Russian aerospace firm United Aircraft’s new chief has underlined to the country’s prime minister the need not only to modernise equipment but overhaul the fundamental structure of civil aircraft production.
Premier Mikhail Mishustin sought an update on civil aviation programme status from Vadim Badekha four months after he was put in charge of the company.
Badekha told him, during the 14 March meeting, that United Aircraft aims to increase labour productivity by at least 30% by 2030.
“Given the scale of the investment program being implemented, we believe it is right to set the goal of not only updating the equipment, but also moving to a new technological and production structure,” he said.
This structure – achieved through automation and robotisation – will become the foundation of industrial development for the “next several decades”, he states, adding that the company considers a lean manufacturing approach to be “fundamental”.
Badekha highlighted the government’s support of the domestic machine-tool industry, adding that aircraft manufacturers have been “among the first” with orders to the tooling producers owing to the impact of international sanctions on the aerospace sector.
He points out that the Russian industry is developing all the materials, technologies and systems required for its civil aircraft, and has been working “shoulder to shoulder” with federal air transport regulator Rosaviatsia.
“Our industry has coped with the main task of import-substitution of systems and units,” he says. “All systems, all units, all necessary elements have been manufactured and are in the final stage of ground tests.”
Badekha says the Yakovlev SJ-100 is undergoing certification flight tests, with more than 20% of the work completed and two more prototypes set to join the programme “in the near future”.
The first modified MC-21 has been “fully manufactured and assembled”, he says, with ground development tests expected to wrap up shortly, ahead of flight-test operations.
Ilyushin’s updated Il-114-300 turboprop has reached an “advanced stage” of flight testing, with 20% of certification flights carried out, says Badekha, and another aircraft will be added soon which will “further increase the pace of testing”.
United Aircraft also views an increase by “several times” of Tupolev Tu-214 production volume as one of its “main tasks”, he adds.
Testing of new civil aircraft is the “most pressing issue” of manufacturing, says the company, particularly given that Russian president Vladimir Putin wants the share of domestic aircraft in the country’s fleet to reach 50% by the end of the decade.
