Russia Plans Having Home-Produced Avionics For MC-21 Aircraft By 2023 End

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th January, 2020) Russia has plans to create home-produced avionics for its new MC-21 twin-jet airliner by the end of 2023, according to documents for participants of a relevant tender.

The MC-21 airborne avionics is currently comprised of systems produced by French company Thales and US firms Honeywell and Rockwell Collins.

The draft enclosure to the planned agreement says that avionics development, tests and certificating should be completed by the fourth quarter of 2023. Meanwhile, the document says the deadline may be shifted, taking into consideration "the date of avionics development under the basic certificate" and "Russia-made components readiness and conformity with technical specifications.

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The Irkut company, which produces the airliner, confirmed to Sputnik the plans to equip the MC-21 with Russian avionics, adding that "competition procedures" were still underway.

The MC-21-300 is a next-generation aircraft that has a capacity of up to 211 passengers. It conducted its first flight on May 28, 2017. Certification is expected to be completed in 2020, while batch production is set to start in 2021. Aeroflot airline is expected to become the first operator of the new aircraft.