14 April 2026
In Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Russia, the roof collapsed in one of the workshops at the Gagarin Aviation Plant (KnAAP), which manufactures the Su-35 and Su-57 fighter jets.
Satellite images of the aftermath were published by the OSINT resource Exilenova+.
The collapse occurred as a result of a fire that broke out on the night of April 11-12, as Militarnyi previously reported.
The published images show damage to one of the plant’s production buildings — several sections of the roof have collapsed.
The collapse occurred in the area of production workshops responsible for manufacturing key aircraft components.
Su-57 production. Photo credits: en.defence-ua.com
Plant No. 46
This refers to Plant No. 46, which is a crucial link in the production process and specializes in manufacturing parts from polymer composite materials (PCM) for the Su-57. In particular, the plant produces the following:
- approximately 300 different parts, of which about 100 are large-scale,
- including aileron panels, air intakes,
- flaperons, floor panels, and wing tip fairings.
Plant No. 46 is also the important part for the serial production of the Su-35S, however, its damage has a significantly greater impact on the production of the former, since the number of composite parts in the Su-57’s structure is many times greater than in the Su-30MK2 and Su-35S.
Russian sources have reported that the labor intensity of manufacturing a complete set of composite parts for the Su-57 in this shop has increased eightfold compared to the Su-35S.
Su-57. Photo credits: MilitaryWatchMagazine
According to analysts’ estimates, damage to or destruction of the workshop would directly halt or significantly slow down the assembly of Su-57 airframes, and cooperation with ONPP “Tekhnologiya” would only be able to partially compensate for this, and with a significant time lag.