Russia's government has outlined its vision for a proposed widebody to be developed jointly with China.
Deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin – who has responsibility for the national aerospace industry – sketched ideas for the project after his Chinese counterpart Wang Yang visited Irkut's production facility in Irkutsk.
"You have seen how a prototype of the MC-21 twinjet is nearing completion at the final assembly hall," said Rogozin, addressing the Chinese vice-premier.
"We're prepared to undertake a project to jointly develop and build a widebody aircraft type based on these technologies."
As an example, Rogozin suggests a modular approach in fuselage construction. This, he argues, "would enable us to make fuselage longer or shorter and choose its optimal size depending on customers' capacity and range requirements".
He adds: "I think it's high time to pass from signing agreements in principle to practical issues, such as determining responsibilities as well as the financial, engineering and technical contribution of each party to the project.
"After that, we'll line up system and component suppliers on our side."
Rogozin believes Russian manufacturers should deliver composite wings for the planned widebody, given competencies gained in making them for the MC-21.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
