The Russian Presidency considers the first flight of Russian airliner Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SJ-100) assembled using only domestic components a great success, as it is advancing the country's ambition to achieve independence from imports, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.
"It is really a great success, because the development of new technologies and production of details and components is proceeding fast. It is important that it is taking place in a record short time. The work is not finished yet, this plane still has to be equipped with a domestic engine, which will happen soon. This is really a great success," Peskov told reporters.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is following the progress of import substitution, in the aviation and other areas, the spokesman said.
The SJ-100 is a regional jet with the flight range of about 4,500 kilometers (2,800 miles).
Earlier on Tuesday, the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade reported that a prototype of the Russian SJ-100 aircraft with import-substituted systems made its first flight in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. The plane has about 40 foreign-made systems and components replaced with domestically manufactured analogs but uses a French-Russian engine SaM146.
"The stable operation of all national systems, the controllability and steadiness of the aircraft in the air were confirmed during the tests," the ministry stated.
Additionally, the crew checked the automatic cabin pressure control system, performed a "cloud landing" and a go-around operation.
According to Andrey Boginsky, the Deputy General Director for Civil Aviation of United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) and the head of Russian aircraft manufacturing company Yakovlev PAO [public joint-stock company], it took four years from the preliminary design to the first flight, which is close to a record.