Russia's recent decision to put official weight behind the Sukhoi
RRJ (Russian Regional Jet) program has directed away what little
limelight was being shed on competing designs that failed to make
it.
Irkutsk (which adopted this punchy new name last December, in
replacement for the ponderous, Soviet-era IAPO) came up with the
offer to build a new sort of widebody. Evidently reflecting the
Myasishchev Bureau's innovative thoughts on the subject of efficient
air transport, this seems, at first glance, to be the product
of an unfortunate incident between a Boeing 737 and a road roller.
The V-tailed design, with its wide, but flattened fuselage, which
Irkutsk calls a 'super widebody,' would have been a gift to aircraft
recognition buffs, but is now most unlikely to see the light of
day.
Fortunately, Irkutsk is busy with a broad range of other products,
having recently expanded from being a producer of others' aircraft
to a design and manufacturing complex. Among others, it builds
the Beriev Be-200 twinjet amphibian water-bomber and variants
of Sukhoi Su-27 multirole fighter, as well as having designed
its own three-seat A-002 autogyro.
