Russia to team up with UAE to develop supersonic passenger jet – trade minister

Russia’s United Aviation Corporation and Mubadala, the investment fund of the United Arab Emirates, will create a joint venture for developing and manufacturing a supersonic business-passenger jet.

The conceptual design of the new aircraft could be revealed as soon as at the end of the current year, according to Russia’s Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov, who stressed that the issue of equity participation hasn’t so far been discussed.
The jet is expected to come in two versions, one with a passenger seat configuration of up to eight and the other of up to 30.

“So far, we are optimistic [about the time frame for delivery being], until the end of 2021, but maybe the beginning of 2022,” the minister told journalists during his visit to UAE.

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“The key parameters have mostly been set: the speed will be Mach 1.5 to 1.8, taking into consideration that the flight time at a speed of Mach 1.8 is limited to four hours,” Manturov said.

Supersonic speeds range from Mach 1 to Mach 5. As a comparison, the Airbus A350 – a long-range wide-body jet airliner developed by European multinational aerospace giant Airbus – can attain a top speed of Mach 0.89, or 945km/ph at an altitude of around 12,000 meters.

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The project was first announced in 2019. Back then, Manturov said initial investments might total $100 million. United Aviation Corporation President Yury Slyusar noted that the aircraft is oriented to global markets – in particular, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

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