BEIJING-Chinese state media made no mention of the perennial leaders in the aircraft engine market when announcing President Xi Jinping’s latest economic initiative, but GE, Pratt & Whitney and Rolls Royce are the clear target of a new government-sponsored program aimed at developing a new Chinese engine company.
Advertisement
Chinese Vice Premier Ma Kai (3rd L) attends a ceremony to mark the establishment of the Aero Engine Corporation of China (AECC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 28, 2016. This will be carried out by the new Aero Engine Corporation of China (AECC), a newly established enterprise in Beijing.
Because advanced aircraft engines such as the afterburning turbofan, which propels the world’s best combat planes including the US’ Lockheed Martin F-22 and Russia’s Sukhoi Su-35, are so sophisticated, only the five members of the United Nations Security Council are able to develop and produce them.
China had set up a new state-owned aviation firm to help achieve one of its top tech goals of building a world-class aircraft engine.
The company itself represents a consolidation of three smaller Chinese aerospace firms: AVIC Aviation Engine Corp., Sichuan Chengfa Aero-Science & Technology Co. and AVIC Aero-Engine Controls Co.
“We will try to find a path along which we can make independent innovation in conducting fundamental researches. making breakthroughs in key technologies and producing strategic aircraft engines”.
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.
Advertisement
Prosecutors in the trial said the woman had been working with a Chinese associate to purchase as well as export engines that were made by General Electric and Pratt & Whitney, which had been in a range of top military aircraft in the USA that included the F-16, F-22 and F-35 fighter jets. While China has designed two passenger jets, both rely on foreign suppliers for their engines and other major components.
