The aerospace world got its first close look at the Sukhoi Superjet 100 when Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company staged a rollout ceremony on September 26 outside its final assembly plant in the Siberian city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur. Witnessed by “many hundreds” of company officials and employees, government dignitaries and media, the rollout ended a six-and-a-half-year wait for the first public display of a completed airframe since Sukhoi, Ilyushin and Boeing launched feasibility studies on the project, then known as the Russian Regional Jet. Sukhoi expects the 95-seat regional jet to fly next month, in time for planned first delivery to launch customer Aeroflot by November next year.
Meanwhile, static tests continue on the second prototype in Zhukovsky at the TsAGI state aerodynamics research center, as do systems tests and integration work on various suppliers’ test benches and Sukhoi’s “electronic bird” in Moscow. Plans call for the certification program to use six airframes, four of which will participate in flight testing. Sukhoi plans to build nine of the airplanes in all next year, followed by 30 in 2009, 60 in 2010 and 70 in 2011.
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