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Aircraft manufacturer says company ready to produce at least 30 MC-21 planes annually

One of the first flight models of the MC-21 aircraft will be equipped with the PD-14 engine in 2019

MC-21 aircraft Marina Lystseva/TASS

MC-21 aircraft

© Marina Lystseva/TASS

IRKUTSK, August 17. /TASS/. The Irkut corporation together with cooperation participants in assembling the MC-21 advanced medium-haul aircraft is ready to produce 30 aircraft annually, starting from 2019.

The equipment purchase issue should be addressed in order to reach the planned production volume of 70 aircraft per year, the corporation’s President Oleg Demchenko said at Thursday’s meeting on civil aviation development.

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New MC-21 jet: Russia’s first step on aircraft market

"We are ready to manufacture 30 planes a year. It all is quite clear, and we know how to do it. Still, we plan 70 planes a year, and so it is necessary to tackle the issue of purchasing equipment," he said.

Demchenko stressed that the production capacities make this level possible. "I see no obstacles here," he noted.

The head of the corporation pointed to the fact that, according to the schedule, there are plans to produce 30 MC-21s in 2019 and 70 planes per year in 2020-2023. Now Irkut is manufacturing about 60-66 Su and Yak planes.

Home-made RD-14 engines

One of the first flight models of the MC-21 aircraft will be equipped with the PD-14 engine in 2019, Demchenko has confirmed:

"In 2019, we’ll have plane No.1 or No.2 [the MC-21 flight models] equipped with the PD-14 home engine. We will be ready to start flight tests for this engine by around 2020." Thus, according to the corporation’s head, the new Russian aircraft will use two types of engines - the American Pratt & Whitney and the advanced Russian PD-14 designed by the United Aircraft Corporation.

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The enterprise is fully prepared for it, regarding its capacities, Demchenko said.

Head of the United Engine Corporation Alexander Artyuhov reported earlier on how the tests for the new Russian aircraft engine were going. Work on the PD-14 is underway, according to the schedule, he said, and the Russian certificate is expected to be issued in the second quarter of 2018. He also noted that 11 engines are needed to be produced for bench and flight tests. Ten of them have been manufactured already, and the eleventh will be completed this September.

"We believe that the planned terms for receiving the Russian certificate in the second quarter of 2018 will be fulfilled, which will provide the means for supplying engines for the start of flight and certification tests for the MC-21 by the end of 2018," Artyuhov concluded.

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