The Frigate Ecojet (in Russian: Фрегат Экоджет, transliterated as ''Fregat Ekodzhet''), is a program for the development of a new wide-body medium-haul civil aircraft using new aerodynamic, and design configurations. The project started in 1991 as the twinjet Tu-304 under the leadership of Valentin Klimov (then chief designer of the Tupolev design bureau), being initially projected to carry up to 500 passengers. Since 2004 the project has been carried out by a new design bureau, led by Valentin Klimov and instituted as a daughter company of Tupolev, headed by Valentin Klimov's son, Alexandr Klimov. Since 2017, the

quadjet A four-engined jet, sometimes called a quadjet, is a jet aircraft powered by four Jet engine, engines. The presence of four engines offers increased power, allowing such aircraft to be used as airliners, Cargo aircraft, freighters, and military a ...

aircraft design has been branded the Frigate Freejet.

Initial technical characteristics

The primary goal of the Frigate Ecojet program was the development of a range of new wide-body

medium-haul In aviation, the flight length refers to the distance of a flight. Commercial flights are often categorized into long-, medium- or short-haul by commercial airlines based on flight length, although there is no international standard definition and ...

aircraft, intended to be operational by 2018. The new wide-body aircraft uses an oval fuselage configuration. The chosen form ensures minimal dimensions for the aircraft with 300–350 passengers in three cabins, three main aisles, no less than 500 mm (20 inches) wide and spaces between seats no less than 810 mm (32 inches). In an all-economy layout, the number of seats can be increased to 400. The aircraft can accommodate 302 passengers in a basic three-class layout ( Business Class, Premium Economy and

Economy An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...

). In 2015 the company and project engineers were relocated from Moscow to an undisclosed non-EU European country in order to seek flight certification from EASA rather than Russia, since this offered savings due to the host country determining certification authority. Russian standards are lower and not yet harmonized with EASA/FAA and if it was based in Russia it would have to repeat at least 30% of qualifying flights for EASA to receive a European flight certification as well as meeting more stringent design standards. If the company were based in an EASA country it could receive EASA and FAA dual certification from a single test program. Sergey Grachev, director of marketing sales for the Frigate Ecojet stated 'It is impossible to develop and create this kind of aircraft here'. The company still intends to perform its first flight in 2018 or 2019 and enter into service in 2021. When moving to Europe the company will also seek to harmonize cockpit design with a competitor to reduce pilot training costs. In January 2016 the company announced that it had completed wind tunnel trials in Germany in partnership with ThyssenKrupp and that the first 15 (unofficially first 45) aircraft would be manufactured and certified in the EU in a location to be announced on Feb 2016, believed to be in the short list were Germany, Czech Republic and Slovakia. The performance specifications were also frozen at 352–400 passengers in all-economy seating, MTOW 123t, a range of 2340 km with a payload of 33.4t and 4500 km with 24.7t, a minimum runway length of 2375m and a speed of Mach 0.8. No announcement on a production location followed however.

From Ecojet to Freejet

In August 2017, initially powered by PD-18R or PS-90A20 but lacking modern engines, the twinjet was modified into a ''Freejet'' four-engined design powered by modern engines introduced for the single-aisle market: the Irkut MC-21's Aviadvigatel PD-14, the Pratt & Whitney

PW1100G The Pratt & Whitney PW1000G, also called the Geared Turbofan (GTF), is a high-bypass geared turbofan engine family produced by Pratt & Whitney. After many demonstrators, the program was launched with the Mitsubishi MRJ's PW1200G in March 2008, ...

or the

CFM International LEAP The CFM International LEAP ("Leading Edge Aviation Propulsion") is a high-bypass turbofan engine produced by CFM International, a 50–50 joint venture between American GE Aviation and French Safran Aircraft Engines (formerly Snecma). It is the ...

powering the

A320neo The Airbus A320neo family is a development of the A320 family of narrow-body airliners produced by Airbus. The A320neo family (''neo'' for "new engine option") is based on the previous A319, A320 and A321 ( enhanced variant), which was then ren ...

and the

B737 MAX The Boeing 737 MAX is the fourth generation of the Boeing 737, a narrow-body airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA), a division of American company Boeing. It succeeds the Boeing 737 Next Generation (NG) and competes with t ...

, losing a little in aerodynamics and weight and raising the

maximum take-off weight The maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) or maximum gross takeoff weight (MGTOW) or maximum takeoff mass (MTOM) of an aircraft is the maximum weight at which the pilot is allowed to attempt to takeoff, take off, due to structural or other limits. The a ...

from for a range of for 300 passengers in an all-economy 10-abreast triple-aisle cabin, increasing to with 244 passengers; it has a wingspan of and over length of with eight

emergency exit An emergency exit in a structure is a special exit for emergencies such as a fire: the combined use of regular and special exits allows for faster evacuation, while it also provides an alternative if the route to the regular exit is blocked. ...

s. The company said it was dissatisfied with the age of the current engines on the market in the desired power class with no new or updated models in development and lacking the funds and time (around 3–5 years of development) to sponsor development of its own.

Gallery

File:Frigate Ecojet program logo.gif File:Cabin Frigate Ecojet.jpg

References

{{Tupolev aircraft Proposed aircraft of Russia Quadjets Wide-body aircraft

Initial technical characteristics

From Ecojet to Freejet

Gallery

See also

References