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Russia will start testing 4th flight model of MC-21 aircraft in 2019

At the end of December 2018, a third experimental aircraft was handed over for testing

ABU DHABI, February 19. /TASS/. Tests of the fourth flight model of the Russian medium-haul MC-21 aircraft will start this year, head of the International Cooperation and Regional Policy department of Russia’s state corporation Rostec Viktor Kladov told TASS at the IDEX 2019 international defense exhibition.

"The third experimental MC-21-300 aircraft is preparing for the start of factory testing in the flight test department of the Irkutsk Aviation Plant. The plant is assembling a fourth experimental flight that will join the flight tests in 2019," he said.

According to him, the Central Aerohydrodynamics has conducted static strength tests of the MC-21-300 aircraft since 2017.

"They are also assembling the airframe of the aircraft designed for endurance tests. The obtained results of flight and ground tests confirm the correctness of the main design and technological solutions," Kladov added.

At the end of December 2018, a third experimental aircraft was handed over for testing.

About project

MC-21 is a medium-haul passenger jet being developed by the United Aircraft Corporation. It may come in two configurations - MC-21-200 (seating 132 to 165) and MC-21-300 (163 to 211). Another configuration, MC-21-400 with up to 250 seats, is also planned.

Currently only the MC-21-300 plane is being developed. It performed its first flight at the end of May 2017. On February 18, chief of Rostec Sergei Chemezov said that the launch of serial production of Russia’s MC-21 passenger jet has been postponed till the end of 2020. He said that the manufacturer will have to create its own composite wing, due to termination of supplies of composite materials from the US. In January, it became clear that the US sanctions against the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) and Rostec terminated the supply of composite materials for the wing of Russia’s new generation plane MC-21.