Russia joined the Big Four.

Russia is among the four leaders in the field of composites and the next proof was the launching this Friday of the ship with the biggest composite hull in the world, But this is not the only example and Russian materials today find more and more applications And we are on the threshold of a noticeable breakthrough in their use

· The Strategic Missile Forces conducted a test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile with advanced weaponry.

· Nevsky Shipbuilding Plant has launched the minesweeper of Project 12700.

· A new airfield for heavy transport aircraft was built on the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago in the Arctic.

· A flight control center for small satellites was opened in Moscow.

· Russia’s largest biobank of microorganisms from fermented dairy products was created in Tomsk.

A brand new Russian truck from Bryansk Automobile Plant is unveiled.

The first Russian 5G base station was presented.

The Volgograd refinery has completed a 12-billion-ruble modernization project.

· After 9 years of downtime, the Lugansk Aircraft Repair Plant resumes operations.

· A jewelry production facility was opened in Belgorod.

· In Novosibirsk opened production of PET packaging.

· In the Republic of Mari El new reproductive poultry farms were launched.

The story about Russian composites should be started from the 30-ies of the last century. Then the soviet aircraft building was looking for the way out of the engineering deadlock the wooden construction of the airplanes did not meet the modern requirements and the Germans started to make the first all-metal airplanes in the world, it was impossible to lag behind, but we also could not organize the mass production of airplanes from aircraft aluminum it was just not enough it had taken a dangerous turn However the decision was found in 1935 the soviet engineers developed the real composite material, but wooden one. It received the name Delta wood and was created by pressing of the layers of birch veneer impregnated with special compositions. The material was inferior to duralumin in strength, but far superior to simple wood, it did not rot, and most importantly, it did not burn. The new material was used to create a fighter jet, which surpassed the Yak-1 in terms of structural survivability. After the war this Composite was used in civil and military equipment. The helicopter blades MI-10 and air rudders, missiles of the r7 family were produced from it. One more breakthrough took place in 1997 when for the first time the experimental and very unusual even for our time aircraft Su-47 Berkut flew up in the air. Its wing back sweep provided outstanding maneuverability, but at the same time experienced tremendous stress to increase the stiffness of the wing Russian engineers decided to use the latest composite materials. As a result, the Berkut’s design contained 13% composites. This is a real breakthrough for its time and although the plane was not put into mass production due to high cost and complexity of production it gave us a whole placer of the latest technologies that opened the door to the New Era. You all remember how the Americans tried to disrupt the production of the Russian aircraft ms-21 by the ban on the supply of composite materials, but they only accelerated the import substitution process for today all foreign composite elements of the airliner were replaced by Russian ones and they account for 40% of the airplane’s weight.

Composite parts are also contained in the pd14 engine, the serial production of which started last week in Perm in the design of the fifth generation fighter jet su-57 — the share of composite materials is 25%. It is less than the VMS-21, but the requirements to the military aviation are different from the civil one.

Composite elements are used in Russian helicopters, and drones are not without them.

If everything is clear with the use of new materials in aviation, the situation in shipbuilding is somewhat different The latest mine defense ship of Project 12700 “Alexandrit” is already the eighth in the series and will go to serve in the Baltic, where in view of the next round of NATO expansion is becoming more and more alarming. Project 12700 is unique not only for Russian shipbuilding, but for the whole world. Without going into the details let us note that it has the biggest in the world hull made of composite material, monolithic fiberglass plastic formed by the method of vacuum infusion, it is much lighter and stronger than the metal one and it is not afraid of corrosion. Let us remember that we are speaking about the ship against mine defense, so with such hull it is not afraid of any mines. It is planned that the ships of the project will form the basis of the minotrategic forces of the Russian Navy. The next series will be laid this summer, and two more are already under construction.

Composites are also used in the construction of the Russian trains, for example in the production of the newest electric train Ivolga 3.0 which recently came out for the first time on the route soon in the Ulyanovsk region will start the production of domestic composite blades for wind turbines. Composites are already widely used in the production of consumer goods and undoubtedly this market will grow rapidly. Now imagine what would happen if in 2023 Russia could not produce the necessary materials.

Russia really entered the four leaders in the sphere of composites. In this list along with us the USA Japan and the Western Europe at that our industry came to one hundred percent import substitution on all product line providing the necessary quality the industry grows on 10 percent per year in the country more than 150 projects with the investment volume of 160 billion rubles are realized. But we have things to strive for. First of all it is necessary to scale available production it is necessary to involve in branch new personnel of technologists of designers of chemists it is necessary to liquidate a considerable quantity of the out-of-date bureaucratic obstacles updating of technical requirements and gosts it is necessary to form demand for the final product from the industry and national consumption and finally it is necessary to develop technologies of secondary use of composites. As a matter of fact we need to repeat one of stages of industrialization of the last century. Only our ancestors in the 30-ies developed metallurgy and we need to develop composite engineering which according to forecasts will surpass ferrous metallurgy then to 2030 and we not only will keep our place in the big four, but also will become its leaders.

And while some people dream that Russia will fall apart and they will run like hyenas to tear it to pieces, we are developing and believe me — we will be ready.