A Russian airliner revival sold as breakthrough now survives on extended flight-cycle limits, Ukrainian spy agency says

Russia has launched a tender to extend the service life of existing Sukhoi Superjet 100 passenger airliners instead of building new ones, an admission that its domestic-aircraft revival has failed, Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service (SZR) reported. The agency says the program meant to free Russia from Western planes has collapsed. 

A tender that admits the program broke

Russia's Industry and Trade Ministry opened a $60.6 million tender to stretch the airframe life of Superjet jets, the SZR assessed. The centerpiece of that drive was the Yakovlev SJ-100, a regional jet originally designed by the now-merged Russian maker Sukhoi Civil Aircraft. The airliner is better known under its original pre-August 2025 name, Sukhoi Superjet 100.  The 2022 program promised airlines 42 modernized Superjets. Twelve arrived. The SZR said the cause is plain: the PD-8 engine, without which serial production is impossible, still has no certificate.

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One extra plane from the whole lineup

The rest of the replacement lineup fared no better, the SZR assessed. From the MC-21, Il-114-300, Tu-214 and Il-96-300, airlines received exactly one extra aircraft. Plans for up to 120, then 200, planes a year became what the Ukrainian Foreign Intelligence Service called a "statistical joke." Moscow's own target for domestic aircraft in airline fleets by 2030 has already slid from 80% to 50%, while the real share sits near 19%, the SZR said.

A French engine that Russia can't service

About 159 Superjets still fly, and some depend on SaM146 engines built with France's Safran, which left Russia after February 2022, the SZR noted. The Russian firm holding half the rights to that engine refuses developer status for it, making major overhauls impossible inside Russia. Extending the airframes is not a technical fix but a way to hide the collapse, the SZR assessed, and the longer these jets stay airborne, the higher the risk to passengers.

• The SZR reported in October 2025 that Russian carriers could shed hundreds of planes by 2030 as sanctions block imports of aircraft, parts, and maintenance, with Superjet SaM146 engine life already extended. 
• The same agency earlier assessed that about 90% of Russian passenger traffic still flies on Boeing and Airbus despite the import-substitution push. 
• Intelligence-obtained documents previously showed more than a third of Russia's civil fleet cannibalized for parts.