NOVOSIBIRSK, July 14. /TASS/. The Tango light aircraft, equipped with an experimental prototype of the domestic APD-520 Lider piston engine, has completed its maiden flight, the S7 Group press service reported.
"Spectra Aircraft (part of S7 Group) conducted the maiden flight of the Tango light aircraft, powered by an experimental prototype of the Russian APD-520 Lider piston engine. Vladimir Barsuk, a first-class test pilot and director of the Chaplygin Siberian Scientific Research Institute of Aviation (SibNIA), was at the controls," the statement said.
According to the press service, the aircraft completed a traffic pattern flight and landed successfully at the departure airfield, with all systems operating normally.
Prior to takeoff, the aircraft underwent a series of ground tests, including engine calibration across all modes, runway taxiing, high-speed taxi runs, and short hops up to five meters to determine liftoff speed.
The Tango is a light trainer aircraft. The company previously announced that the plane would be entirely Russian-made, powered by a domestic 200-horsepower engine developed by the ARD Design Bureau (part of the group). The airframe is made of carbon fiber produced by Rosatom's Composite Division. The project is being developed in cooperation with the Zhukovsky Institute, with the aircraft’s specifications tailored to the requirements of the Russian University of Transport, the Ministry of Transport, and the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya). The aircraft's estimated cost is 100 million rubles ($1.3 mln).
In February, S7 Group’s principal shareholder Vladislav Filev told reporters that the company would reach a production rate of two Tango aircraft per month by the end of the year. He suggested that production could expand beyond the Torbeyevo site to include a facility in Siberia. Deliveries of serial aircraft to training institutions are scheduled for 2027.