Soviet technology to avoid the sanctions of the West

Russia’s Minister of Industry and Commerce, Anton Alikhanov, has announced than the first TUPOLEV TU-214 Updated will be ready this year. If everything goes as planned, customers will continue to receive it in 2026. It is a medium -distance passenger plane whose origin dates back to the late 1980s and that, curiously, in this new stage it could be less advanced than in Its previous version.

The production of TU-214 It has never been significant. RZJETS Figure The amount in around 85, many of which were removed from service. The latter made sense if we take into account that the Russian airlines had access to the Boeing and Airbus aircraft, but this scenario changed drastically with the invasion of Ukraine. International sanctions severely hit the air sector of the Eurasian country.

The sanctions have hit the Russian airlines

From that moment, the airlines are established in Russia not only have not been able to buy new Western aircraftbut have been seen in serious problems to guarantee the maintenance of the previously acquired units. Access to the spare parts and technical assistance of the manufacturers were quickly off the scene, which forced companies ―And the government – to take measures to guarantee transport.

The airlines began to stop using the most modern aircraft of their fleets, which are those where to get spare parts by alternative roads is more difficult, and the authorities announced a plan to restart the production of some models of the Soviet era, including the Tu- 214, to reach 1,000 units in the 2030s. This goal, certainly, is accompanied by a variety of challenges aggravated by sanctions.

How BBC collectssome experts believe that Russia could choose to relive versions older versions than the last produced of their aircraft, which depended less on foreign components, but at the same time were less advanced. Here an obsolete version of TU-214 would enter into the scene that had a low level of automation and forced to have a crew of three people to be able to fly it.

In addition to the pilot and co -pilot roles, it would be necessary to have the figure of the flight engineer, which would be responsible for performing many tasks manually. Then, from a broader perspective, it will not only be necessary to launch the plant equipment and the supply chain of hundreds of suppliers, but also to modify the training received by pilots and flight engineers.

The updated plane that we mentioned at the beginning of this article is not a unit produced decades ago. 72RU explains that it is a registered plane with the number 64509 that belonged to Transaero Airlines and that stopped flying in 2015. In recent years, United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) was transferred within the framework of the project to eliminate foreign components, an objective that seems to be advanced.

Konstantín Timofeev, UAC general deputy director, said last year that Tu-214 with “Russian components” made its first flight in November. He also pointed out that this would be the platform on which they would continue to work on the modernization of the plane, as well as in the creation of a cabin for two members. On the latter, it is not clear if it will come true in the units that hope to deliver this year.

The TU-214 is a narrow fuselage aircraft designed for medium distance flights and equipped with turbofán engines Пс-90A updateds. With the ability to transport Between 155 and 210 passengersit is considered the Russian equivalent of the Boeing 757. If the production manages to resume, the manufacture of units for export is not expected, but will be destined exclusively to Russian airlines.

Images | Tupolev

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