Irkutsk Aviation Plant (IAZ), celebrating its 90th anniversary, is considered one of the leaders of the domestic aircraft industry. Since the launch of the main workshops on August 24, 1934, fighters and bombers, training aircraft, even the Be-200 amphibious jet aircraft, which is used by the Ministry of Emergency Situations in extinguishing large fires, have been assembled here.
The company is a branch of the Yakovlev company (part of Rostec UAC), has extensive experience working with most domestic design bureaus, it assembled aircraft of more than 30 types and modifications. Today, in addition to the production of the Su-30 and the combat training Yak-130, the plant is preparing for the start of serial production of the medium-haul passenger liner of the new generation MS-21.
The war years
In the 1930s, the active construction of aircraft factories beyond the Urals began, but it was in Irkutsk that the first aircraft began to be produced, after 90 years ago, the IAZ, at that time called Irkutsk Aviation Plant No. 125, began its work. The commissioning of the plant took place only two years after the start of construction, and in 1935 the first aircraft assembled at the enterprise took off — the all-metal monoplane I-14, developed by the Sukhoi team at the Tupolev design bureau.
The first production aircraft of the plant was another aircraft of this famous design bureau — the twin-engine high-speed bomber ANT-40 (SB). He was involved by the Red Army in the battles on Khalkhin Gol and at Lake Hassan. In addition, the aircraft participated in the Sino-Japanese War. According to the mutual assistance agreement, the bomber was supplied to China. At first, Soviet pilots flew it, then Chinese pilots who were trained.
At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, about 7 thousand people worked at the enterprise, many of them volunteered for the front. This created a problem with the personnel. With the forces remaining at the plant, it was impossible to perform the necessary amount of work — the plant received an order to build the famous Pe-2 dive bomber. "Three factories joined us to help. Among them are Ulan—Ude, which was engaged in the production of the Pe-2 plumage, and the State Automobile Repair Plant No. 104, which became a branch of our enterprise during the war. And from 15 thousand to 17 thousand people from the Moscow Menzhinsky plant came to us for evacuation," said Tatyana Romanova, head of the Museum of the history of the Irkutsk Aviation Plant.
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| Pe-2 bombers during the Great Patriotic War, 1944. |
| Source: © Mark Redkin/TASS |
After the end of the war, many Muscovites stayed in Irkutsk and created families, and their descendants continue to work at the aircraft factory today.
As noted in the IAZ, the role of generational continuity in the current success of the aircraft factory is difficult to overestimate. "A very important component is qualified personnel. All that we have today is the work of more than one generation," Alexander Veprev, the company's CEO, noted in an interview with TASS.
By the end of the first year of the war, 144 Pe-2 aircraft were transferred to military units. The bomber was distinguished by a high level of electrification, which required the plant to master the assembly and testing of the electric drive. Nevertheless, Irkutsk managed to produce up to five such combat vehicles per day. The Pe-3bis aircraft was also created on the basis of the bomber for the all-round defense of the Moscow sky.
In 1942, offensive actions became necessary at the front, and production of the Il-4 was launched at the plant. Their production reached 30 units per month. Closer to the end of the war, the plant began assembling the Er-2 bomber, as well as its modifications — the Er-2ON passenger aircraft with increased comfort for long-range flights of the highest command staff of the army and members of the government of the USSR. At the end of the war, the aircraft made an ultra-long flight, which amounted to almost 15 hours.
In total, during the years of the Great Patriotic War, the plant produced more than 2 thousand aircraft of seven types from three design bureaus, including 730 Pe-2 bombers, 134 Pe-3bis, 919 Il-4 heavy bombers, 391 long-range bomber Ep-2 and 4 Ep-2ON aircraft.
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| IL-4. |
| Source: © Evgeny Khaldey/ TASS |
The Jet Age
In the post-war period, the plant continued to produce bombers, in particular the piston-engined Tu-2. Then there was the Tu-14 jet torpedo bomber and the Il-28 jet. The latter became the most massive front-line bomber of its time and the basis of the strike forces of front-line aviation.
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| Il-28 bombers. |
| Source: © Nikolay Rakhmanov, Valentin Mastyukov/TASS |
Also in 1957, the plant began production of the military transport AN-12. Moreover, it was in Irkutsk that the first prototype of this aircraft was created. "At the same time, both pilot and serial production were launched. It was one and a half times the size of our serial bombers and three times the weight," Romanova said about the challenges faced by the IAZ at that time.
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| AN-12. |
| Source: © Yuri Sidorov/ TASS |
As a result, 155 serial An-12s were assembled at the plant, after which the production of the aircraft was transferred to other Russian enterprises. In 1961, Irkutsk began producing the Yak-28 multi-purpose jet combat aircraft.
The Yak-28 became a revolutionary aircraft for its time. It was originally developed as a universal machine, although this trend was developed only at the end of the twentieth century. At the same time, there were modifications of a front-line bomber, an interceptor fighter, a scout, and a jammer, as well as a training aircraft.
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| Yak-28 aircraft. |
| Source: Nikolay Akimov, Vladimir Peslyak / TASS Photo Chronicle |
In 1967, IAZ returned to the experience of producing military transport aircraft with the modification of the AN-24. It was produced for four years, in a relatively small series, but was delivered to 17 countries. In addition to the transport, a sanitary version of the aircraft was assembled at the plant.
Supersonic fighters
Later, the plant resumed the production of fighters, more precisely, the third generation of combat vehicles. In 1970, the plant launched production of the MiG-23UB combat training fighter (1,008 units were built at IAZ in total), and in 1973, the MiG-27 fighter-bomber developed on its basis (360 aircraft were assembled in Irkutsk).
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| MiG-27. The last single-engine fighter in service with the Russian Air Force. |
| Source: tass.ru |
There was also an export modification of the aircraft — the MiG-27ML — for licensed assembly in the city of Nasik in India. The specialists of the Irkutsk Aircraft Factory took an active part in the establishment of this production, which gave them a unique experience of military-technical cooperation, which soon became very relevant.
The fourth generation
The fourth generation of fighters at the plant began with the Su-27UB combat training aircraft. Its production began in 1985, then the factory began converting serial Su-27UB into a combat version of the Su-30 with new equipment and a rod for refueling in the air.
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| Su-30. |
| Source: Alexander Ryumin/ TASS |
"If we talk about the late 90s and early 2000s, we had practically no government orders at all, only about 1% of the total volume. Then export became an important help for the company," said Alexander Veprev, General Director of the plant.
In 1996, a contract was signed with India for the supply of the Su-30MKI, a two—seat supermaneuverable multi-purpose aircraft with thrust vector-controlled engines. In the future, export modifications of the Su-30 became widespread and began to be actively supplied abroad. To date, the Sukhoi Design Bureau's Su-30 is operated in various versions by nine countries. And the total number of such machines produced by IAZ is more than 380 units.
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| Fighter of generation 4+ Su-30MKI of the Indian Air Force. |
| Source: Photo: TASS/Marina Lystseva |
As for the state defense order, the company is currently engaged in supplying the newest version of the modernized multifunctional fighter, the Su—30SM2, in the interests of the Russian troops.
"Flying desk"
In 2002, the Irkut Scientific and Production Corporation was formed on the basis of the Moscow representative office of IAZ, and in 2004 the famous Yakovlev Design Bureau became part of it (now the combined company is called Yakovlev PJSC). This union launched the serial development of the combat training Yak-130 in Irkutsk, which is also called the "flying desk".
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| The Yak-130 combat training aircraft. |
| Source: © Ladislav Karpov/TASS |
The Yak-130 has become the main training aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces for training pilots for fighters of the fourth and even fifth generation. At the same time, the aircraft has gained popularity outside of Russia — more than 70 Yak-130 combat training vehicles are operated abroad.
At the same time, preparations for the production of the upgraded Yak-130M combat training aircraft are currently being completed at the plant. It is planned to assemble the first fuselage by the end of November, and the second one in December. According to CEO Alexander Veprev, it is expected to produce the first prototype machine in early 2025.
Flying boat
Production of the world's only amphibious jet aircraft, which has an impressive performance in terms of the number of water discharges per hour, began at the plant in 1992.
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| The Be-200CHS amphibious aircraft both flies and extinguishes fires very effectively and efficiently. |
| Source: Marina Lystseva/ TASS |
"In October 1998, the first flight took place, a lot of people gathered around the runway, because it was not a combat vehicle, many of the factory workers wanted to be present. People even climbed onto the roofs of the workshops to watch his first flight," said Tatyana Romanova, director of the factory museum.
In total, the Irkutsk Aircraft Factory has produced six production vehicles: five for the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia, one for the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Azerbaijan. In 2008, the transfer of Be-200 production to Taganrog began due to the fact that the workshops of the Irkutsk Aviation Plant began to prepare for a new major project.
The flagship of civil aviation
In 2007, Irkut Corporation (now Yakovlev PJSC) was selected as the parent company for the implementation of the project of the promising MS-21 mainline liner. The Irkutsk Aviation Plant acted as a platform for assembling a new aircraft with a wing made of domestic composite materials.
The first flight of the MS-21 took place in 2017, and by the end of 2021 the machine was certified, however, the imposition of sanctions against the Russian aviation industry did not allow the launch of mass production with imported components. Today, Yakovlev is implementing a full import substitution program for MS-21. In total, the aircraft will have to replace about 80 systems and assemblies with domestic analogues, which should not be inferior in quality to the best world models. Two experienced MS-21 aircraft, which will take part in the certification flight tests of Russian systems, are currently in the final assembly shop of the Irkutsk Aircraft Factory.
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| The first flight prototype of the MC aircraft-21-300-0001 (registration number 73051, serial number 21001) on the first flight. Irkutsk, 05/28/2017. |
| Source: Andrey Zakharenko / russianplanes.net |
In parallel, the company is modernizing production — there are 20 investment projects with a total value of 84.5 billion rubles, which should ensure the production of 36 airliners per year.
As noted by Veprev, the first stage of modernization of all basic industries has already been completed: procurement and stamping, mechanical assembly, coating production, aggregate assembly, assembly and testing. According to him, work is underway to modernize the galvanic production. In addition, the construction of a building with an area of 36 thousand square meters has been laid for mechanical assembly and blank-stamping production.
Assembly and assembly production, where the fuselage of the aircraft is assembled from various components, is considered one of the most important stages. At the Irkutsk Aircraft Factory, it meets all modern trends and should allow the assembly of at least three modern Russian airliners per month. For this purpose, the company has two assembly conveyor lines. They consist of a number of stations, parts of the fuselage to which are delivered on operator-controlled robotic platforms.
"The whole process of assembling the aircraft is simple. It's all digital — the details are made with an accuracy of tenths of a millimeter. Therefore, the assembly is very, very accurate. There are no "fillings" there, as was customary in the aircraft industry with the old methods," the company told TASS.
The plant produces parts for the MS-21 itself and receives them from enterprises all over Russia, so the logistics center here is also one of the key facilities. "Absolutely all the nomenclature for the MS-21 passes through the logistics center. These are parts of the Irkutsk Aviation Plant's own production and components purchased through cooperation. Previously, they were of foreign production, now they are import—substituted," they said.
The import substitution process at the plant also affected various equipment.
"The plant, of course, must, must cope [with the departure of Western equipment manufacturers] based on our plans for investment programs. Well, look, we worked with Czech supply companies on the production of coatings. Now the line is supplied by our Russian manufacturer. For sure, there will be some questions when launching the project, but we will work together to bring it up to compliance with the terms of reference," Alexander Veprev told TASS in an interview. He also noted that the plant has formed all the necessary technical specifications for suppliers for machining equipment. "These are the requirements for cutting modes, feed rates, and so on. And, most importantly, in terms of performance, so that it is not inferior to Western equipment.
"Now a number of enterprises are solving this problem," the CEO said. In particular, the site of new domestic lathes with numerical control (CNC) can produce parts for the Su-30, and Yak-130, and MS-21, and even the first Yak-152, which were assembled by the plant.
As told by the operator of CNC machines Pavel, the main difference between Russian and Western equipment is primarily in other software, which you have to get used to at first. Meanwhile, he noted that now Russian equipment is not inferior, and in some points surpasses its Western counterparts.
"90% of the work of a CNC machine operator is creativity. Here, as an artist paints a picture, the operator works out a program based on all his practical and theoretical knowledge in the field of metalworking and so on. These are very unique people who are appreciated all over the world," summed up the deputy head of the machining production.
Alexey Zhukov
