Contemporary era
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, each of the multitude of bureaus and factories producing Sukhoi components was privatized independently. In the early 1990s, Sukhoi started diversifying its products and initiated Sukhoi Civil Aircraft to create a line of civil aviation projects for the company. The progress made by the new branch would lead to the development of the utility aircraft, the Su-80, and the agricultural aircraft, the Su-38, less than a decade later.[5] In 1996, the government re-gathered the major part of them forming Sukhoi Aviation Military Industrial Combine (Sukhoi AIMC).[6] In parallel, other entities, including Ulan Ude factory, Tbilisi factory, Belarus and Ukraine factories, established alternate transnational Sukhoi Attack Aircraft (planning to produce e.g. Su-25 TM).[6]
The Sukhoi AIMC is composed of the joint-stock company Sukhoi Design Bureau and the JSC Sukhoi Civil Aircraft, located in Moscow, the Novosibirsk Aircraft Production Association (NAPA), located in Novosibirsk, and the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Production Association (KnAAPO), located in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. Sukhoi is headquartered in Moscow. Finmeccanica (since 2017, Leonardo) owns 25% + 1 share of Sukhoi's civil division.[7] The Russian government merged Sukhoi with Mikoyan, Ilyushin, Irkut, Tupolev, and Yakovlev as a new company named United Aircraft Corporation in February 2006.[8] Mikoyan and Sukhoi were placed within the same operating unit.[9] In September 2007, Sukhoi launched its first modern commercial regional airliner—the Superjet 100 (SSJ 100), a 78 to 98 seater, built by Sukhoi. It was unveiled at Komsomolsk-on-Amur.[10] The maiden flight was made on May 19, 2008. In March 2008, Sukhoi was selected to design and produce the carbon fiber composite wings for Irkut's MC-21's airframe. Sukhoi is also working on what is to be Russia's fifth-generation stealth fighter, the Sukhoi Su-57. The maiden flight took place on the 29 January 2010.[11]
As of January 2015, Sukhoi is working on a family of the regional airliner: the Sukhoi Superjet 100, such as the jet airliner Superjet 130, which would have a seating capacity of 130 to 145 seats, and to bridge the gap of Russian aircraft between the Superjet Stretch and the Irkut MC-21.
