Khabarovsk Krai is creating another key node in the production chain for the Russian regional aircraft SJ-100. One of the region’s companies is significantly changing its production profile. 70-80% of its manufacturing capacity has already been converted, and in the future up to 90% of its output will be focused on the aviation industry. The major customer for this modification is the import-substituted SJ-100 program, the serial manufacturing of which is being set up in Komsomolsk-on-Amur.
At the same time, the project is not only about the production of standard metal components. The company already has the capacity to manufacture complex items needing high-precision machining. These items exemplify the gradual domestic production of crucial components within Russia’s aircraft-manufacturing supply chain.
A Small Part for a Large Aircraft
A report by GTRK “Dalnevostochnaya” showed the production of a component for the Superjet 100. At first glance it looks like a fairly small piece of metal, but the construction is far more complex than size might imply. The component has many faces, holes, and curved portions. The external surfaces are at many different angles.
According to Grigory Zayev, head of the milling section, such a component cannot be produced on the standard equipment available at most Russian enterprises. This is why the facility uses huge, high-precision machines that can process workpieces along far more intricate tool paths. The business says it expects making about 40,000 of these pieces.
This is precisely where the importance of modern aviation industry cooperation lies. An aircraft is not simply the major assembly, such as the fuselage, wings, and engines. Also, a large number of small parts must be created with high precision and according to the engineering documentation. These components are part of a broader system that determines whether the completed airplane can be constructed and operated.
From Individual Components to Aviation Specialization
The Khabarovsk company is being transformed on a far larger scale than the order for one aircraft. According to Deputy General Director Alexander Ostapchuk, the re-equipment has already covered approximately 70–80% of the company’s overall production capacity. In the future, the firm wants to increase the share of aviation-related output to 90%.
The remaining 10% will probably continue to be spent on the fabrication of complex engine components and the re-engineering of goods that are not yet possible to produce in Russia. This signifies that the program is not a short-term production program for a certain aircraft model. Rather, the company is concentrating on long-term specialization in sophisticated precision machining.
This is especially true for the Russian aircraft industry, where access to some foreign components has become increasingly difficult. The production facility is getting the ability to make not just parts for new airplanes but also to reproduce specific items, the foreign supply of which has been limited.
At the same time the firm becomes a training center for specialists. Training has been organized in fields linked to specialized machining in partnership with Pacific National University. With the help of a federal grant, the relevant instructional and production facilities are being developed.
The next step is a ‘dark’ factory
The most interesting part of this project, however, is not the machines themselves but the method they are produced. The company is building a robotic production zone it terms a “dark factory.”
In industrial language, the word “dark factory” usually denotes an extremely automated manufacturing plant that can operate with minimum personnel presence. In the Khabarovsk project, robots and aspects of artificial intelligence are to help engineers in the production of components.
The project is also a mix of foreign hardware and Russian software development. The structure of the system and hardware components were supplied from China, while the software is being built by local specialists.
Should the project succeed in reaching the expected level of automation, the manufacturing line will be able to operate throughout far longer durations than a traditional working shift. In the longer future the aim is to operate 24/7 with a good proportion of the manufacturing operations done autonomously.
Components for the SJ-100’s New Production Cycle
The appearance of this facility as part of the production network supporting the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aviation Plant is in line with the overall reorganization of SJ-100 manufacturing. The aircraft is being built as a heavily import-substituted variant of the Superjet, with Russian systems and components, including the PD-8 engine.
The first SJ-100, developed according to serial production technology, made its maiden flight in Komsomolsk-on-Amur in September 2025.
The production network is far larger than one plant. The firms of many regions of Russia are producing parts for the SJ-100. Komsomolsk-on-Amur still remains a center of large airframe manufacturing and final assembly activities.
This is why the development of the Khabarovsk facility matters beyond the interests of a single supplier. With the possibility of organizing round-the-clock automated production and achieving quantities that fully satisfy the needs of the Komsomolsk aircraft plant, the firm can become a significant piece of the industrial infrastructure that will ensure the serial production of the SJ-100.
The story of the Khabarovsk enterprise therefore illustrates the next stage in Russia’s aircraft-manufacturing supply chain: from the recovery and production of individual components to the construction of specialized high-precision manufacturing capacity and its robotic automation.
For the SJ-100, this implies another piece of the domestic manufacturing chain is being created that has the ability to go beyond small-batch orders and to meet the needs of serial aircraft production.