Russian aeronautical researchers are working on a new supersonic civilian aircraft. Now it is known: there is cooperation with China.
It started in 2018 with a top-down statement. During the test flight of the Tupolev Tu-160 supersonic bomber, Vladimir Putin explained that he also saw prospects for a new civilian supersonic jet. The Russian president referred to the time saved by supersonic flights and said: “There are big companies that could handle such a jet.”
The UAC state aviation consortium said they were already working on a supersonic project. And the then head of the state airline Aeroflot Vitaly Savelyev said: “We would like to get a supersonic jet.” In contrast to the times of Concorde and Tupolev Tu-144, it is now possible to operate a supersonic passenger aircraft economically thanks to new technologies and composite materials.
Not a big jet for airlines
In the summer of 2020, the aircraft manufacturer Tupolev, which belongs to UAC, and the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute Tsagi revealed the first details. The institute explained that the supersonic civil plane should have space for 30-50 passengers. Tupolev wrote that the planned jet will reach Mach 2 – twice the speed of sound – and have a range of up to 8,000 kilometers. It is primarily intended for “corporate executives, high-ranking politicians, and anyone for whom time is a top priority.”
Anatoly Serdyukov, head of aviation at UAC’s parent company Rostec, stressed that a business jet was under development. “The cost of supersonic flight is much higher than that of conventional aircraft,” Serdyukov said. So we aim for business jets.
cooperation with China
Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Western sanctions against the country are likely to complicate the work of Russian researchers. In the summer of 2022, however, an adviser to President Putin said the plans were being adhered to.
Now it is clear: Russia is getting help from China. Tsagi recently announced that a bilateral international project with his participation has received funding from the Russian Science Foundation. “The research partner is the Chinese CARDC Aerodynamics Research Center.” The aim of the project is to jointly develop a wing for a civil supersonic aircraft, with a focus on acoustics.
Joint tests foreseen
“The plan is for the plane to meet noise standards for subsonic aircraft,” Tsagi said. In the wing industry in particular, however, this is a challenge that requires further research. They therefore want to develop a Russian-Chinese cooperation grand piano model and test it in the acoustic chambers of Tsagi and CARDC.
