Russian MC-21 Airliner to Swap P & W Engines for locally-made PD-14 Power plant

Prevented by US sanctions from using Pratt & Whitney engines in its MC-21-300 airliner project, Irkut Corporation of Russia will roll out its first serially manufactured plane with the PD-14 engine made by United Engine Corporation (UEC).

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov who visited the Irkutsk aviation plant today said "under unfavorable conditions, we will be ready to switch only to domestic engines." During the visit, it was announced that the first aircraft MC-21-300, produced by serial technologies, will be equipped with a PD-14 engine.

Further flight tests will be conducted with the aircraft modified for the installation of PD-14 engines. However Irkut Corporation will not abandon its partnership with Pratt and Whitney, he added.

During the visit to the plant Yuri Borisov was briefed on the third MC-21-300 aircraft preparation for flight tests. A fourth MC-21-300 prototype is undergoing assembly and will join flight tests in 2019. "We are not going to change our plans; the task is to complete the certification in 2020, and from 2021 to enter mass production, said Yury Borisov adding, “my dream is move towards a serial production above 100 planes.”

According to UEC, the emission, noise and a number of other parameters are better than those of the Western analogues of the PD-14. In 2018 it received the Russian certificate. Its validation by the European EASA is expected later this year. PD-14 is developed by UEC-Aviadvigatel and produced by UEC-Perm motors.

The key technologies destined to provide PD-14 with a competitive advantage on the market are composite materials. Their use in the nacelle components (65% of elements) and in the engine itself decreases the total mass of the propulsion system by 8%.

UEC is already in work with potential PD-14-powered MC-21 airplane customers in order to be able to supply them with the engine as soon as it gets the certificate.