Why Russia’s 'Airbus Killer' Is Too Heavy To Fly

Video Description

Imagine building the same airplane twice. First with the best technology money can buy, then again with half the world cut off. That is the story of the MC twenty one, Russia’s so called Airbus killer that suddenly lost its Western engines, avionics, and composites overnight. Sanctions did not just delay this jet, they forced designers to rebuild it from the inside out. Costs exploded, the airframe gained over three tons, range collapsed by a quarter, and the list price drifted into the same neighborhood as the very jets it was supposed to undercut. It cannot be certified in Europe or America. It has no global support network. And yet Moscow keeps pouring billions into it anyway. Is this still an airplane program, or has it become a flying monument to self reliance? Here is what is really happening.