Chinese Engine Development

Alfa_Particle

Junior Member
Registered Member
For high-thrust engines: AL-31 (early) < WS-10 (early) <= F100 <= AL-31 (late) < F110 = WS-10 (late) < F119 <= WS-15.
Well, the AL-31/F110/WS-10 familes all got tons of variants. By "late" you can mean anything from the AL-31FM2 (which I refer to as the AL-31F-99M1) to the AL-41F. Same for the WS-10 (WS-10D vs WS-10C).

But in terms of common variants that can be seen on actual AF jets (so disregarding early early WS-10s when their reliability is in the mud or variants like the AL-31F3/FU(naval)/etc.), my personal ranking (averaging thrust, reliability, lifespan, technology) would be:

AL-31F < AL-31FP/FN ≤ WS-10A < F110-GE-100 < AL-31FM1 < AL-31FN-3 < WS-10B (pre 2018) ≤ F110-GE-129 < WS-10B (post 2018) < AL-31FM2 < AL-41F-1S ≤ WS-10D ≈ F110-GE-132

These are all 4th gen engines with more or less the same approximate performance and goals, ranked by collectively considering their (as stated above) thrust at SL, reliability (as heard from pilots and data if available), lifespan, and technology.

If we were to consider performance envelopes, it'd be much trickier. But one thing though, it might give the WS-10s a better ranking since their thrust curves are ridiculous at high speed compared to their peers (even the WS-10A has noticeably better supersonic thrust curves than the F110-GE-129).

Then a generational gap that seperates the above from the following:

AL-41F ≤ WS-10C (pre 2022) < WS-10C (post 2022) < F119 < WS-15

Obviously, these rankings are based on an oversimplified criteria, but it shows how the Chinese climbed their way through this ladder (and that the F110s is indeed superior to the AL-31Fs).

The F135 is a weird one. Although it's technologically very much a 5th generation engine, it's performance was optimised to the opposite direction as the other 5th gen engines (F119, WS-15). I'd even put it in a different class. But if I had to cram it somewhere, it'd be approximately equal to the WS-15.

It's also suppose to have better low speed regimen and slightly higher thrust than F-119.
That's true, and the F135's thrust is actually 35 kN more powerful, so it's not exactly "slight."

But it doesn't have the high speed performance of the F119. That's what a higher BPR does to you (unless you're the Chinese, which they somehow can drag incredible supersonic performance out of a > 0.5 BPR).

As I've said, I wouldn't confidently put it above or below the F119/WS-15 cause the F135 is clearly made for a different purpose. Sure, its subsonic SL thrust is impressive, but once you've reached transonic, it's the F119/WS-15's domain.

For medium-thrust engines: RD-93 <= WS-13 < WS-21 <= F404 < F414 <= WS-19.
Using the same requirements as above:

F404 < RD-93 < WS-13 < RD-93MA < WS-21 < F414 ≤ EJ200 < WS-19

One caveat though is that the F404's compressor aerodynamics is horrid, and the F414 isn't significantly better. Their supersonic performance is quite lacking.

They are optimized for different flight parameters. It is hard to compare.
Yeah, that's why I had to use a crude criterion. Don't take those too seriously.
 

Philister

Junior Member
Registered Member
its CJ-1000A..

in fact if you watch Professor Sun interview, he talked about CJ series. which include CJ-1000A too. so Ayi talking about CJ-1000A Engine here. being enter in production.

what about WS-15 ?? people got confused with Ayi's Weibo quote-post in context with WS-15 engine too means next year .. i believe WS-15 production increasing gradually. this year production likely to increase further ..
No, he was talking about WS15, CJ1000 is a civilian engine, it takes more time to get qualified, all kinds of tests,while military engines don’t have to do these tests, it will enter service no earlier than 2027 if nothing significant happens (like if trump decided to sanction COMAC)
If CJ1000 was a military engine , it could already be in field test now.
 
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