Chinese Engine Development

Why aren't Xian get involved in the new engine Production, their WS9 is quite successful for the JH7A bomber.

I mean,
WS13 Guizhou
WS10A and WS15 by Shenyang Liming.

Xian has the best trackrecord, and surprised they aren't heavily involved.

Well WS9 is a simpler engine to master compare to WS13 and WS10A, in fact they don't even belong to the same generation.

TyroneG said:

Why aren't Xian get involved in the new engine Production, their WS9 is quite successful for the JH7A bomber.

I mean,
WS13 Guizhou
WS10A and WS15 by Shenyang Liming.

Xian has the best trackrecord, and surprised they aren't heavily involved.

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Xi'an produces 1/3 of the work in WS-10A if i remember correctly. I believe it is also the main contractor for WS-15 and also WS-20.

China has purchased 184 D-30KP-2 turbo fan engines for its Y20 and H-K bombers.

Any equivalent domestic version in development so it doesn't need to depend on the Russians?

TyroneG said:

China has purchased 184 D-30KP-2 turbo fan engines for its Y20 and H-K bombers.

Any equivalent domestic version in development so it doesn't need to depend on the Russians?

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WS-18 is the domestic version of D-30KP-2. Additionally, a high-bypass turbofan called WS-20 is being developed in parallel which will eventually replace D-30KP2/WS-20 as powerplant of the Y-20.

Engineer said:

WS-18 is the domestic version of D-30KP-2. Additionally, a high-bypass turbofan called WS-20 is being developed in parallel which will eventually replace D-30KP2/WS-20 as powerplant of the Y-20.

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Yes, I know WS-18. I heard it is a copy of D-30.

However, WS-20 is derived from WS-10. How good is WS-20 and when will it be ready ?

Thanks.

AeroEngineer said:

How good is WS-20 and when will it be ready ?

Thanks.

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Barring having PLA insider knowledge, we need a crystall ball to know that.

AeroEngineer said:

Yes, I know WS-18. I heard it is a copy of D-30.

However, WS-20 is derived from WS-10. How good is WS-20 and when will it be ready ?

Thanks.

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The only official figure is that it's 12000-13000 kgf thrust, latter the deputy manager of ACAE confirmed that it can hit 13000 kgf. He also mentioned if using that engine as C919's powerplant it may be able to hit the 2014 deadline but it will be extremely difficult, which indicates the original military version will probably be ready in 2013.

Apparently someone just renamed the wikipedia WS-15 article from Shenyang WS-15 to Xian WS-15. Does this mean the supposedly more competent Xian AE plant is going to handle the research and prototype batch production?

t_co said:

Apparently someone just renamed the wikipedia WS-15 article from Shenyang WS-15 to Xian WS-15. Does this mean the supposedly more competent Xian AE plant is going to handle the research and prototype batch production?

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I think CAC should have major involvement in the future of WS-15 development since it affects their flag ship J-20 project. The re-distribution of engine development responsibilities was hinted at in 2012 engine summit (see post #1447) It is related to China's new "Work division and cooperation of China aero engine development" strategy.