Chinese Engine Development
- Thread starter jackbh
- Start date
C919 faced many hurdles during design phase. detailed design completed in 2012. back then China was a technological backward society despite being the world largest manufacturer. testing infrastructure was inadequate. initially plan was composite wing but due to complexity they decided to go with traditional aluminum material.
but C919 marks a stepping stone in China's civil aviation industry.. eventually all shortcomings will solve in upcoming stretch variant. The 919-800 (extended version) has entered preliminary design phase. most likely to have composite wing. China now has world's most advanced and complex wind tunnel facilities.
COMAC main goal is to mass produce C919. this is the reason why they are building 2nd production facility in Shanghai. after completion total capacity will reach three digits. due to geopolitics and tech war production has slowed down but most likely to sorted out in next two years.
Any chance the CJ-2000A might see military derivatives?
WS-35 has announced. no specific details but most likely a 25-35 tons class category machine.
To be fair, they have their hands full expanding production.
Will happen eventually. C919 should be seen as another step in the industrial learning process rather than a fully competitive product.
When was it announced?
Agree.
ARJ21/C909 is roughly the equivalent of Liaoning -- China produced/refurbished, but heavily based on an old foreign design (Kuznetsov-class for Liaoning, MD-80 for ARJ21)
C919 is roughly the equivalent of Shandong - still uses some foreign tech/design, but with significantly more domestic content
C929 should be the equivalent of Fujian - fully domestic, cutting edge design, and world-leading performance in at least some aspects