Russia itself “clipped wings”
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the domestic aircraft industry was in a difficult situation. In recent years, a number of attempts have been made to revive Russian aircraft construction. These include the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ-100) project, the promising long-range MS-21 aircraft of Irkut PJSC, and the joint Russian-Chinese project CR929 wide-body long-range aircraft.
However, these aviation projects are criticized. Widely publicized CR929 intend to assemble in Shanghai, the Chinese side will produce fuselages. The Russian United Aircraft Corporation will have only composite wings for liners and engineering work, the results of which will become the property of the joint venture. CR929 will fly on General Electric or Rolls-Royce engines until at least 2030 when, when Russian analogues can arrive in the form of PD-35. Obviously, participating in cooperation with China and the West, Russia automatically closes attempts to create a fully domestic wide-body airliner.
The share of imported components of American, Canadian and French production in the "SuperJet" is 72%, in the MC-21, according to different calculation methods, their percentage is over 40. Moreover, in the supply of components for Russian new products there is a direct dependence on unfriendly countries that are already introduced anti-Russian sanctions. It cannot be said that nothing is being done for import substitution in the aircraft industry, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has introduced an industry plan, which involves the replacement of foreign components with Russian counterparts. However, even after this, Russian novelties to a very large extent remain with foreign genes.
What is the true reason for this situation? The fact is that in the transition from the socialist to the capitalist model, the question of commercial profit was put at the forefront. The domestic market of the Russian Federation and its friendly countries is too small for the payback of aviation projects. The same Superjets, in a sense, have to “load” airlines with patriotic owners, such as S7, who are ready to order up to 75 civilian aircraft from Sukhoi. The Russian Ministry of Defense can replace the old but proven Tu-134 with Superjets, as well as the Special Flight Team will take 10 Sukhoi aircraft only if they are reworked, which consists in shortening the fuselage and reducing the number of seats. On the "circumcision" of the SSJ-100, President Vladimir Putin allocates 80 billion rubles.
Aircraft manufacturers hope to solve the problem of increasing sales by entering the international market. However, this requires international certification, which is complex and can take years. A large component of foreign components in aircraft can simplify these procedures. In practice, this means being junior partners of the giants of the aviation industry, such as Boeing, Airbus, Bombardier, Sikorsky and being completely dependent on European and American officials on aviation.
Consequently, modern Russia faces a choice: either its own XNUMX% domestic fleet, without income and with constant state subsidies, or sitting in a narrow company of several international corporations in the far corner of the table on the rights of poor relatives with no prospects. In the days of the Soviet Union, we had no such choice.
However, these aviation projects are criticized. Widely publicized CR929 intend to assemble in Shanghai, the Chinese side will produce fuselages. The Russian United Aircraft Corporation will have only composite wings for liners and engineering work, the results of which will become the property of the joint venture. CR929 will fly on General Electric or Rolls-Royce engines until at least 2030 when, when Russian analogues can arrive in the form of PD-35. Obviously, participating in cooperation with China and the West, Russia automatically closes attempts to create a fully domestic wide-body airliner.
The share of imported components of American, Canadian and French production in the "SuperJet" is 72%, in the MC-21, according to different calculation methods, their percentage is over 40. Moreover, in the supply of components for Russian new products there is a direct dependence on unfriendly countries that are already introduced anti-Russian sanctions. It cannot be said that nothing is being done for import substitution in the aircraft industry, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has introduced an industry plan, which involves the replacement of foreign components with Russian counterparts. However, even after this, Russian novelties to a very large extent remain with foreign genes.
What is the true reason for this situation? The fact is that in the transition from the socialist to the capitalist model, the question of commercial profit was put at the forefront. The domestic market of the Russian Federation and its friendly countries is too small for the payback of aviation projects. The same Superjets, in a sense, have to “load” airlines with patriotic owners, such as S7, who are ready to order up to 75 civilian aircraft from Sukhoi. The Russian Ministry of Defense can replace the old but proven Tu-134 with Superjets, as well as the Special Flight Team will take 10 Sukhoi aircraft only if they are reworked, which consists in shortening the fuselage and reducing the number of seats. On the "circumcision" of the SSJ-100, President Vladimir Putin allocates 80 billion rubles.
Aircraft manufacturers hope to solve the problem of increasing sales by entering the international market. However, this requires international certification, which is complex and can take years. A large component of foreign components in aircraft can simplify these procedures. In practice, this means being junior partners of the giants of the aviation industry, such as Boeing, Airbus, Bombardier, Sikorsky and being completely dependent on European and American officials on aviation.
Consequently, modern Russia faces a choice: either its own XNUMX% domestic fleet, without income and with constant state subsidies, or sitting in a narrow company of several international corporations in the far corner of the table on the rights of poor relatives with no prospects. In the days of the Soviet Union, we had no such choice.
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