Mileage is more important for commercial engines.
Chinese Engine Development
- Thread starter jackbh
- Start date
Like I said here before I think China made a strategic choice to go for high speed rail instead of civil aviation. I think this was the correct approach since to move the vast amounts of population in China efficiently rail is much better over medium distances. The rail is also electrified which means transport is not dependent on oil imports. This still leaves large distance transport and connections to remote places in China like Xinjiang, Tibet, some Inner Mongolia. For this you do in fact need aviation. But given the small population density in these places you will need either turboprops or small jets like ARJ-21. This is why those programs were the ones which were funded first. The larger jets are used to carry Chinese citizens abroad. And perhaps to speed up connection from Guandong area to Beijing area. This is a much lower priority and only as economy grew became relevant.
Where I think China made a big mistake was not making a program to use native engines in the civilian turboprops and ARJ-21. Instead they bought Western engines. Back then China still had good relations with Ukraine and could have likely easily licensed the D-436 design and modernized it with FADEC. This could have been used in ARJ-21. Since these airplanes are mostly for the internal market external parts supply and maintenance centers would not have been a factor. There was also the D-236 propfan engine which could have developed for use into MA60 series of aircraft. This would have been a risky endeavor but even if failed in practice the engine core is the same as used in the Mi-26's turboshaft jet engine. So China would have gotten the technology to make heavy helicopter engines.
Much of the know-how acquired with military jet engines and large marine gas turbines is applicable to the civilian airliner engine program. So in a way the technology was already being worked on.
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Mileage, reliability, overhaul time, noise, etc. are all more important for commercial engine. It is ok to lose money on military equipment, but unprofitable/uncomfortable civilian planes are doomed without heavy subsidies.
What are engine lifespans of the latest airliner engines? I heard it was around 60000 hours. That is massive compared to fighters.
To a large degree the higher lifetime is achieved by running the engine at lower temperature and RPM. So I think is a bit overblown as a difference. You do require different technology to make large hollow titanium or composite blades for the fan section. You need to model and test their aerodynamics. That is probably harder.
After Russia takes over Ukraine, China must enforce the sale of Motor Sich and strip Russia bare of all its engine designs. China should prop up a sanctioned Russia, but on the precondition that its entire technological and scientific base be absorbed into China.
The main problem is by now all of this is old tech.
While the latest variant of D-436 would be competitive with existing engine in ARJ-21, the Russians are building the PD-8 to replace this. PD-12V is being developed to replace the other engine. China already has a collaboration with Russia on heavy helicopter program which will use PD-12V.
They need to get Al-222 engine production and maintenance going in China though. They need to negotiate this somehow.
While the latest variant of D-436 would be competitive with existing engine in ARJ-21, the Russians are building the PD-8 to replace this. PD-12V is being developed to replace the other engine. China already has a collaboration with Russia on heavy helicopter program which will use PD-12V.
They need to get Al-222 engine production and maintenance going in China though. They need to negotiate this somehow.
Negotiate? Lol Russia will have no room for that once this war is done and their economy is cratered. On top of that, China needs some form of compensation for the billions in BRI that are now dead in the water. Russia should cash out on these technologies and use that money to prop themselves up, if not they should know China will simply steal it for free.
That is not the way China does things. China will always benefit their trading partners and allies. This way the relationship can be long term beneficial for all.
How is this not benefiting Russia? China will make sure to pay handsomely. We are not demanding their blueprints, we are paying top dollar for it.