Aircraft industry in Russia
The aircraft industry in Russia is a significant industrial sector in the country, employing 355,000 - 400,000 people.
The Russian aviation industry is largely state-owned and centrally controlled, with little strategic private competition. As of 2025, the majority of both military and civil production is held by three large joint stock corporations under the State Corporation "Rostec" conglomerate. United Aircraft Corporation engages in the production of both military and civil aircraft, Russian Helicopters with a variety of helicopters, and United Engine Corporation producing aircraft, marine and industrial engines.
The Russian and Soviet aerospace industry has made many important contributions to the history of aircraft. Achievements include the second operational jetliner in service , the world's first commercial supersonic transport aircraft, the largest spacecraft to remotely orbit and land, worlds largest aircraft the fastest manned serially produced aircraft in operational use, and offered for civilian flights, the first use of 3 dimensional thrust vectoring on a combat aircraft, the worlds most-produced helicopter, the worlds largest operational helicopter and the first operation combat helicopter equipped with a crew ejection system.
The Russian aviation industry underwent an unprecedented collapse following the breakup of the Soviet Union. Once a world leader in aircraft design and production, the industry experienced a near-total contraction in the Yeltsin era as a result of fragmented supply chains, loss of centralised funding and loss of export markets, resulting in a contraction of the workforce and emigration of engineers. Well recognised former state design bureaus such as Tupolev and Ilyushin faced bankruptcy, and the production of aircraft was effectively halted. This situation was made worse by the 1998 Russian financial crisis.
In 2006, the Russian government forced the United Aircraft Corporation, merging the remaining assets of various companies under the majority stake of the government. A similar venture, Russian Helicopters, consolidated helicopter production. Contracts signed with partners such as India and China provided critical cash flow. As a result, the production of military aircraft began to recover, with large scale production of several existing and new models such as the Su-34, Su-35, Su-57 and Yak-130 underway.
The current goal of the Russian aerospace industry is to revive large scale civil passenger aircraft manufacturing. Due to the challenges posed by international sanctions, offerings such as the Ilyushin Il-114, Yakovlev SJ-100 and Yakovlev MC-21 focus on self-sufficiency and import substitution.
History
First World War
Russia had 24 aircraft manufacturers at the outbreak of war, but they did not have the materials or the capacity to replace the aircraft that were lost. In particular, they were dependent on foreign engines. It produced 1893 aircraft and imported 883 from 1914 to 1916, but it only produced 920 engines in this period while importing 2326. Production declined sharply after the February Revolution, and had virtually ceased when Russia left the war in 1918.The most famous aircraft produced during this period was the Sikorsky Ilya Muromets, the first four-engine bomber to equip a dedicated strategic bombing unit. This heavy bomber was unrivalled in the early stages of the war, as the Central Powers had no comparable aircraft until much later. During World War I, Russia lost only one Sikorsky Ilya Muromets to enemy action in more than 400 sorties.
1922-1991 Soviet era: East giant
In the Soviet planned economic system, free market competition between companies was seen as wasteful. The Soviet system was instead multi-tiered, the chief components of which were design bureaus, known as OKBs, and manufacturing complexes.The OKBs did not possess the means to mass-produce manufactured aircraft and the manufacturing complexes were unable to design aircraft.
Operational requirements for proposed aircraft were created by the Soviet Air Forces, for which individual OKBs would create a design informed by state research institutes. The state research institutes would then provide the OKSs with information on aerodynamics and available systems. This process led to competing designs being very similar in appearance. These competing designs would be evaluated against each other the winning design would be handed off to the manufacturing complexes for production. Most of these complexes were within the Soviet Union, but some production lines were assigned to allies within the Warsaw Pact. Due in part to political considerations, the assignment of production was widely dispersed, creating supply chains in which the role of state planning was paramount.
When exported, a third tier existed in the state-run export companies due to neither design bureaus nor manufacturing companies being responsible for the marketing of their products overseas. The state-run export companies did not benefit from the sale of their products, with proceeds instead being allocated to design and production units in order to meet centrally determined production targets.
With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Warsaw Pact and Comecon there came a disconnect between end users, export companies, OKBs, assembly plants, and component manufacturers. Russia also found that entire segments of its aviation requirements now lay in foreign countries. One example of this was the manufacture of jet training aircraft, which was assigned to Czechoslovakia, while Poland got light helicopters and crop-dusting airplanes. Additionally, Romania possessed the manufacture of light helicopters, the majority of Russia's tactical airlift design capability in the form of the Antonov was now in Ukraine, and the main assembly plant for the Sukhoi Su-25 ground attack aircraft was in Georgia.
1992-2005 Post-Soviet adjustments: Competition and struggles
Aerospace was a well-developed industry in the Soviet Union. In late 1980s, the Soviet Union accounted for 25% of the worldwide civilian and 40% of the worldwide military aircraft production. The consequences of the Soviet Union's dissolution in 1991 were however catastrophic. The whole manufacturing sector was devastated by imports, while the aerospace and automobile industries barely managed to survive under highly protective tariffs. On the positive side, the military aircraft industry managed to benefit from improving export possibilities. It profited from a large stock of components and parts which had been produced during Soviet times. The civilian aircraft industry fared much worse: while in 1990, the country had produced 715 civilian aircraft, by 1998 the number had dropped to 56 and in 2000 only four civilian aircraft were produced.As the industry structure was deeply fractionalised, the consensus was that consolidation was necessary. For this purpose, President Boris Yeltsin created the VPK-MAPO, which included some key companies such as Mikoyan. MAPO later became the Russian Aircraft Company 'MiG'. This stage of consolidation was however not very successful, and MAPO was later merged with Sukhoi.
The aerospace industry's total output in 2000 was $2.7 billion, with a net profit of $600 million. Exports of military aircraft in 2000 amounted to $1.3 billion.
The civilian aircraft industry was affected by the 1998 Russian financial crisis. Only a few aircraft were built and after-sale maintenance was minuscule. Many planes, both new and old, failed to receive international safety and environmental certifications. Two key companies, Aviastar-SP and Voronezh Aircraft Production Association were almost bankrupt. The profits of the civilian aircraft industry totaled just $300 million in 2001. However, in August 2000, the situation started improving considerably. In 2001, the industry finally started receiving new orders from leasing companies. Air transportation grew about 8% a year, and by 2004 domestic demand for new aircraft was soaring. Key companies managed to pay their debts or get them restructured, and production levels were increasing again.
The military aircraft industry survived the 15 years of crisis almost exclusively through exports. Only in 2005 did the industry start to receive substantial financing from the state budget.
2006-2022: Industry consolidation programme and New projects
In 2005, the government under President Vladimir Putin initiated an industry consolidation programme to bring the main aircraft producing companies under a single umbrella organization, the United Aircraft Corporation. The aim was optimize production lines and minimise losses. The programme was divided in three parts: reorganization and crisis management, evolution of existing projects and further progress within the newly created structure.The UAC, one of the so-called national champions and comparable to EADS in Europe, enjoyed considerable financial support from the Russian government, and injected money to the companies it had acquired to improve their financial standing. The UACs first budget in 2007, was about 2 billion rubles, and next year it increased to 24 billion rubles.
The deliveries of civilian aircraft increased to 6 in 2005, and in 2009 the industry delivered 15 civilian aircraft, worth 12.5 billion roubles, mostly to domestic customers.
Despite the 2008 financial crisis, Russia's aircraft manufacturing industry as a whole increased production and sales by 19.5% in 2009.
Fifth-generation fighter
In 1998, the Russian Air Force asked the industry to develop a light multirole frontline aircraft. In 2001, the requirements were upgraded to a multirole frontline aircraft system, which later became the fifth-generation fighter Sukhoi Su-57, regarded as Russia's response to the American Joint Strike Fighter. The Su-57 performed its maiden flight in 2010, breaking United States's complete monopoly on the development and production of fifth-generation jets. Moscow Defense Brief hailed it as a major coup for the Russian aerospace industry, writing that:Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin announced that government would increase financing of Russian defence industry complex.
Su-57 development could be delayed due to international sanctions on Russia's defence industries following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, and Russia could not import semiconductors and high-tech machining equipment from the European Union.