How they broke wings on a long-haul project
This story began in 1990, when the first domestic wide-body passenger aircraft Il-86 with 350 seats for medium-haul airlines entered the airways of the Soviet Union. Later, taking into account the fact that the territory of the Soviet Union occupied 1/6 of the land, it was decided to create a wide-body long-range Il-96 aircraft of the same passenger capacity.
It required an 18-ton engine. This was not the case in the USSR, it still had to be created. And since the narrow-body Tu-204 for medium-haul routes was planned simultaneously with the Il-96, the USSR Ministry of Aviation Industry decided to make a single engine for both aircraft. Looking ahead, we note that, like many other erroneous decisions, the main motivation here was cost savings. This led to the need to reduce the number of passengers of this modification from 350 to 300. This is how the Il-96-300 project was born, the efficiency of which was lower than that of the original Il-96.
“At a price significantly lower than that of foreign airliners, the new Il-96-300 and Tu-204 did not have the slightest chance of finding at least minimal demand in the domestic market”
But the idea to return to the Il-96 aircraft the technical and economic parameters originally laid down in it did not leave the General Designer of the OKB im. Ilyushin Genrikh Novozhilov. And overseas, the political enemy of the Soviet Union, the United States, at Pratt & Whitney was looking for an application for a new brainchild - the PW2337 engine. The joint interest of the two firms in promoting their developments to world markets and the warming of Soviet-American relations allowed on December 7, 1990, to sign a protocol for the preparation of a feasibility study for the Il-96M aircraft with PW2337 engines, which provided for the construction of an experimental prototype for the 1993 international air show in Paris. Taking into account the outlined cooperation and at the request of Pratt & Whitney's parent company, United Technologies Corporation (UTC), on January 20, 1991, official representatives of the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) arrived in Moscow to negotiate the certification of our aircraft in America. The Soviet side was informed that this is possible only after the permission of the US State Department and the signing of an intergovernmental agreement on flight safety.
In the same 1991, the Soviet Union died, and further work on the Il-96M was carried out in Russia. The collapse of the USSR sharply complicated the implementation of the agreements reached by the Ilyushin people. The project lost financial support from the state. Moreover, one of the first acts of the Yeltsin-Gaidar government was the practical confiscation of all working capital of industrial enterprises of the defense complex, which immediately put them on the brink of survival. Of course, the attitude to their industry in the United States was far from being the case, which allowed Pratt & Whitney to fulfill all obligations to our design bureau for the creation of the Il-96M on time. Moreover, the pressure exerted by UTC on the Russian leadership led to, if not material, then at least moral support for the project. As a result, President Yeltsin paid a visit to the OKB im. Ilyushin for acquaintance with the development of the Il-96M with American engines. This, of course, contributed to a more favorable attitude towards the Il-96M project from various government agencies. The progress of work on the Il-96M project was covered in detail at the Mosaeroshow-92 in Zhukovsky near Moscow.
All Soviet for scrap, collect scrap metal
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, serious changes have taken place in the state regulation bodies of civil aviation. In place of the USSR State Aviation Inspectorate, which, contrary to the requirements of Appendix 13 to the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation, simultaneously investigated flight accidents and was engaged in the certification of aircraft types, in the confusion created during the transition from allied control bodies to Russian authorities, an even more strange entity arose - the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC). He continued to simultaneously investigate incidents and certify in violation of Appendix 13. In addition, the latter, having diplomatic immunity on the territory of Russia, was engaged on a commercial basis, which contradicts all norms of international law. And with an enthusiasm worthy of a better application, he stamped type certificates for foreign aircraft, especially Boeing.
The IAC story deserves a separate investigation. For us, in this case, it is important that as a result of the uncontrolled certification of foreign aircraft, a stream of foreign junk poured into the Russian market, often at a price slightly higher than for scrap metal. The customs duties imposed by the State Committee for Defense Industry on the import of foreign aircraft did not play any role, since the price of scrap remained the same. And this is with a huge amount of Soviet-made aircraft that were given to airlines for free. If we add to them the re-export flow of cheap domestic aircraft from the CIS countries and Eastern Europe and the collapse in demand for air transportation due to the catastrophic drop in the living standards of the country's population, it becomes clear that the Il-96-300 and Tu-204, which are certified with great difficulty in 1992 and 1994, at a price significantly lower than that of new foreign liners, there was not the slightest chance of finding at least minimal demand in the domestic market.
And they could not go to foreign ones, since they were not certified anywhere, except for the poor republics of the CIS, who did not know how to get rid of unnecessary gratuitous Soviet aircraft.
In such conditions, the prototype of the long-haul passenger Il-96MO made its first flight on April 6, 1993 from the Central airfield on Khodynskoye field, the permission for which I signed, being the head of the Department of R&D and promising scientific developments of the State Committee for Defense Industry, together with representatives of the military (the owners of the airfield) and mayor's office of Moscow. I well remember a sigh of relief when they said that everything went well. After all, the length of the runway was only 1800 meters, and the flight trajectory passed over city objects. Now everything is built up there with a stadium and residential buildings, and recently a shopping and entertainment complex with the nostalgic name "Aviapark" has opened. They say they named it that way because the owners, when receiving permission for development, promised to create here an analogue of the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. But something, as always, did not grow together, and the aviation exhibits collected at Khodynka were sent for scrap. What we have - we do not store, having lost - we cry. Tradition.
At the same time, the takeoff of the Il-96MO from the Central Aerodrome saved the Aviation Complex. S. V. Ilyushin time and a lot of money during the delivery of the aircraft from the pilot plant to the VCI in Zhukovsky. This allowed in June 1993, as Novozhilov promised the Americans, to take part in the 40th International Air Show in Paris. And already on the next, 41st between JSC "Aeroflot - Russian Airlines" and the AK im. Ilyushin, a General Agreement was signed on the supply of ten Il-96M and the same Il-96T with PW-2337 engines and Rockwell Collins avionics.
At the same time AK them. Ilyushin and the Voronezh Aviation Aircraft Society worked with FAA and IAC to successfully certify Il-96M / T aircraft in the USA and the CIS.
Chernomyrdin supported, Kasyanov buried
The active lobbying of the Il-96M / T project by the Ilyushin people, and most importantly, by the United Technologies Corporation and Rockwell Collins in the government circles of Russia and the United States, bore fruit: the Chernomyrdin-Gor intergovernmental commission was entrusted with the consideration of all issues under the program. In 1997, at the suggestion of the RF Ministry of Defense Industry, the government adopted Resolution No. 125 “On measures of state support for the production of Il-96M / T aircraft”. In development, already on the initiative of the Ministry of Economy of the Russian Federation, on July 7, 1998, a decree appeared, according to which customs privileges on imported foreign aircraft could be provided only if their direct certified counterparts were not produced in the Russian Federation. At the same time, the air carrier had to invest three rubles in the domestic aircraft industry for each ruble exempted from customs payments and guarantee the conclusion of specific contracts with manufacturers. On this basis, between the Ministry of Economy of the Russian Federation and the companies Aeroflot - Russian Airlines and Transaero, investment agreements were signed in July 1998 obliging to purchase new domestic Il-96-300, Il-96M / T and Tu-204. In particular, Aeroflot signed until 2005 to purchase 20 Il-96M / T aircraft for a total amount of about $ 1.5 billion. On July 28, 1998, the new management of the airline, in the presence of Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko, signed with A. Ilyushin's protocol of additions to the 1995 General Agreement on the acquisition from VASO of 17 passenger Il-96M and three cargo Il-96T. The main condition for the financing of the American participants in the Il-96M / T production project from the US Eximbank in the amount of $ 1.075 billion was the purchase by Aeroflot of 10 Boeing aircraft. It was compensation for the appearance of a competitor on the market. The government of the Russian Federation and Vnesheconombank acted as guarantors of the entire transaction. However, after the August 1998 crisis, Eximbank refused to finance the American participants in the project and to participate in the deal. Vice President Gore did not influence this decision in any way, although the activities of the bank are fully controlled by the US State Department.
Nevertheless, during the state visit of President Clinton to Russia on September 2, 1998, an intergovernmental agreement on improving flight safety - BASA was concluded between the Russian Federation and the United States, which opened the way for the FAA to issue AK to them. SV Ilyushin of the type certificate for the Il-96T aircraft. And already on September 12, the IAC, FAS RF and the US FAA signed the "Implementation Procedures for Design Approval, Manufacturing Activities, Export Airworthiness Approval, Post-Design Approval Work and Technical Mutual Assistance between Aviation Authorities." This document is interesting for the complete inequality of approaches to aircraft certification developed in Russia and the United States. In particular, Section 2 states that the Russian Federation accepts FAA export certificates for both new and used aircraft developed in the United States. But we remember that by this time the IAC, without any intergovernmental agreement, had certified all American junk at a reasonable price, and this had to be somehow covered up. But the United States accepts export airworthiness certificates for transport category aircraft only in full cargo configuration, with FAA-approved engines, propellers, avionics, and only for instrument landing approaches in categories I and II. Agree that there is no smell of equality here.
Only after all the concessions from the Russian side, the FAA of the United States issued an AK to them on June 2, 1999. Ilyushin's type certificate for the Il-96T aircraft. But this, of course, was a colossal success of the domestic civil aircraft industry, which proved to the Americans that our aircraft are in no way inferior in terms of flight safety.
Completion of the project now required all parties to meet their commitments. And with this there were problems. Although Aeroflot leased 10 Boeing aircraft duty-free, Eximbank initially refused to finance the supply of engines and equipment to Ilyushin residents. It was only under pressure from the American co-executors of the project that he decided to provide guarantees against loans to pay for supplies. True, now he allocated only $ 130 million for the construction of three Il-96Ts for the purchase of 12 Pratt & Whitney PW2037 engines and Collins avionics, thus financing 85 percent of the project cost, another 15 percent were commodity loans from American suppliers.
It would seem that the ice has broken. And here the people of Ilyushin received a stab in the back, but not from someone, but from their own government. In agreement with the leadership of Rosaviakosmos, Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov signed Decree No. 906 on December 26, 2001, which invalidated the decision of the Chernomyrdin cabinet on measures of state support for the production of the Il-96M / T. This immediately deprived the residents of Ilyushin of the opportunity to finance the project. It is said that this development was greeted by the Boeing and Airbus corporations with a sense of deep satisfaction. And Pratt & Whitney and Rockwell Collins wrote off $ 200 million spent on certification of the Il-96M / T for losses, and took back their engines and avionics, admitting that the project did not take place.
The story, however, did not end there. On August 10, 2009 the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Viktor Khristenko announced: “The production of the Il-96-300 aircraft is futile and will be stopped. Therefore, a decision was made on duty-free import into Russia of foreign passenger aircraft with a capacity of more than 300 passengers, and a lot of work is underway to cooperate with the United States in the production of their long-haul and wide-body passenger version of Boeing. In particular, the Russian side supplies a significant amount of titanium structures for this airliner."
Genrikh Novozhilov assessed the minister's decision as follows: “As a verdict to the Russian aviation industry, a statement was made that we do not need wide-body aircraft. I cannot understand the principle of selecting people for the government of the country. Our industry leaders are not experts in the field they oversee.”
On July 30, 2015, the IAC, of course, again for a fee, certified the A-340 aircraft of Airbus Industry, which is a direct analogue of the Il-96M. Therefore, even now in the CIS there is a demand for aircraft of this type, but we ourselves have given this niche to foreign firms. Sad story.