China needs to accelerate research, development and manufacturing of aircraft engines and gas turbines to make China an aviation industry power, he said as the government established Aero Engine Corporation of China (AECC) to focus on engine manufacturing.
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It has about 50bn yuan ($7.5bn) in registered capital and will develop both military and commercial engines. The company has been praised by President Xi Jinping as a strategic move according to remarks that were published by the state media. For military use, China employs Russian-made engines.
China does not make large commercial jet engines of its own and the country’s narrow-body airliner, the C919, is powered by engines from CFM International, a venture between GE of the United States and France’s Safran. Beijing’s most recent five-year development plan identifies domestic development and production of engines and planes as a major goal.
However, that area is a hard task to master.
But it’s a hard area to master, and China has generally relied heavily on technology from overseas. Comac’s single-aisle C919 jetliner that is now under development is supposed to be powered by engines made by CFM International, a joint venture between GE and the Snecma engine unit of France’s Safran SA, Wall Street Journal reported .
But industry executives say it could take years for the firm to develop the engines to power big commercial jets.
In a court in Florida, this past June a woman was convicted by the USA of conspiring to send jet engines for fighter jets and drones over to China.
The country now buys engines from the likes of General Electric in the United States, as well as importing Russian engines for its military jets.
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An ARJ21-700, China’s first domestically produced regional jet, arrives at Shanghai Hongqiao Airport after making its first flight from Chengdu to Shanghai, China June 28, 2016.
