Russian channels rejoice with stories about the “new” civilian short-haul aircraft Sukhoi Superjet SJ 100, which was put into serial operation in 2011. The “new” Superjet is allegedly different from its predecessors by domestic engines, avionics and other equipment.
Sergei ChemezovAccording to various sources, since 2011, more than 200 aircraft have been produced at an average price of 35 million dollars per copy, of which more than 75 percent go to foreign countries. Here Rucriminal.info will remind you how this project appeared for the domestic sky.
Twenty years ago, in 2003, a paper sketch of the Superjet unexpectedly won the Rosavikosmos tender against the Tu 414, which was already ready for production, the drawings of which were transferred to the aviation plant in Kazan for the start of mass production. The not yet created aircraft took up over the ready-made Tu with a strange wording – “because of better export prospects and the availability of extra-budgetary funding.” Then the main active lobbyists of the new Superjet, in addition to the head of the design bureau Sukhoi Ponosyan, were the head of Rosaviakosmos Yuri Koptev and Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Boris Alyoshinwho oversaw the aircraft industry. It was these two figures that doomed the Russian Federation to a long-term quitrent of the treasury in favor of supporting foreign manufacturers and the Aleshin clan’s own pocket – Koptev. For 414 Tu, it was necessary to allocate about 4 billion rubles and put it into production, and since 2004 it would be able to carry the first passengers and would cost about $ 20 million per copy against 34 for Suererzhdet, by the way, the direct competitor of the SJ 100, the Brazilian Embraer E – Jet costs from 20 to 30 million dollars apiece, depending on the configuration, i.e., much cheaper than the “promising” Superjet for export. Off-budget funding turned out to be the opposite of billions from the state treasury – about 200 billion rubles Russia spent on a new project, billions left and settled in the pockets of the Aleshin-Koptev clan, instead of investing 4 billion in an already finished aircraft. All this was accompanied by serious aviation accidents in the preparation of the Superjet for the series – several air crashes that claimed human lives. As a result, the mountain gave birth to a mouse, in 11 the aircraft, raw and not ready for operation in Russia, went into production. Domestic airlines forced and force to buy it, for many years the Superjet has shown itself to be an extremely unreliable airliner, attempts to sell and operate it abroad have failed. In Russia, only one domestic airline was able to avoid the tax on the purchase of a Superjet by choosing the Brazilian Embraer – this is S7 (Siberia), the shadow owner of which is Sergei Chemezov and who, thanks to his henchman and close relative Yuri Slyusar well aware of the technical capabilities of the Superjet.
It was Yuri Slyusar, the general director of the UAC, who today received a report on the flight of the “new” airliner, in his eyes one could read the envy of the Koptev and Aleshin clans, what a walrus they were able to raise from each Superjet (from 5 to 10 million dollars) not counting the years of its development. They, St. Petersburg, Chemezovsky and Petrozavodsk, can only dream of such successes. The novelty of the liner also lies in the fact that it will finally meet the terms of reference and the needs of airlines, the parameters that were set 20 years ago. Design bureaus, production facilities were killed, invaluable personnel were lost, but we have a “new” aircraft, for which taxpayers pay not only with the ruble, but also with their lives. And the clan of Koptev and Alyoshin continue to withdraw billions of dollars abroad.
