After making its maiden flight on April 29, a modified Yakovlev MC-21 has arrived at Moscow’s Zhukovsky airfield, ready to embark on a crucial phase of flight testing. The aircraft, identified by the serial number 73055, represents a significant step in Russia’s program to replace foreign-made systems and equipment with indigenously produced equivalents. The twin-engine aircraft, transferred in the coming weeks from its production site in Irkutsk to the Gromov Flight Research Institute near Ramenskoye, Moscow Oblast, is now preparing for a series of flight tests with its new Russian systems. The transfer flight, which took place on April 29, lasted more than six hours and took place at high altitude, with a crew of seven on board.

In fact, at the end of last April, the Russian industrial holding Rostec had anticipated these developments with a press release that underlined the strategic importance of self-sufficiency in the production of advanced civil aircraft such as the MC-21. The note from Rostec highlighted how the integration of domestically manufactured avionics, hydraulic systems and auxiliary power units was a primary objective, a policy that Putin has been pursuing for at least a decade, including in the helicopter field and beyond.

Now, with the arrival of the aircraft in Zhukovsky in May, a new phase of testing begins for the MC-21 equipped with Aviadvigatel PD-14 engines and a number of other Russian systems that were previously of foreign origin. Roman Taskaev, director of flight tests at Yakovlev, expressed great satisfaction with the maiden flight with the updated systems. The start of these flight tests in the Moscow region represents a key moment for the all-Russian MC-21 program, bringing the country closer to the goal of independent production of cutting-edge airliners. On the program, see also AVIONEWS.

The Yakovlev MC-21 is a medium-range narrow-body airliner in pre-production at Yakovlev. Known until July 2023 as the Irkut MS-21, it is a low-wing twin-engine aircraft developed with the aim of replacing the older Tupolev Tu-154 and Tu-204/214 models in Russian aircraft production, and to position itself in the global narrow-body aircraft market as a competitor to giants such as Airbus and Boeing. For various reasons, the model's entry into service, expected for 2022, has been postponed several times. The last major hitch at the end of March 2022 was precisely with the international sanctions due to the Russian-Ukrainian crisis. Initially, the project included the possibility of also mounting US-made Pratt & Whitney PW1400G engines. However, the sanctions have limited or interrupted the supply of Western components and technologies to the Russian aircraft industry, including Pratt & Whitney engines.

Faced with these constraints, Russia has accelerated its aerospace import substitution program. The development and serial production of the PD-14 engine has become crucial to ensure the continuity of the MC-21 program and to reduce dependence on foreign suppliers. But it has taken time, and only now it is possible to proceed with testing in preparation for future production of the aircraft, albeit with potential performance impacts compared to the original configuration with Western engines.