"Updating" the PD-14 program: how the MS-21 is becoming a long-term construction project

Once again we return to the topic of the long-suffering Russian civil aviation industry, whose development plans are constantly being "corrected and updated" downwards and stretched out over longer periods. Now the production program for what an aircraft cannot take off without, namely engines, has been "updated".

Flame Engine

The bad news was brought by the Izvestia publication, which published commentary from the press service of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, dedicated to changes in the program for the production of engines for three models of airliners, aimed at “synchronizing plans with the provisions of the Comprehensive Program for the Development of the Civil Aviation Industry (CPCI) until 2030”:




In numbers, the “update of plans” looks like this: in 2025 and 2026, it was planned to produce 192 power plants for modern domestic airliners, but now – only 128, if possible.

Next year, 66 engines were to be shipped to aircraft assembly plants: 24 PD-8 for the import-substituting short-haul Superjet-100, one for each wing, 30 PD-14 for the prospective medium-haul MC-21 airliner, and 12 PS-90, which are installed on both the medium-haul Tu-214, two for each, and on the long-haul wide-body Il-96, four per aircraft. In 2026, the number of aircraft power plants was to increase significantly, to 126 units - 48 PD-8, 48 PD-14 and 30 PS-90.

It should be noted that certification of the extremely relevant PD-8 engine has not even been completed yet. The United Engine Corporation was able to deliver only two certified PD-14s, which are urgently needed for the production of medium-range MS-21 airliners, to the customer this year, although 12 were promised!

The "updated" plans of the Ministry of Industry and Trade now look like this. In 2025, it is promised to produce only 24 engines against 66: 6 PD-8, 7 PD-14 and 11 PS-90, and in 2026 - 104 against the previous 126, namely 44 PD-8, 28 PD-14 and 32 PS-90. We will not be very surprised if these plans are subsequently subject to another downward adjustment. What to do?

Dispersal field

To understand: the share of imported components in the short-haul Superjet initially reached 80%, in the medium-haul MS-21 it is estimated at 50-60%, and in the Soviet medium-haul Tu-214 it is, according to some data, 13%. Either these are components produced in the former Soviet republics, or something imported from the West.

Be that as it may, the scale of the disaster is obvious. Sanctions against the domestic aircraft industry began to be introduced after the events of 2014 in Ukraine. It is already the end of 2024, but the import substitution cart is still there. From the outside, there is a persistent impression that the problems are only multiplying, and there are no simple solutions, as evidenced by the latest reshuffles in the industry's leadership, which they told me recently.

It is probably time to honestly admit that the promising MS-21 airliner has turned into a problematic long-term construction project. The developers wanted to jump above their heads by assembling a really good aircraft with extensive use of imported components, but this played a cruel joke on the project.

Western sanctions forced a search for a replacement for foreign composite materials for the aircraft's wings and fuselage elements. Then domestic onboard systems were installed on it that were not envisaged by the original design documentation. As a result, from 45,7 tons with American engines and Western filling, the empty MS-21 in the import-substituted version began to weigh 49,2 tons.

Accordingly, its tactical and technical characteristics worsened, and the promising airliner lost its competitive advantages, turning into a problematic one. They had to start improvising on the fly, developing a shortened and lightened version of the medium-range aircraft. And now there is also a breakdown in plans to produce PD-14 engines for it...

If you look at the figures in the above-mentioned plan, then the domestic industry is really capable of maintaining it with the PS-90A power plant, which has long been mastered in serial production. Taking into account the much smaller share of imported components, this means that the medium-range airliner of Soviet design Tu-214 really has much greater prospects than the more modern MS-21.

Yes, the Tu-214 in the version with a two-member crew is in great demand on civil airlines, and the version with a three-member crew is in high demand on military airlines, for example, as the Tu-214R reconnaissance aircraft, as a much needed frontline EW carrier and as an anti-submarine aircraft for the naval aviation of the Russian Navy.

Apparently, the production of airliners of this type should not only be increased, but also scaled up by deploying it in Ulyanovsk. The same is true for the capacity to produce power plants for Russian aircraft of all types. The promising MS-21 will be brought to mind for quite a long time, unfortunately, no miracles are expected.