Who on Weibo/which part of Weibo?
Chinese Aviation Industry
- Thread starter FriedRiceNSpice
- Start date
Who on Weibo/which part of Weibo?
WJ-10 is the military version of AEP-400/AEP-500 hence the same engine. so doesn't matter much.
on paper AEP-400/AEP-500 need to go through extensive testing for civil certification. which is undergoing.
@ismellcopium both are the same machine.. AEP series comes under civilian category so need certification from civil aviation authority.
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Debates on engine designations aside -
Well, given that the MA700 in the video is powered by WJ-10, per OP on Weibo (apparently the PW150C has never made it to Xi'an AC), and with the claim of MA700 been flying with WJ-10 for quite some time in secret (the video isn't recent, per some comments underneath that OP post on Weibo):
Hopefully, we'll see the KJ-600 having its WJ-6C swapped with WJ-10 soon.
And then there's also the Y-30 in the shadows...
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absolutely. the most important thing is, finally no WJ-6C. and MA-700 powered by a brand new turboprop Engines.
looks like we have entire line up of Engines sorted out in second half of 2025. we are getting surprise after surprise.
Well, speaking of the resurrected MA700:
The WJ-10, among some other factors likely aren't going to make the MA700 as fully comparable and commercially competitive as the longtime market staples of ATR-72 and Q300/400. Though, given that China doesn't actually have a sizeable market for turboprop regional airliners, having the MA700 introduced with WJ-10 for government and military usage should be pretty good enough for the time being.
Namely:
Government: Meteorology, Search-&-rescue, Firefighting, Maritime law enforcement (coast guard), Scientific research
Military: Transport/Airlift, Maritime patrol and surveillance
(It should be noted that while the Dash 8 series have been used as MPAs and ASW aircrafts in other countries, China already has the Y-9 (and the upcoming Y-30) as the better/superior platform(s) for such roles.)
In the meantime, there's also the question on the MA600, which is the direct improvement of the MA60, the latter of which doesn't really has a stellar service record. Perhaps it's time to consolidate all the efforts on just the MA600 and MA700 (and thus phasing out MA60 production), indigenize and before making them commercially competitive on the international market in the years to come.
On the other hand (and just my out-of-own-pocket idea) - Perhaps its time to shift all turboprop operations to Shaanxi, and let Xi'an deal solely with the turbofans, as their workload is plenty heavy enough (namely, the H-6K/J/N, Y-20 family (i.e. Y-20B MRTT and KJ-3000), the upcoming H-20, plus potentially a 400-ton class strategic airlifter and a next-gen common platform for special mission aircrafts)?
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With the rumored a few hundreds a330 neos from China, will there be a wide-body FAL in China ? Or the techonology of wide-body is still a secret and should be kept away from China ?
I think Pratt & Whitney engine family nailed the design in their era and upgrades maintained them in the race. But the share volume made their price so low and logistics management so easy that replacement have been hard to push them aside.
A better design certainly exist in China or elsewhere. Pratt & Whitney engine family is just economically hard to push aside.