b787
Captain
i agree with you in most things but i do not think is about Technology Transfers the main reason for partnership, it is about the percentage it can build of the aircraft.it's not political. China can learn a lot from Russia still in civil aviation in design, testing and production. China concluded it has more to gain by doing this as a partnership rather than going alone. I think COMAC would know this better than armchair QBs in this forum.
MS-21 and SSJ both have very advanced elements in their design, which shows Russia still has a lot to offer in civil aviation
China could go and become supplier for western aircraft makers, well in many ways it already supply parts to Airbus and Boeing projects, but as a minor supplier, with Russia it becomes a much much larger supplier, 50% of the aircraft will be build by China.
Russia will not allow tech transfers that can threat its suppliers to the project, for example if Russia gets the PD-14 derivative engine by 2025, and it is selected for the project, it will not share technology beyond what it does not threat its aircraft makers.
What i mean neither China or Russia will give tech transfers, the aircraft is build by a mosaic of suppliers, who are chosen and build parts as minor suppliers, i do not discard tech transfers, but to be honest i doubt they will happen as the engine of the program, they will select suppliers that already can do the things without tech transfers and build the jet that way, the Chinese will not do tech transfer and Russia the same, they will only supply the parts custom made