Sukhoi plans to develop a supersonic business jet (+)
By Robert Eksuzyan
MOSCOW, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Russia's Sukhoi aircraft maker said on Wednesday it was moving ahead with plans to develop a supersonic business jet and saw last week's Concorde crash as having no negative effect on the programme.
Andrei Ilyin, designer of the supersonic Sukhoi Su-21, told Reuters it would cost up to $3.0 billion to put the plane in the air and that he expected financing to come from agreements with a number of international plane manufacturers.
"We are now building a strong international consortium and establishing research centres for avionics, control systems and power units," he said.
"In no way will the Concorde crash influence the development of supersonic jet airliners in Russia. That accident could have happened with any other airplane in the world," Ilyin said.
Last Tuesday's crash -- Concorde's first -- killed 113, most of whom were German tourists. Some in the industry fear it will sound the death knell for supersonic passenger flight.
Russia was the first country to put a supersonic jet liner in the air with the Tupolev Tu-144 making its maiden flight on December 31, 1968, just two months before its rival Concorde.
The aircraft's drop-nose, delta shape so closely resembled the Franco-British plane that it was nicknamed the "Concordsky". Western critics accused Soviet engineers of pirating the plans.
The plane was shelved after finding no international market following a crash at the Le Bourget air show in 1973, but Boeing Corp Rockwell Collins have helped Tupolev get one flying again as an aviation laboratory.
Sukhoi is best know for its jet fighters, including the cutting edge Su-37, characterised by its swept forward wing design, but the company has also moved toward civilian aircraft in hopes of cashing in on the lucrative market.
Ilyin said the Su-21 is degisned to European and U.S. standards. It will cost $70 million, carry up to ten passengers and travel at nearly twice the speed of sound.
Tupolev is also pursuing plans to build a next generation supersonic passenger jet, the Tu-244, seeing a niche when the Concordes now flying reach the end of their service lives later this decade.
((Moscow Newsroom, +7095 941-8520 moscow.newsroom@reuters.com))
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Wednesday, 2 August 2000 16:30:43
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