Russian airframer Irkut wants Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney to bid against each other with Russian partners in the tender to provide a powerplant for the new MS-21 airliner that it expects to launch this summer. Having previously pioneered the application of Western engines on Russian airliners through programs such as the Tupolev Tu-204-120, Rolls-Royce views the MS-21 as its best market prospect of several new Russian aircraft programs.
The MS-21 is projected to offer 20 percent lower fuel burn than existing airliners in its class. This will require next-generation propulsion technologies and Rolls-Royce has indicated it will be ready to come up with a suitable prototype within three years to meet Irkut’s goal for the new twinjet to enter service in 2015. An official with Rolls-Royce’s Russian subsidiary indicated to AIN that the approach the engine maker has in mind may be sufficiently radical as to require the proposed MS-21 airframe to be reshaped to accommodate it.
More In Engines
