joint Russian-Chinese wide-body CR929, which “flew” from the Russian Federation to China and received a new name there: COMAC Wide-Body.

Based on the Tu-324, it is planned to create a specialized business jet under the luxury Aurus brand. The command for semi-state investments to go into this industry was allegedly given to the Gazprom management from “the very top.” And this is very encouraging. Taking into account the fact that the Tu-324 was quite well developed, the newly-minted design bureau will only have to resolve the issue with the engines.

Let us recall that it was initially planned to use the Ukrainian AI-22 engine, produced in Zaporozhye, for the aircraft. The domestic PD-8 will be overpowered for the airliner, but the AI-222-25 seems to have not only been put into production, but also significantly improved and modernized.

Information

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Vladimir Tuzakov

+7

13 February 2024 12: 30

How and why the medium-range MS-21 “ate” the short-range Tu-324 remains a mystery.

The answer is clear: corruption and cutting always win in the Russian Federation. No matter how much money they spend on the MS-21, during this time the Tu-324 and others would have been mass-produced long ago. Conclusion: when the state is mired in corruption and nepotism, then the process of embezzlement becomes most important and the results are delayed for decades. How can one not recall a convincing example, the latest scandal with the withdrawal of 59 civilian aircraft from the Russian Federation immediately after the start of the Northern Military District, where corruption is higher than the interests of the state.
1. Nelton
  
  +3
  
  13 February 2024 17: 45
  
  Quote: Vladimir Tuzakov
  How much money is spent on MS-21 during this time?
  
  The MS-21 has a twin project, the Chinese COMAC-c919.
  Start of development:
  
  MS-21 2007
  COMAC-c919 2008
  
  rolling out
  MS-21 2016
  COMAC-c919 2015
  
  first flight
  MS-21 2017
  COMAC-c919 2017
  
  produced to date
  MS-21 8 units
  COMAC-c919 10 units.
  
  So, as we see, “during this time” the great mighty China formally mastered about the same amount.
  
  But COMAC-c919 has an ordinary aluminum fuselage and wings, while MC-21 has composite ones.
  And in the midst of the program, we are banned from supplying composite carbon fiber, and we need to create our own technology for its production, test parts obtained from it in a new way, and create our own robot for laying composites in the wing.
  The Chinese are 90% full of imports, the MS-21 is switching to almost 100% localization, including engines, and the MS-21-310 with Russian engines is flying in full swing according to the certification plan, and the Chinese don’t even stutter about their engines.
  
  As for the Tu-324, the question is again about the engines.
  The AI-222-25 is mass-produced for the Yak-130 combat training aircraft.
  It's good that there is a serial engine. But the questions are what is going on with the economics of those engines - fuel consumption, maintenance costs, service life. Perhaps this is why there is only a VIP version, where the racing will not be too intense.
  1. Nikolay Volkov
    
    0
    
    14 February 2024 06: 24
    
    one clarification: China was not a great aircraft manufacturing power and in fact these were its first attempts to build something...
    
    Maybe in some other industry we can compare Russia and China? in a car building? maybe in household appliances?
    
    Or did the Polovtsians and Pechenegs let us down again? Isn’t there anything said in Bogdan Khmelnitsky’s letters?
    1. Nelton
      
      +2
      
      14 February 2024 09: 25
      
      Quote: Nikolai Volkov
      These are his first attempts to build something...
      
      Not the first.
      There is also an analogue of our ssj-100.
      Comac Arj21, project started in 2002, first flight in 2008, 125 produced so far.
      
      There is serial production of Airbuses.
      
      There is a guaranteed domestic market for 400 aircraft per year (Russia has 40).
      
      Quote: Nikolai Volkov
      in a car building?
      
      China’s successes in the auto industry and other industries (where was the Chinese auto industry in the 2000s?), in mastering a variety of components, show that they cannot be accused of delaying deadlines or inability to master something new.
      
      And since 2002, they have had enough time/resources/incentives, but the results are modest. Even with imported engines and components.
  2. vlad127490
    
    0
    
    15 February 2024 00: 12
    
    The production of Russian aircraft is a strategic goal of the Russian Federation and it is not correct to discuss how much kerosene an aircraft will consume. Let the Russian government pay for kerosene. If someone is chasing kerosene savings for the sake of ruining the development of their aviation, then let them take a horse, it eats hay and doesn’t need kerosene.
2. Nikolay Volkov
  
  +3
  
  14 February 2024 06: 30
  
  there is not only corruption and cutting... but also a consequence of the collapse of the country in the hope of making friends with the West...
  
  Well, the West, as usual, “tricked us by the nose” and then “cheated”...
3. etoyavsemprivet
  
  +1
  
  14 February 2024 07: 07
  
  “Our everything” needs engines. Everything else is secondary. All efforts and funding go there. Engines will fly and boards near the barn))).
  1. Just a cat
    
    -1
    
    15 February 2024 09: 42
    
    Well, Boeing has engines, so what? They are inclusive. they hire blacks and the mentally retarded and as a result the doors fall off mid-flight.
4. Homeless
  
  -1
  
  14 February 2024 20: 07
  
  Don’t tar all the government, there are decent statists.
5. Just a cat
  
  +1
  
  15 February 2024 09: 31
  
  corruption and sawing where a Ukrainian with a rough tongue seized power... as in the Kalashnikov concern, a Ukrainian in power was removed and growth began...
vlad127490

+3

13 February 2024 12: 41

Thank you to Kazan for defending Russia’s national interests. Let's hope that everything will work out with the Tu-324. The author would like the information. development of the Tu-324 project was monitored and was more complete.
Scharnhorst

0

13 February 2024 12: 52

Gazprom is experiencing difficulties with the sale of the extracted core resource, so it decided, before it is too late, to invest in ships, aircraft and cars that run on gas fuel.
m.cempbell

0

13 February 2024 12: 54

How much money is spent on the MS-21, during which time the Tu-324 and others would have been mass-produced long ago

So the MC21 grew out of the almost finished Yak-242
Shelest2000

+4

13 February 2024 13: 15

Based on the Tu-324, it is planned to create a specialized business jet under the luxury Aurus brand

That's all it was started for - to produce several luxury planes a year for rich Pinocchios and officials. They can’t fly on the same plane with the plebs, it undermines their authority. 1 in 1, just like with the car of the same name.
1. Nikolay Volkov
  
  +1
  
  14 February 2024 06: 27
  
  and one character, I don’t remember exactly who, on this site stated not so long ago that top managers and government members should fly. they have important things to do...
  
  and the plebs can even walk on foot, otherwise look what they were thinking... on the maps of 1634 there are no flights on airplanes for serfs...
  1. Just a cat
    
    0
    
    15 February 2024 09: 51
    
    slaves were bought from the Poles only in 1686 I need to look at Polish maps. maybe they were flying between the outhouse and the pigsty from the gentleman's kick.
faiver

+1

13 February 2024 15: 51

hmm, that’s all...okay, we’ll wait and see.....
imjarek

+2

13 February 2024 16: 22

It’s somehow hard to believe.
prior

+3

13 February 2024 17: 20

Why didn't things work out with the Tu-324?

What kind of plane did we have trouble with?
What kind of planning - such are the results.
In the USSR, in addition to the relevant ministries, there was the State Planning Committee, which took everything into account.
Stalin's husky Manturov would have been sawing through the taiga long ago, provided that he would not have been shot immediately.
1. twice-born
  
  0
  
  22 February 2024 22: 53
  
  Exactly, I still don’t understand why this hoarse parasite is doing something there and not sitting?! After all, he is an open saboteur! After all, VVP publicly convicted him of this and not a damn thing!
  Can’t take it off, protege of the clans? I doubt it, but maybe. Is there really no one better than him?! There definitely is. So he’s satisfied, his!
  And under Joseph Vissarionovich and Beria, he would have been still at the deputy level (he definitely wouldn’t have reached the level of a minister!) would have been waving his pick in Siberia a long time ago!
  And under Peter the Great, Elizabeth and Catherine the Great, I wouldn’t have gone anywhere at all, not even close!
Sergey Latyshev

+3

13 February 2024 19: 29

First, Gazprom invested money in the Aurus car. - apparently the sale of cars to sheikhs did not work out, now AURUS has air service - after all, this is precisely the task of gas workers to build cars and planes...
Let's hope that now everything will be fine with their state money, and hundreds of planes, as promised, will litter the sky...
The comment was deleted.
Linkovich Chumovsky

+1

14 February 2024 11: 34

Dear author, what actually encourages you? That funds from the state budget and “national treasure” will be used to create the next “aircraft carrier”?
Glagol1

+1

14 February 2024 13: 18

Utopia. An airplane of unknown size. Superjet 100 seats, Il-114 - 64 seats, Ladoga - 44 seats. Everything is busy!!! And there is no engine. The PD-8 for the 324 is oversized in every way, with a thrust of 8 tons. But the AI-225 will not pull, the thrust is 2,5 tons. Here we need a five-ton truck, but it’s not even in development. Because it's not needed. This is not even a utopia, it is a brazen, shabby cut.
JD1979

+1

19 February 2024 14: 52

Tu-324 is an airplane for transporting fat asses and a big emergency))) In reality there is a wooden model))) There may be something in digital, but is it compatible with modern development environments? There is nothing to revive there; it hasn’t even been born yet) And is it even necessary, and even using technologies that are 30-40 years old? Transporting officials on separate planes is not the most pressing issue. Although maybe they wanted to)) With girls you can’t fly to private resorts on general flights)) Well, the engine... Is it the one that is better than the 222 and which has been tormented for more than ten years?)) but which never reached normal tests? How many PD-14 and PD-8 are there that undergo the test cycle and certification?)
twice-born

0

22 February 2024 22: 34

Well, all that remains is to involve Rotenberg, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the construction battalion in the production of aircraft. They are always thrown into crisis projects and assignments: Crimean Bridge, BAM 2, etc. Maybe then by 2030 they will all jointly produce at least 100 Russian aircraft!
Well, Gazprom will most likely make a dozen planes for its beloved one. Muller needs to fly with his deputies and other bosses in comfort, girls, otherwise you’ll get hell from the UAC! But the rest of the country will get the hell out of them, it will break off.