The front-end engineering design of the domestic supersonic passenger jet can take anywhere from 2022 to 2026, followed by its detail design. The United Aviation Corporation (UAC) will deal with these activities, the Russian Ministry of Industry said on Thursday, according to Interfax.
The terms of reference for the demonstrator of supersonic passenger jet technologies and the demonstrator should be developed in 2020-2022, the press service said.
Research should be performed with the use of the demonstrator during this period, aimed at improving aerodynamic characteristics and increasing the load ratio.
“Enormous work will have to be completed during the same period to prepare a package of regulatory documents aimed at regulating the processes of assessing conformity for ultrasonic passenger jets,” Industry Minister Denis Manturov said in a comment.
According to Mikhail Nikulochkin, First Deputy Director of the Tekhproekty Design and Research Center affiliated with aviation company Tupolev, research and experimental work for the development of a new supersonic business jet would total around $645 million.
The implementation of the supersonic business jet project is anticipated to be broken down into two stages, Nikulochkin said. The first stage is the development of a demo airplane, with the first takeoff planned in 2024. The second one is the development of a prototype version, with the first flight scheduled in 2027, Nikulochkin said.
Ministry of Industry and Trade representatives said earlier that specialists from the UAC can design a supersonic business jet in seven to eight years and the demand on the domestic market can be 20-30 planes with the price of $100-120 million each.
