MC21 / MS21 - Design
The MS-21 [Magiztralnyy Samolyet XXI veka - Main Aircraft of the 21st Century] project is part of the Federal Civil Aviation Program Until 2015. The single-aisle MS-21 family of passenger aircraft, due to enter service in 2012, is designed to seat between 130 and 170 passengers and to fly up to 5,000 kilometers (3,125 miles), or 6,350 kilometers (4,000 miles) for the longer-range model.
The aircraft's design was developed by the Yakovlev Design Bureau. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the privatized company lost the state financial support as well as orders, and spent the 1990s on the brink of survival. At the time, the company was carrying out groundwork studies for the Yak-242, a short- to medium-range passenger airliner. Later on, in the early 2000s, Russia’s space authorities launched a competition for the development of a new aircraft to replace the Soviet-era Tupolev Tu-154 that was designed in the mid-1960s.
The model has been developed on the basis of Yak-242 type by the Yakovlev OKB in association with the Ilyushin Aviation Complex. The design rests not only on scientific and technological experience of work on the Yak-242 but also provides for maximum commonality of on-board systems, equipment and powerplant with those of the MTS aircraft being developed by Russia's companies Il and Irkut and India's HAL Corporation.
Although, the MC-21 took its origin in the Yak-242, the corporation carried out a profound research and development to create a modern airliner with unique technical characteristics. The aircraft dubbed the Airliner of the 21st Century is really a series of twin-engine short to medium-range jetliners, including the 150-seat MC-21-200, the 180-seat MC-21-300 and the 212-seat MC-21-400.
To increase the aircraft competitive ability in its class on domestic and international lines in period up to 2028, a number of advanced approaches were embodied in project as conception. The optimized aircraft arrangement and aerodynamics, new advanced structural materials, FBW control system, integrated avionics, automatic systems monitoring and, as a result, improved operating cost make the aircraft attractive to customer. The aircraft would meet all preservation of the environment requirements as well as ICAO requirements and airworthiness standards.
The project included a family from three versions of MC21 that differ in fuselage length and passenger capacity - initially rated at 132, 156 and 174 seats. The cargo and cargo/passenger version are also provided. The modern passenger saloon and ECS make the aircraft comfortable for aircrew and passengers. The cargo compartments and their equipment can accommodate standard containers and pallets. As customer options the aircraft can be equipped with avionics and engines of western production.
The plane will compete in the same market niche with Boeing 737 MAX and the Airbus A320neo and is expected to have a number of advantages over its tough rivals on the international and domestic market. Among them are advanced aerodynamics due to wings and a tail made of carbon composite materials and an enlarged fuselage (4.06 meters in the MC-21, versus 3.96 and 3.75 meters in the A320 and Boeing 737, respectively), enabling the densest arrangement of the MC-21-300 to carry 211 passengers versus 189 in the case of Boeing 373MAX and 180 in the case of A320neo.
The manufacturer expects MC-21 to have lower fuel consumption than other aircraft of its class by 10-15 percent as in 2016 the Russian engine building industry made major step toward the serial production of a new Russian PD-14 engines which overall maintenance will be up to 17 percent cheaper compared to the similar engines produced by foreign companies.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
