China's transport, tanker & heavy lift aircraft

M16A2 vs AK-47 said:

How much cargo can the Il-76 cary, and how big is it compared to the C-5? :coffee:

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KYIV. July 2 (Interfax) - The Chinese authorities have proposed
expanding the format of cooperation with Ukraine in aircraft
manufacturing.
During recent talks between Ukrainian Industrial Policy Minister
Anatoly Holovko and president of China's aircraft producing corporation
AVIC-I Lin Zuoming, Chinese officials reaffirmed their readiness to
invest in the development of new aircraft-making technologies, including
through establishing a joint venture with Ukraine, a spokesman for the
Industrial Policy Ministry told Interfax.
Among other potential areas of partnership, Chinese and Ukrainian
officials also discussed cooperation in developing new designs of
military-transport aircraft.

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MOSCOW. Aug 14 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian-Chinese working group
on cooperation in civilian aviation is to discuss the implementation of
joint projects to build aircraft at a session this week.
"Russian-Chinese cooperation in large-scale projects to build
aircraft has intensified. The Russian-Chinese working group on
scientific and technical cooperation will hold a session on August 16,
and the subgroup on cooperation in the field of civilian aviation will
meet on August 17," head of the Russian Federal Industry Agency's
aviation industry department Yevgeny Gorbunov told Interfax-AVN.
The subgroup on cooperation in the field of civilian aviation plans
to discuss specific projects at the session, including the possibility
of building a big passenger airplane, he said.
"Talks between Russian and Chinese aviation experts on building
such an airplane are only at the initial stage," Gorbunov said.
"The airplane's technical characteristics have yet to be
determined, but such a passenger plane is needed both on the Russian and
Chinese markets," he said.
It was reported earlier that Russia and China were considering a
joint project to design a passenger plane capable of carrying about 250
passengers and with a flight range of up to 4,500-5,000 kilometers.

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tphuang said:

continuation of the il-76 saga, it's definite, the Russians are offering China MF variant with PS-90A engine. Let's see how it goes from here.

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China details heavy transport aircraft plan
China has released details about its ambitious plan to build a heavy transport aircraft at the Xi'an Aircraft Industry Group factory, but the first aircraft...
16-Aug-2007

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尘埃落定:大运已经在一飞院正式开始研制,总装在陕西

张云川在陕检查工作：圆满完成国家重要型号的研制工程

来源：陕西日报
　　本报讯　（刘宇辉）7月7日，国防科工委主任张云川，副主任陈求发、孙来燕率领国防科工委有关司局领导，到一航一飞院检查国家重要型号的研制进展。陕西省副省长洪峰陪同检查。

　　一航一飞院吴光辉院长、张亚平书记等陪同张主任一行参观了动力燃油、特设系统和强度新技术试验室。吴光辉汇报了国家重要型号的指导思想、设计目标及研制保障条件建设需求。 

　　张云川强调，国家重要型号工程必须圆满完成。航空工业正面临一个十分难得的大发展机遇。未来十年，是实现航空工业全面振兴的关键时期。以国家重要型号和进入总装阶段的ARJ21飞机等为标志的国家急需重要型号都是巨大的挑战。这些国家级任务必须承担而且要完成好。

一飞院在国家重要型号上已经做了很多前期工作。但真正从事研制的同志能感觉到它巨大的难度和挑战，这不是一般的任务，而是国家的一项战略性决策。

正因为挑战和困难巨大，我们更要坚定信心，要看到这是大显身手、大有作为的年代。在陕的相关企业能为国家重要型号研制做贡献也是很光荣的事情，要同心同德。在国家重要型号的设计思路上要瞄准、跟踪国际前沿。在关键技术上要运用先进而可靠的技术。要应对国际挑战，就必须大幅度提升自主创新，尤其是科技自主创新的能力。研制中还要考虑军民用飞机的通用性，技术的互动与成果的共享，也要注意研制手段、保障条件的兼容性。

洪峰代表陕西省政府讲话指出，国务院关于国家重要型号立项的决策，给我国航空工业带来了历史性发展机遇，也是航空人扬眉吐气、弘扬航空精神的极好机会。

国务院决定把国家重要型号总装放在陕西，又好又快地研制国家重要型号飞机，不仅是加强航空能力的迫切需要，也是对下一步满足民用货运需求的很好准备。

陕西省将把国家重要型号工程作为龙头项目，带动陕西航空工业发展，进而推动整个关中地区现代装备工业基地的快速建设。陕西省、西安市将举全省全市之力，积极支持配合国家重要型号工程项目的顺利实施。省政府已成立了专门的领导小组，由省长袁纯清担任组长。省里还将拿出几亿资金，参与项目的相关配套与基础设施建设以及环境的改善。

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China's AVIC-1 wants to establish cooperation with Ukraine's Antonov
Design Bureau

Zhukovsky (near Moscow), August 22 (Interfax-Ukraine) - China's
aircraft building corporation AVIC-I wants to establish long-term
cooperation with Ukraine's Antonov Design Bureau (ANTK, Kyiv) in
building new Chinese aircraft.
Priority is being given to the creation of a new Chinese heavy
transport plane, with a carrying capacity of at least 60 tonnes, Zou
Rangfeng, the head of the Chinese corporation's international sales
division, told Interfax at the MAKS-2007 international air show.
The Chinese side is considering several models for cooperation:
using ANTK as a partner in designing the plane; acquiring ANTK shares
with the approval of the Ukrainian government, or establishing a joint
venture in Ukraine and in China.

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tphuang said:

well, from this article, it looks like they are going to go with the An-70 route or maybe they are just asking Antonov for consultancy.

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The first ARJ21 fuselage at Shanghai Aircraft's factory, where final assembly of the regional jet is taking place

Final assembly work on the first batch of AVIC I Commercial Aircraft (ACAC) ARJ21-700 regional jets is under way at Shanghai Aircraft's assembly plant and the first aircraft is due to be rolled out by year-end.

AVIC I assistant president Zheng Qiang says the first flight will be in March next year and in the third quarter of 2009 the ARJ21-700 is expected to receive Chinese certi*fication and be delivered to launch customer Shandong Airlines.

Zheng was replaced as president of ACAC in June by Luo Rong Huai, who was previously president and chairman of Chengdu Aircraft, the AVIC I aircraft factory that is producing the ARJ21's nose section.

The significance of the ARJ21 programme lies in it being the first Chinese indigenous aircraft programme that aims to meet Western certification requirements. It has an unprecedented number of Western suppliers and makes use of aircraft manufacturing technologies new to China.

The programme will later seek to expand its sales base beyond China, so it could be argued the ARJ21, for now at least, is spearheading China's ambition to be a global player in the commercial aerospace industry.

Five of the first batch are test aircraft - three for flight testing, one for static testing and one for fatigue testing. ACAC is also looking at producing a sixth aircraft that will be used for route proving flights.

Flight tests will be conducted at China's main testing location for civil and military aircraft, the National Flight Test Centre outside Xian, with the static airframe installed in Xian close to the static test institute. Zeng says six pilots and five engineers are undertaking a six-week training course at the National Test Pilot School in the USA in preparation for the flight-test programme.

China already manufactures commercial aircraft, but the ARJ21 - unlike the others - bears no relation to military transport aircraft and is purely a civil programme. It came about when the government decided the country should develop a regional jet able to operate in hot and high conditions and from short runways to open domestic air links in the western parts of China and bring this relatively backward stretch of the country into the 21st century.

Firm orders

So far the ARJ21-700 has firm orders from Shandong Airlines (10 aircraft), Shanghai Airlines (five) and Shenzhen Financial Leasing (20). It also has a memorandum of understanding from Shanghai Electric Leasing for 20 aircraft, Xiamen Airlines for six and the Laos government for two. Laos is the first overseas customer and has ordered the two ARJ21-700s on behalf of national carrier Lao Airlines.

The Shanghai Electric MoU "will be a firm order soon", says Zheng.

ACAC has also been negotiating for over a year with the China Aviation Supplies Import & Export Corporation (CASCG), the state-run organisation responsible for helping Chinese aircraft manufacturers to export.

CASCG last year was looking to order 20 ARJ21s with options for 10 more, but the two sides have been unable to reach a deal.

Zheng says discussions are continuing, but he expects it will take a long time to reach an agreement as some of those involved in the talks "insist on holding on to their position".

ACAC also wants to secure a firm order from one of China's big three commercial airlines - Air China, China Eastern Airlines or China Southern Airlines. In addition, industry sources say ACAC is working to secure a US customer, which would provide a valuable boost to the programme's credibility. The sources say this tactic is part of ACAC's efforts to put pressure on the US Federal Aviation Administration to certificate the ARJ21-700.

Garnering orders from Chinese carriers is ACAC's short-term sales objective, but the company also wants to sell the ARJ21-700 overseas, with the main export markets likely to be China's traditional stomping ground - developing nations in South-East Asia, the Middle East, South America and Africa.

But if the ARJ21-700 receives FAA certification it will, for the first time, give China the opportunity to sell in Western markets.

Thanks to a high-level approach from China, the US FAA has established a technical assistance branch in China with offices in Beijing and Shanghai. It is the FAA's only technical office outside the USA and its initial task is to help the ARJ21 gain Chinese certification in accordance with Western standards.

The Shanghai office has four employees including a flight-test specialist, avionics and electrical engineers and a mechanical systems engineer while the Beijing office has three employees including a structures engineer and manufacturing inspector.

At this stage, the FAA will only say it is helping ACAC with the Chinese certification process and that only after the aircraft gets that approval will it begin to look at whether to start the process of working towards FAA certification. But securing a US airline customer could give the FAA impetus to act and some of ACAC's US suppliers have also been encouraging the FAA to act because the more aircraft ACAC sells, the more these suppliers benefit.

Bombardier link

ACAC has another plan for breaking into Western markets and this one relies on Bombardier. AVIC I and Bombardier disclosed at the Paris air show in June that the Canadian aircraft maker is to partner with ACAC on the ARJ21-900, a 105-seat stretched version of the -700, and is investing $100 million in the programme. AVIC I, meanwhile, has agreed to invest $400 million into its aircraft factories to prepare them to work on the planned Bombardier CSeries 110- to 130-seat airliner.

ACAC and Bombardier will jointly design a new fuselage and interior for the ARJ21-900 and the aircraft promises to include more composites than the -700, a move that avoids some of the weight issues faced by the -700.

The ARJ21-700 is a 90-seat aircraft that started life as an 85-seater. The decision to lengthen the fuselage followed suggestions by air safety regulators, including the FAA, to move the middle exit doors further aft of the wing rather than forward.

But positioning the doors further back meant the exit doors would be too close to the aircraft's fuselage-mounted engines, so ACAC created more space between the doors and the engines by stretching the fuselage by about 1m (3ft). This created room inside for an extra row of five seats, but the stretch also increased the aircraft's weight, which led to ACAC asking its suppliers to help decrease the aircraft's overall weight.

At this time ACAC was also grappling with ways to reduce the aircraft's drag and improve the centre of gravity. Zheng says: "It took almost a year to optimise the design to solve these problems step by step."

Some of the changes made included making the aircraft's rudder, winglets and some other parts composite and altering the design of the nose and fairing.

Zheng says the total weight savings, including reductions that Western suppliers achieved, came to a total of 1,200-2,600kg (2,640-5,730lb).

But the fact that a 1m stretch caused weight issues for ACAC means it faces the same challenge with the ARJ-900. Zheng says ACAC wants Bombardier to provide "some technological breakthroughs" and expand the use of composites. For example, ACAC wants the -900's vertical and horizontal stabilisers as well as part of the fuselage to be composite, according to Zheng.

The advances made on the -900 will also eventually be "applied back" on newer versions of the -700, he adds.

Technical help

Bombardier president of new commercial aircraft programmes Gary Scott says that, although ACAC will be responsible for getting the aircraft certificated in Western markets, the Canadian aircraft maker will provide technical know-how and help ACAC to forge relationships with regulators to allow the aircraft earn overseas certification.

The $100 million Bombardier is investing is in cash, says Scott, adding that the services Bombardier provides to ACAC "will be paid for by AVIC I". In addition, Bombardier will receive a royalty for each ARJ21-900 sold.

In terms of the work, Scott says ACAC and Bombardier are looking to achieve some commonality between the ARJ21-900 and CSeries. The CSeries is to be 46% composite, with composite parts to include the vertical and horizontal stabiliser, aft fuselage, keel beams, floor beams and floor panels.

But its fuselage - to be built by AVIC I's Shenyang Aircraft - will be of aluminium lithium. Scott says Bombardier will "look to bring in some of the newer technologies we have envisaged for the CSeries", but he declines to say which parts of the ARJ21-900 will be composite.

In terms of specifics, he says only that there will be some commonality between the CSeries and ARJ21-900 in the fuselage cross-section, amenities and "our systems approach - for example, the fly-by-wire system".

Scott adds that, because the -900 is a stretched version of the -700, some "enhancements are required to get more range", so Bombardier will look to improve the propulsion system as well as the wing's lift capability by increasing its area.

Because ACAC's Western suppliers are firmly in place, Scott suggests changes are unlikely, although he stops short of ruling them out. "I guess that would be AVIC I's decision, but we are working with that baseline. It is difficult to change suppliers so we would look at it very hard before suggesting that any change be made."

Bombardier has yet to choose some suppliers for the CSeries and Scott says Bombardier will strive to find commonality in suppliers between the CSeries and ARJ21-900.

This means the Canadian aircraft maker could aim to select suppliers for the CSeries that are already on the ARJ21-900 programme, rather than vice-versa.

He sums up the "deeper co-operation" between Bombardier and AVIC I as "helping each other on respective products" to "make the whole more than the respective parts".

The fact that an experienced aircraft maker as Bombardier feels the need to partner China is testimony to how far China has come.

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Analysis: Russia-China military cooperation on the rocks
HONG KONG, Aug. 24
ANDREI CHANG

China is running into problems in its military technology dealings with Russia. The country has postponed high-level military talks on defense technology and stopped all new military contracts until Russia delivers an overdue shipment of aircraft, according to industry sources in both countries.

China has also complained about the quality of Russian weapons. Russian dealers, on the other hand, are upset about blatant Chinese imitations of their products, built from designs supplied in the understanding that the weapons were to be purchased.

The aircraft issue involves a deal signed in 2005 whereby China agreed to purchase from Russia 30 IL-76 transport aircraft and eight IL-78 aerial refueling tankers. However, Tashkent Aircraft Plant, based in the capital of Uzbekistan, which was to have manufactured the IL-76 and IL-78, declared soon after the signing that the plant was unable to build the planes independently due to financial and technical problems.

To resolve this issue, Russia has given three proposals to the Chinese side, according to a source from Rosoboroonexport, a state-owned military trading company. One is to coproduce the plane's parts in Tashkent and Russian Ulianovsk or Voronezh aviation factories, with final assembly of the IL-76 in Voronezh. The second is to fully manufacture the aircraft in Russia. The third is to assemble all the planes in Tashkent with most of the parts produced in Russia.

Whichever solution is selected, additional investment will be required from the Russian side to add new equipment to the Ulianovsk and Voronezh aviation factories. Consequently, Rosoboroonexport has asked the Chinese partner to accept a higher price for the aircraft.

China's response has been to twice postpone an annual high-level conference on cooperation in defense technology. Beijing has indicated that the condition to restart the talks is for Russia to fulfill the aircraft contract. Russia contends that the existence of this problem is reason enough to hold new discussions, without any condition.

This Chinese tendency to set preconditions for political talks and other negotiations is well-known to U.S. and Japanese negotiators. Now the strategy is being applied to the Russians.

...

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Aug. 28, 2007 (China Knowledge) - Indonesia-based Merpati Nusantara Airlines
announced on August 25 that it has bought 15 passenger planes from China, 2 of
which will arrive in Indonesia later this month.

"The planes will leave from China on Aug. 28," said Widodo Aryanto, the
spokesman of Merpati Merpati Nusantara Airlines, a state-owned air operator in
Indonesia. Widodo said 13 other planes were expected to arrive in stages within
the next few years.

Merpati bought 15 Modem Ark 60 (MA60) airplanes from the Xi'an Aircraft Industry
Group under China Aviation Industry Corporation I. The planes are expected to
be used in domestic routes in the sprawling archipelago.

The MA60 airplane, a twin turbo-prop aircraft, is designed mainly for commuter
service. The plane has a maximum take-off weight of 21,800 kg, a maximum seating
capacity of 60 passengers and a cruise range of 1,600 km.

Widodo declined to disclose the value of the purchase. But there is a reference.
Last month, Okair Aviation Corporation, the first non-State-owned aviation
company in China, just bought 10 MA60s from Xi'an Aircraft Industry Group,
spending RMB 1.25 billion (US$164.7 million) in total.

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