Russia announces new supersonic passenger plane project

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Russian Ministry of Industry announced that Russia’s United Aviation Corporation (UAC) will develop a new supersonic passenger jet starting in 2022. The last Russian supersonic travel project was launched fifty years ago with the Tupolev Tu-144 jet.

The flight simulator demonstrating the new jetโ€™s capabilities should be developed within three years, said Denis Manturov, the head of the ministry.

He added that research studies will be conducted to improve the aircraftโ€™s aerodynamic characteristics and increase the load ratio.

โ€œSerious work will have to be completed during the same period to prepare a package of documents aimed at regulating the processes of assessing conformity for ultrasonic passenger jets,โ€ Manturov said.

Russia’s first supersonic passenger plane, Tupolev Tu-144, made its maiden flight in 1968 and began passenger service in 1977. However, it operated for only a year and was deemed economically unfeasible and potentially unsafe. The same eventually happened to the only other similar aircraft, the British-French Concorde, which made its last flight in 2003.

Last year, while watching a test flight of Russiaโ€™s new Tu-160 strategic bomber, Russia’s President Putin ‘suggested’ that a civilian passenger version of the supersonic aircraft could be a ‘viable commercial prospect.’

Designed by the Tupolev Design Bureau in the Soviet Union, the Tu-160 is the largest and heaviest Mach 2+ supersonic aircraft ever built, and second only to the comparable XB-70 Valkyrie in overall length.

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Chief Assignment editor is Oleg Siziakov

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