Replacement of Western components: Russian seats in Superjet New do not stand the test

The Russian Superjet 100 has already attracted the attention of many countries this year. The national airline Belavia of Belarus wants to buy the future Superjet New model, which will replace Western components. North Korea and Iran also have their eyes on the Russian regional jet for domestic airlines.

At the same time, Russia faces the challenge of finding alternatives to Western aircraft components. The country’s aircraft manufacturers can no longer obtain these aircraft due to Western sanctions in response to the Russian attack on Ukraine.

16 grams is too much for these Russian seats

At the end of August, a prototype of the Superjet New completed its maiden flight after replacing about 40 foreign systems and parts with domestic ones. However, this prototype was powered by a French-Russian Powerjet Sam 146 engine, which would be replaced by the Russian PD-8 engine in the future.

There has now been a setback in another area. Like the aviation channel Sheena pilot It was reported that the new Russian seats for the Superjet were being tested. But the Aerospace Systems Design Office seats did not stand up to the rigorous testing, as they were subjected to forces of 16 g. Pictures show how a row of three seats was torn from the front and flipped over. Three crash test dummies were buried underneath.

100% Russian language is not possible

The Superjet seats originally came from B/E Aerospace in Florida, which was acquired by Rockwell Collins in 2017, which then became Raytheon Technologies in several phases. However, the plan to make the plane more Russian as the New Superjet only materialized after the sanctions were imposed. As early as 2019, the government planned to increase the proportion of Russian components in the aircraft to 50 to 60 percent.

The fact that Russia is completely isolated from Western suppliers due to sanctions in 2022 brought the project to its peak. However, Vladimir Artyakov, vice president of state-owned Rostec, admitted that it is not possible to use 100 percent Russian spare parts. You still have to import a small part that you cannot produce yourself, the manager said. But our partners will always help us in this matter,” said Artyakov. He did not reveal who he meant by that.