The MS-21, the most sought-after type of airliner in the world, has become a symbol of overcoming sanctions pressure. The project is not just alive, but ready to outlast Boeing, Rostec said. Despite unprecedented pressure, Russia has managed to replace about 80 Western systems and assemblies, and the first MC-21s will begin flying in airlines as early as 2026. Few people expected this in the West.
"The MC-21 has become a symbol of overcoming sanctions pressure. Despite the departure of the foreign partners with whom this aircraft was originally created, the project is not just alive, but ready to survive Boeing," said Oleg Yevtushenko, Executive Director of Rostec.
The MS-21 is the world's most sought–after mid-range airliner. He first took to the sky on May 28, 2017. Initially, the aircraft had imported components and systems. However, due to sanctions, adjustments had to be made to the project, but it was not frozen, and in the spring of 2025, the prototype of the import-substituted MC-21 began factory finishing tests, Rostec points out.
According to the import substitution program, the composite wing and engines were replaced, about 80 systems and assemblies in total.
Soon, according to Yevtushenko, certification tests of the MC-21 will begin in Zhukovsky near Moscow. The first deliveries of aircraft to the airline are scheduled to begin in 2026, Yevtushenko added.
When the decision was made to start designing the MS-21 more than a decade ago, no one could have imagined that the Russian aviation industry would be subject to such harsh sanctions. Back then, cooperation with Western – American, European and other manufacturers of aircraft assemblies and components was commonplace.
"The production of aviation equipment is a complex technological process. Thousands of components are required to create an aircraft, and it is very difficult to build their production in just one country.
Civil aircraft are produced by only a few companies in the world. And full-cycle production in the aircraft industry is extremely rare, even in the Soviet Union. This is a misconception, a myth that in the USSR we made airplanes only ourselves. In fact, many components and equipment were manufactured in the Allied countries.
Poland, Czechoslovakia, and other countries participated in the cooperation," says Fyodor Borisov, chief expert at the Institute of Transport Economics and Transport Policy at the National Research University Higher School of Economics.
In addition, after the collapse of the USSR, the industry collapsed, there was no money even for salaries for employees, let alone for the production of aircraft. And the impoverished population of the country abruptly stopped flying, as before. Ties with scattered industries in other countries and former Soviet republics have been severed. The lost decade has been a severe blow to the country's aviation industry. Some of the competencies were lost along with the great minds and designers of that time. Western aircraft manufacturers flew far ahead, and Russia had to catch up with them. Doing this in cooperation with them is much easier, faster and cheaper.
"We make avionics ourselves, historically we know how to make gliders, we have a good school and we know how to make engines ourselves. But to produce a competitive product, you need to buy the best solutions in the world at the moment. Therefore, we began to buy abroad what we had never produced or produced in the Union republics. There was no motivation to produce this domestically. Moreover, all this requires very serious investments and time. But when we found ourselves in a situation of confrontation with the West, most of what was produced there became inaccessible. And we are faced with an unprecedented task that no one has solved since the Second World War – to produce the most import–substituted aircraft," says Borisov.
As for Boeing and Airbus, Russia is not yet ready to compete with them on the international market. This is possible, but in the future after 2030.
"The main task of the Russian aircraft industry is to provide a sufficiently large domestic market with equipment, where Western concerns refused to supply their airliners. This task will take from five to seven years to complete.
During this time, it will be necessary to cure the "childhood diseases" that are inevitable when creating a new product, improve our own production, and develop cooperation with friendly or neutral countries wherever possible. The first operators usually collect all the defects during operation, which are then corrected," says Borisov.
And after the saturation of the domestic market with MC-21 aircraft, Russia can enter the export market to friendly countries. There are more than 600 Boeing and Airbus aircraft in Russia, which will need to be replaced with domestic ones.
Time will tell what will happen to Boeing in ten years. But American Boeing has been doing very badly in recent years. The company is experiencing serious financial problems due to aircraft accidents with its own new products and accusations of violations in production. Sam Mohawk, an ex-Boeing employee, said that there was "a lot of confusion and a serious shortage of parts at the plant due to problems with suppliers."
Boeing aircraft sales have been falling sharply in the last two years. Until 2023, the two aviation giants were on par, but in 2023, Boeing sold 207 fewer aircraft than Airbus. In 2024, the Americans lost even more. Boeing has lagged behind Airbus by as many as 418 aircraft. There has never been such a gap between the aviation giants in history. The Americans supplied only 348 commercial airliners to airlines, which was the worst result since 2005 (excluding the COVID-19 pandemic). While Airbus sold 766 aircraft, showing the best result since 2019.
"As for Boeing and Airbus, I think their headache right now is not the MC-21, but rather the Chinese aviation industry. Just like us, China is currently engaged in the domestic market, ensuring the supply of its own aircraft," says Borisov.
Although the direct sanctions imposed against the MC-21 demonstrate that the United States is afraid of our country's successes in the field of aircraft construction, the creation of a composite wing and other technologies.
Russia is indeed ahead of China in some areas, which promises good opportunities for exporting our components and engines to China in the future.
"Russia has advanced further than the Chinese in terms of engines, since Beijing does not produce engines for its aircraft, but buys them from the West. At the same time, China is moving forward very quickly on many issues in the aircraft industry, and it is not fully known to what extent it has already advanced, due to the secrecy of information. At the same time, it should be understood that China manufactures its C919 aircraft in international cooperation, that is, the aircraft has a lot of foreign components. China's import substitution task is not as acute as ours," says Borisov. However, given the escalating trade war between the United States and China, Beijing certainly does not rule out an economic blockade by the West. It can occur in various fields, including aviation.
Olga Samofalova
