In the 1970s, the project of the Tu-22 long-range missile carrier was planned to be launched at the aircraft plant in Irkutsk, which would inevitably have led the enterprise to collapse. This opinion was expressed in an author\"s column by aviation analyst Alexey Nikolsky.
In his opinion, if the Tu-22M3 had nevertheless begun to be built in Irkutsk, the MC-21-310 civil airliner would not exist today. As a result, the bomber began to be built in Kazan.
The likely reason for this was the limited size of the aircraft plant in Irkutsk due to local geography. It is not hard to imagine that in the 1990s such a large aircraft as the Tu-22M3, with no export prospects, would have dragged the Irkutsk plant to the bottom.
It should be noted that the Irkutsk aircraft plant is indeed geographically constrained. It is located within the city limits, surrounded by residential districts and mountains, which limited the possibilities for expanding the runway and workshops for such a giant as the Tu-22M3.
Earlier, \"First Technical\" in a major article examined why reviving Tu-22M3 production in Russia is currently impossible.
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