Its interesting how some can make sweeping statements, that in reality demonstrates their own limited understanding of the world and their own blind acceptance of their own propaganda.
A report in FlightGlobal (a web based aviation journal) overviews the advanced work of aeronautical engineers in Russia.
For example, take this aircraft:
When the huge 171t (377,000lb) Tupolev Tu-114 turboprop (above) flew in 1957, it was by far the world's biggest production airliner of the time. It could seat up to 220 passengers and was the heaviest and largest airliner in service until the widebodies arrived in the 1960s.
So why didn't it ever become a commercial success? The simple answer is that: 1. commercial aviation was not important in the former Soviet Union, and 2. Capital (finance) was always scarce.
If Russian design can be in the forefront, as it was evident in the above example, and we add to the formula Chinese skills in money management and production, then a future that deprives Boeing and Airbus of the lucrative Asian market is feasible, and making sneering remarks will not make it go away.
The overview by FlightGlobal continued:
A few years ago, Antonov studied the development of a passenger-carrying version of the An-225, which would have seated 500-600 people on two decks. The Myasishchev design bureau has proposed a giant 500-seater featuring a wide "lifting body" fuselage based on its high-altitude M-60 surveillance aircraft.
The most exciting recent Russian giant design proposal appeared at the Sukhoi pavilion at the 1999Paris air show, where a huge model of its proposed KR-860 twin-deck airliner was displayed. The four-engined 860-seater would have 12-abreast triple-aisle seating on the main deck, and a nine-abreast, twin aisle upper deck. Entry would be either through conventional fuselage doors or forward and aft ventral escalators.
The wing design incorporates winglets and a fold outboard of the outer engines. The design has a maximum take-off weight of 650t, 50t more than that of the An-225, while an all-cargo model would offer a 300t payload. Maximum high density seating could exceed 1,000.
Sukhoi, which usually specialises in military designs, hopes to set up an international programme to develop the giant project, but with little interest from the West, the design seems destined to remain a pipe-dream.
I suggest that in view of the Russian-Chinese agreement, Sukhoi's dream can become a Boeing/Airbus nightmare.
Link: http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/giant-dreams-59888/