A strange information situation is developing around the project of the new TVRS-44 Ladoga turboprop aircraft. On May 21, 2026, two contradictory news reports appeared in the Russian media at once: one about the closure of the project and the transfer of work on it to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the other a refutation of the previous one. Both news reports refer to representatives of the Ural Civil Aviation Plant, where the prototype is being assembled. What kind of aircraft is the TVRS-44 and what work has been done to create it so far?
The twin-engine TVRS—44 Ladoga is a new multi-purpose twin—engine turboprop aircraft, which is partially supposed to replace the An-24/26 fleet in Russia (another part of this task is assigned to another new machine, the IL-114-300). The maximum take-off weight of the TVRS-44 is about 17 tons, the length is about 23 meters, and the cabin width is about 2.6 meters. The project's payload capacity will be 5 tons. In the basic version for civil aviation, the aircraft should take 44 passengers on board and transport them at a cruising speed of 460 km/h over a distance of up to 1,200 km. This is a high-wing aircraft with two TV7-117ST-02 turboprop engines with new AV-44 composite propellers, designed, among other things, for operation in remote regions with harsh climatic conditions and at the same time focused on modern standards of comfortable passenger transportation.
The production of a promising 44-seat car with Russian engines was started in cooperation with factories from Samara, Smolensk, St. Petersburg and the Nizhny Novgorod region. The final assembly is being carried out at the Ural Civil Aviation Plant (UZGA) — the first finished fuselage was sent there at the end of February 2025. The factory promised to build the first prototype by the end of 2025, and its first flight was scheduled for mid-2026. As of May 2026, the first aircraft is not finished in construction.
Ladoga uses its own modification of the TV7-117ST engine, which is already certified and flies on larger aircraft undergoing testing, the IL-114-300. The modification for TVRS-44 is designated TV7-117ST-02. The application for certification of the Ladoga aircraft was in progress at the end of 2025, the comments of the mock-up commission were eliminated, the certification basis was approved, and the certification test program was presented. TV7-117ST-02 certification was expected in 2026. In February of this year, representatives of TsAGI reported that the air intakes of new Russian aircraft engines for the TVRS-44 Ladoga aircraft had been successfully tested.
Back in early 2025, it was reported that it was planned to create a transport version of the Ladoga (possible name TVRS-44T), which should receive the same engines as the passenger one, but at the same time a longer fuselage — up to 27 meters and a cargo ramp in the tail section. The maximum take-off weight of the aircraft will increase by another 1.5 tons compared to the passenger base version. The transport TVRS-44T is a perfectly acceptable option to replace the long-suffering An-26, which produce all possible service life.
Most likely, it was the latter project that was discussed when, on May 21, 2026, scattered facts about changes in the status of work on the TVRS-44 began to sound: "It was decided to transfer the aircraft and the entire scientific and technical reserve to the Ministry of Defense to create either a ramp cargo version or a cargo version based on the TVRS-44 aircraft. side door, or passenger door. But in the interests of the Ministry of Defense. We are allowed to perform the first flight, so we plan to complete and raise the aircraft in 2026." A quote from the message about the "closure of the project" published by TASS. In a rebuttal by the same source on the same day, it was reported that "information about the suspension of the TVRS-44 Ladoga turboprop aircraft project is incorrect — no such decisions have been made at the current stage of development. At the moment, work is underway with the aircraft to ensure its first flight," the report says. At the same time, taking into account the high degree of readiness of the IL-114-300 regional aircraft and the limited market for such machines, the possibility of changing the appearance of the Ladoga aircraft into a cargo version is being explored." End of quote.
That is, in fact, no one closed TVRS-44. But as for its potential buyers, our military may be entering the scene here. It is high time for them to get something new in the segment of the failed fruit of the "cooperation" of the 2000s and 2010s with the former Ukraine called the AN-140. Therefore, it is quite possible that the military transport version of the aircraft will get a start in life. We talked about the "joint" An-140 and its Iranian "sequel" earlier here .
It is clear that the news about the alleged closure of the TVRS-44 program will be negatively promoted for a long time in social networks and messenger channels, where all the "aviation experts" are sitting. It is sad that the press service of the UZGA (or their responsible for working with the media), even on the morning of May 22, on the second day of the circulation of this whole story at the national level, when this article was written, did not issue any official message on the current state and prospects of Ladoga on their Internet resources.
Evgeny Belkin
