Su-80 due to be delivered for flight testing in Moscow soon

Published: 9/10/1999

Sukhoi is due to start flight tests in September on its twin turboprop multipurpose aircraft, the Su-80, a competitor for the An-38 and MiG-110. Commenting to Reuters, Sukhoi's spokesman Yuri Chervyakov said the aircraft would be soon delivered to Zhukovsky in Moscow for flight-testing from KnAAPO at Komsomol'sk-na-Amure in Eastern Siberia. The first airframe of the new aircraft was completed in July 1998 and subsequently shipped to SibNIIA in Novosibirsk for structural load testing. The aircraft being delivered for testing to Zhukovsky is one of two airframes currently being assembled at KnAAPO, according to reports. Intended, like so many of Russia's current transport aircraft developments, to replace the large numbers of ageing transport aircraft, the Su-80 was originally conceived under the konversiya programme to convert military into civilian manufacturers. Work began in 1989 on the twin boom aircraft but, due to funding problems caused by the collapse of the USSR, the programme languished until revived in 1993. In 1995, General Electric agreed to fit the CT7-9 turboprop, which Rybinsk Motors are currently discussing about producing under licence. According to Chervyakov,"It has been designed to replace aging An-24, An-26, Yak-40 aircraft and similar short-range planes that have already reached 70% of their lives." The aircraft, with capacity for up to 26 passengers or 3.5 tons, has seen some strong demand according to Sukhoi. "The demand for the SU-80 is great…by 2006 we expect to sell 120 to 180 SU-80s domestically and export another 150 to 200."As yet there are no firm orders for the aircraft.

Article ID: 853