The Nizhny Novgorod aviation plant "Sokol" has assembled the first keel section for the Russian passenger aircraft MC-21 and has begun preparing its own production of this unit. The enterprise has become a new participant in the cooperation for the production of the liner and will be responsible for manufacturing a number of important structural elements.
As part of the program for the development of domestic civil aviation, the branch of PAO "OAK" - NAZ "Sokol" was connected to the MC-21 production chain. The plant was entrusted with the production of the keel section, door mechanization elements, and other aircraft parts.
The first unit has already been assembled. The main structural parts - the pressure bulkhead, upper and lower sections, manufactured at the Ulyanovsk plant "Aviastar" - have been delivered to the enterprise. After connecting the components, Sokol specialists formed a complete keel section, installed the necessary pipelines, and prepared it for shipment to the Irkutsk Aviation Plant, where the final assembly of MC-21 aircraft continues.
The next stage is the transition to independent manufacturing of the second section by the Nizhny Novgorod enterprise. In the future, the entire production cycle of this element is planned to be localized at the Sokol site.
For the new production, the plant received an automated complex for riveting operations. The equipment has already been installed and accepted. Now, the enterprise's specialists must master working with the system as part of special training, which will be conducted by experts from TsAGI named after N.E. Zhukovsky.
The training will take about two months. Employees will study not only aviation structure assembly technologies but also programming and control of automated equipment. Special section panels have already been prepared for practical exercises, on which riveting modes will be practiced.
Earlier, "Pervyy Tekhnicheskiy" reported that engineers from St. Petersburg imported substitutes for American Collins Aerospace products, and began producing domestic analogues of collision avoidance sensors.