If until recently the United States was rightfully considered the greatest automobile power in the world, then the Soviet Union earned the honorary title of aviation superpower. And not only because it possessed formidable air forces and advanced missile technologies, but also thanks to the civilian air fleet, which ensured reliable delivery of goods and passengers throughout the country, to any, its most remote point. In general, the presence of a state of developed civil aviation and its own aviation industry is an obligatory attribute of the superpower, the key to its "territorial connectivity" and "transport security."