Initially, MS-21 was designed for Pratt & Whitney engines and foreign avionics.
Anatoly Gaydansky, First Deputy General Director of PJSC Yakovlev and head of AeroComposite, spoke on the air of MAi Podcasts about the conditions under which it is necessary to replace the domestic MS-21 airliner with imports.
The top manager, in particular, said that at first the MS-21 was created in a broad scheme of international cooperation.
“ We had American Canadian Pratt & Whitney engines, modern solutions from world leaders in the aviation industry. That was the concept, since it is very difficult to create a 100% competitive aircraft in one country – this is a very difficult task. We set the task of working with leaders ,” Gaidansky said.
“ But what happened happened: respected Western suppliers, in connection with the imposed sanctions, left us completely without support, without supplies. Therefore, we were forced to engage in import substitution as soon as possible.” First of all, we replaced the engine – we now have our own Russian PD-14 ,” he added.
Deputy General Director of PJSC Yakovlev on the import substitution of the MS-21 aircraft
Nevertheless, Anatoly Gaidansky believes that one should be thankful for the sanctions – they pushed the industry to a rapid development.
“ Our esteemed opponents in Europe and America must say a big, big human thank you for these sanctions. I will give an example using composite materials: we initially built the wing on American materials. And if the first sanctions against AeroComposite had not appeared in 2018, we would have been sitting like this for life. And we wouldn’t have an industry of composite materials ,” Gaidansky said.
“ After they [the Americans] dropped us off the train, we had to create this industry. Now we have a full-fledged production of composite materials – from oil to finished products. The same industries are being created in engine building, in the field of avionics, air conditioning systems, drives, various systems, materials that we did not have before, the bearing industry is developing, machine tool building, ”added the top manager.
“ We have nowhere to go. We will compete. We’ll have to fly what only we do. Our task is to bring our components, our systems, which we will now supply, to the level of world brands. This is a very difficult task, which requires a lot of effort ,” Gaidansky summed up.
Anatoly Gaidansky also told when the first flight of the fully imported MS-21 will take place and when the first aircraft will be delivered to Aeroflot.
