United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) and Rostec began work on expanding the industrial base with a view to increasing the production speed of its fifth-generation Suckhoi Su-57 fighters.
State corporation Rostec reported that a groundbreaking ceremony for the new facilities intended for testing Su-57 systems and equipment was held on August 19 at the flight test station of the Gagarin Aviation Plant.
Work on expanding the production base of the flight test station at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur aircraft plant includes the construction of a number of new facilities. First of all, an avionics test facility, a fuel dock and an engine test station will be commissioned. United Aircraft Corporation is funding the construction of these facilities.
“UAC is fulfilling a large state contract: the Ministry of Defense needs to take delivery of 76 Su-57 fighters in the next few years. To produce the required number of aircraft with the required quality and on schedule, we have undertaken the expansion and modernization of the production facilities. Already in the second half of 2023, the new facilities of the KNAAZ flight test station should receive the first aircraft,” said Vladimir Artyakov, first deputy general director of Rostec State Corporation.
“With state support, a new building for the Su-57 flight test station and the third stage of the electroplating facility will be built at Gagarin KNAZ, and a major reconstruction of the machining and heat treatment facilities will begin,” said Alexander Pekarsh, director of the Gagarin KNAZ branch of UAC PJSC.
See also: The Sukhoi Su-57 completed combat operations over Ukraine
The modernization and expansion of the KNAAZ facilities should make it possible to accelerate the serial production of Su-57 Felon (NATO code) fighters, whose slow delivery has already been criticized several times, a situation that the Western sanctions must surely have worsened.
