MS-21 designer had mentioned in an interview that PD-14 will give MS-21 1 % fuel advantage over PW1400

I don’t think the PD-14 is any better than the PW, at least on the tech side it isn’t, with one generation older fan/compressor blades, a simpler design overall and so on. It may at least partially make up for that with its smaller diameter, lesser weight and lesser price, plus its (envisioned) superior serviceability (ease and cost).

But that’s up for debate at a later point, it’s impossible to tell at this stage. The main thing is that if it really does live up to its projected specifications, it meets the criteria for being a modern and properly (even internationally) competitive engine for civilian aircraft in this class, despite not being absolutely cutting-edge, and that’s a big leap forward from pretty much everything Russia has built in the past and builds at present (the PowerJet doesn’t count). On the military side of things, Russia has stayed in the game rather well but its aerospace industry needs diversification of this kind.

The PD-14 design is obviously a platform to improve upon in the future as well, with for example next-gen composite blades and what not, so there’s that angle to consider too. Russian aerospace needs this kind of stuff, it’s been stuck in a rut rehashing obsolete tech for far too long.

The Yak-130 chase plane performed some mellow aerobatics to conclude today’s event, great:

Only peripherally related to the RuAF but the engines are running hot and there have been some taxi tests now:

Such a cool pic, thx.

PS.. and arrogantly overkill on S bend air-intakes :highly_amused:

Many stealths! So low-observability! :stupid:

Funny thing is, one of the early Yak-130 protoypes (43130, borts 296 & 01, that’s currently featured at the open air display at Monino) had a super stealthy chined forward fuselage too, plus these S-quacks of course. Much amazing. So steel marble.

OK, I’ll stop.

Looks like a Su-30MKM, albeit in a Sukhoi in house livery (pre-production prototype, is my guess).

In that case, that’s the MAW-300 by SAAB.

Also, a nice pic of the SSJ:

More Sukhoi SSJ… The Russians have now officially invaded the very capital of the European union:

Also, I just gotta ask, why the crazy armor protection on the Su-34? Isn’t it a bit schizophrenic somehow, I mean, surely nobody is seriously suggesting that a massive two-seat, twin-jet 30+ ton strike fighter be used in subsonic low-level combat in AAA-rich environments? Or are they?

I just don’t get it. The plane’s basically a Strike Eagle-esque platform, with a very similar lineage (both are beefed-up two-seaters derived from purebred air superiority fighters), and Strike Eagle-esque things is what it should be doing. For that you don’t need a heavily armored cockpit. That’s some A-10/Su-25 sniffer stuff it’s got going on there, and a whole lot of unnecessary weight and complexity for that class of aircraft.

They should make a black TU 160. Anyone good with photoshop, can you make a black one ?

Take any photo of a Tu-160, then press ctrl-i. Voilá.

You really have to wonder about a country that is apparently ok with producing endless numbers of VIP aircraft for Putin and co.

They’ve built five Il-96-300PU over the last 20 years, the first one started as a standard Il-96-300 that was rebuilt and the four others were built from scratch to presidential specs (EMP shielding, new comms systems, countermeasures and so on). Two of them have since been retired from presidential use, so they keep two today, just like Air Force One (two 747/VC-25s). Hardly “endless numbers” if you ask me.

As for why they’re sticking to Ilyushin for those two presidential long-haulers despite cost ineffectiveness etc, I think the answer is pretty much a given. The 96 is the only available domestic model with that kind of range and loiter time, and they wanna keep it domestic in order to have full control over everything.

The rest of the “Special Flight Squadron” uses a load of Tupolev 204/214s, some Il-96-300 standard models, a couple of Airbus 319s and two Sukhoi SSJ100s. Most of these are standard models with no particular “VIP” treatment, they’re used to ferry all kinds of people about (like those Russian diplomats+families who were expelled from the US this winter) and to support the ministries. First of all, Russia’s a vast place so even the most mundane domestic trip for the minister of education to inaugurate some kind of school for the deaf involves flying for a few hours, and they usually make sure to carry out multiple things while they’re at it so typically several ministries are in on each working trip and they all have their staff, security and support materials etc. Booking them in on regular public flights would be a pain in the *** most of the time. Second, the fleet is supposed to serve the president and his cabinet first of all, but is constantly in use by the rest of the ministries, the military, various deputies and has even been leased to the church (well, to the Patriarch, i.e. the Russian “Pope”..)

And last but not least, they’re used to retrieve Russian citizens abroad if needed, and can be used for disaster relief etc. Of course MChS would be the goto place for that, but Rossiya can jump in too (and afaik most of their planes are civvies and not subject to any airspace restrictions)