The United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) has revealed that Russia is currently building a prototype supersonic passenger jet.
According to Russian news agency TASS, majority state-owned Russian aerospace and defence conglomerate the UAC has said that the country will be bringing supersonic passenger travel back to the skies.
In an interview with the news agency, Vadim Badekha, CEO of UAC, said: “Yes, such work is underway at the Zhukovsky Research Centre [a Russian national research centre for aviation based in Moscow], and we are actively assisting.
“The work is no longer confined to paper – it is already being carried out in hardware. A prototype of such an aircraft is under development, and we believe the Zhukovsky Research Centre will successfully complete this work.”
TASS also reported that, in April, the research centre patented a design for a passenger aircraft than can fly at supersonic speeds with reduced sonic boom loudness and lower noise levels near airports. The centre has also...