How much impact will the US lockdown have? It will have an impact, but it will not be a big problem.
Text | Zhu Guoshun
On May 30, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry answered questions about the suspension of the sale of engine technology to COMAC, saying that the relevant practices of the US side are to generalize the concept of national security and maliciously blockade and suppress China. We firmly oppose this and will firmly safeguard our legitimate rights and interests.
Company's flagship products are the well-known C919. How much impact will the United States "doing bad" have?
C919 is a product of international cooperation and a landmark link in the world's aviation industry chain. Commercial aircraft in various countries are generally the product of international cooperation due to various factors such as cost-effectiveness. For example, the US Boeing 787 aircraft uses the Trent 1000 engine of the British Rolls-Royce Company, and the European Airbus 330 will use the US Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engine. China Chengfei, Harbin, Shenfei and Shenfei are also the only suppliers of certain components of Boeing 787.
C919 was launched, the most advanced LEAP series engines at that time were selected. This is a 15-ton thrust engine jointly cooperated by Safran France and General Motors in the United States. Compared with the previous generation of CFM-56 series engines, it can save 16% fuel and reduce noise and carbon emissions. There are three models of LEAP, LEAP-1A is used for Airbus 320neo, LEAP-1B is used for Boeing 737MAX, and LEAP-1C is used for C919. When choosing LEAP series engines, there should be another consideration, which is to facilitate airworthiness in Europe and the United States. If C919 wants to compete in the European and American markets, it must obtain a certificate of conformity issued by the European and American airworthiness authorities. The most important thing in collecting evidence is the engine. If all the engines made and used by Europe and the United States are used by themselves, it will be difficult to "picking the bones in the eggs", right?
China is willing to cooperate internationally, but has never given up on self-reliance. Many years ago, I visited commercial engine development institutions that can be used for COMAC's large and medium-sized passenger aircraft, and discussed some issues with many experts. The prospects of China Commercial Development are bright, and it is worth exploring to catch up with the world's level. CJ-1000A, AEF1300, etc., these engine models that often appear to the world at the China Air Show, give us full confidence in the future of China Business Development.
How much impact will the US lockdown have? It will have an impact, but it will not be a big problem.
For commercial engines, one understanding needs to be clarified, that is, the relationship between "availability" and "optimal".
From the "optimal" perspective, commercial aircraft pays attention to economy, stability, safety, etc. If there is an engine that saves nearly one-fifth of fuel, has little noise, and does not stop more than two or even one time in the air for 100,000 hours, although it is several million dollars, we are of course happy to use it because we are willing to synchronize with the world's most advanced level. Especially if we want to fly into the European and American markets, we should choose this more.
But this world does not have a bottom line. Although the C919 has a long-term record of safe and stable operation, has more than 1,500 aircraft orders, and uses engines made in Europe and the United States, the European and American airworthiness authorities are still deaf and dumb about issuing certificates because they have their own "baby" A320 and B737. Now the United States is still using monsters to blockade.
From the perspective of "availability", then the sky is wide. China's military engine technology has entered the world's advanced level. The J-20 and Y-20 domestic engines are both top in the world. The J-10C even beat Europe's double-engine a few days ago. Most of the world's top commercial engines are military engines. The LEAP series was developed from the CFM-56. The "father" of the CFM-56 is the military engine F101, the engine of the American B-1 bomber. Using a mature military engine core engine, changing the small bypass ratio to a large bypass ratio is either very complicated or a good commercial engine. This is what countries around the world do.
Compared with "optimal", "available" is nothing more than a higher fuel consumption, insufficient noise, slightly more carbon emissions, and the experience value brought by usage time is not as much as CFM-56 to LEAP. However, LEAP has only 10,000 units so far, and most of the world's commercial engines are not the "optimal". They are still happily serving the people of the world.
Aero engines have similarities to chips. It is of course good to have 3-nanometer and 7-nanometer cutting-edge chips, but most application scenarios are also sufficient for products above 14-nanometer and 28-nanometer. China is the world's largest chip exporter fully demonstrates this.
Americans "make bad" on aircraft engines and chips, but they don't have much time left to "make bad".
