Yakovlev has commenced ground-based assessment of the fully import-substituted MC-21 prototype, in preparation for transferring it to the flight-test station.

The aircraft, which first flew in December 2021, was the first MC-21 to have a domestically-produced composite wing – a situation forced upon the developers by sanctions imposed even before the Ukrainian conflict.

Originally bearing the number 73361, the twinjet was initially configured as an MC-21-300 variant, with Pratt & Whitney PW1400G engines.

But under the programme to create an MC-21 variant with its foreign equipment replaced by Russian-built equivalents, the aircraft has been fitted with Aviadvigatel PD-14 engines and undergone extensive modification in Irkutsk.

United Aircraft says the airframe – serial number 0013 – now carries the fuselage number 73057, and has been redesignated as a -310 variant. It adds that it “completes the line” of MC-21 prototypes.

“Large-scale import substitution work has been carried out on the aircraft,” it states. “Key systems have been replaced with domestic ones.”

These include not only the engines but the integrated flight-control system, power supply, undercarriage, tyres, sensors and several other items of equipment. The aircraft has also become the first to feature preliminary installation of a domestically-produced cabin interior.

Import-substituted test-bench equipment – produced in Novosibirsk – has been used for the first time, to test the jet’s hydraulic system, United Aircraft adds.