Program update
1
“The design sets ‘a
new standard in the
regional-jet segment’ ”
AEROSPACETESTINGINTERNATIONAL.COM // MARCH 2020 91
GLOBAL EXPANSION
SpaceJet airframe manufacture started at MitAC’s
Tobishima plant in June 2019. Since completion, MSN
10010/Flight-Test Vehicle 10 (FTV10) has been involved
in ground tests before entering the Nagoya flight-test
fleet (see box Flight-test review).
Twelve months ago, in March 2019, formal typecertification
(TC) flight-testing by the US Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) started and by December
FTV10 had achieved “power on”, which MitAC sees as a
key milestone for “the first test aircraft in final,
certifiable configuration.”
Outlining three-year plans last May, MHI chief
executive Seiji Izumisawa reported that work was in the
“final stages” toward receiving formal approval, a
welcome scenario since the MRJ was more than seven
years behind initial schedules. MitAC was “working
closely” with airworthiness authorities, including local
regulator the Japanese Civil Aviation Board – engaged on
only the country’s second indigenous commercialaircraft
design after the YS-11 (since 1945). Confirmation
of the sixth delay came as MHI and Mitsubishi
Corporation (MitCo), MitAC’s ultimate parent, continue
efforts to increase the M90 program’s pace, and MitAC
itself studies a smaller, lighter M100. MHI’s business
plans also encompass other aerospace activities under a
global group-management structure. These activities
include work to set up SpaceJet service-support
arrangements such as a flight-simulator at Tokyo’s
Haneda training center and MitCo’s acquisition of a
third-party aircraft program – Bombardier’s Canadair
Regional Jet (CRJ).
Meanwhile, MitAC’s former MRJ division has been
transferred into MHI’s Commercial Aviation Systems
Segment (CASS), which plans to increase synergies
between the SpaceJet program and other parts of the
Mitsubishi Corporation’s “Tier 1” structures activities.
The latter includes aerostructures for Boeing and
Bombardier, and the CRJ service business it purchased
last year.
1 // The Mitsubishi Regional
Jet, dubbed as the SpaceJet
M90, on display at the 2019
Paris Air Show
/AEROSPACETESTINGINTERNATIONAL.COM
