The American aviation giant Boeing has plummeted its share of the Chinese market after the 737 MAX accident, and with the impact of the escalation of the confrontation between China and the United States, Airbus is taking the initiative in the competition for the Chinese market.
[Boeing 737MAX]
It is revealed that in order to crack down on the development of China's domestic twin-engine airliner C919, Boeing is likely to have a built-in rear door that remotely closes the engine in the C919 aviation engine, is this true?
Is it possible to turn off the engine remotely
When the news of the remote engine shutdown was very loud, the US media "Washington Times" also lost no time in warning China that it must buy Boeing's aviation products, otherwise the domestic civil aviation industry will be further attacked, and it did not hide its face of forced buying and selling.
【Domestic C919 airliner】
But in fact, anyone who knows anything about the domestic C919 passenger aircraft project will know that the so-called remote shutdown of the engine is simply a rumor.
Although the current engine of the C919 is also American, it is not a product of Boeing, but a LEAP-1C large-bypass ratio turbofan engine from the aviation giant General Electric.
Interestingly, GE is also the aviation engine supplier of the Boeing 737 MAX, and even the C919 and 737 MAX are still using the LEAP series engine, but the specific models are different.
【LEAP-1 Hangfa Family】
Therefore, the so-called Boeing has a built-in rear door in the engine provided to the C919 is also unrealistic, and technically Boeing does not have this ability, and Boeing is mainly involved in the design and production of aircraft, rather than aviation power research and development.
If this news is released by the US media, it may just be a pressure measure on the US side for China to abandon the purchase of Boeing.
In fact, the difficulty faced by the C919 in terms of power is not to remotely close the back door, but that Boeing may use its industry influence to facilitate GE's supply cut off to China.
[C919 LEAP-1C engine]
C919 is basically a level of aviation products with Boeing 737 MAX, compared with American cargo, Chinese passenger aircraft is likely to become a new choice for many airlines, after all, cheap and political aviation products are not common in the international market.
More importantly, with the development of China's aviation industry, the technical level of China's passenger aircraft is not lower than that of Boeing products, in the field of military aircraft, China has achieved a match or even overtake in tactical aircraft, and it is only a matter of time before the civilian field catches up with Europe and the United States.
The civil large-bypass turbofan engine is already the last obstacle for the mainland to overcome civil aviation power, and it is also the only place where Boeing can jam the C919.
【CJ1000A engine】
Of course, in order to deal with possible supply interruptions, China actually has two preparations, and the CJ1000A developed by AECC is the Chinese heart specially prepared for C919.
CJ1000A has previously completed test flights on the Y-20 experimental platform of the aviation industry and has entered the final verification stage. As the CJ1000A technology finally matures, the C919 will be able to use reliable commercial aviation without fear of supply interruptions.
C919 Aviation Development Storm
Many people may be curious, since the C919 already has a domestic aviation engine as an option, why do you still need to ask General Electric to order the LEAP-1C, an American aviation engine?
【LEAP-1C】
This is because civil airliners as commercial aviation products and military aircraft are not the same, military aircraft pay attention to self-sufficiency, but civil aviation products are commercial considerations, to put it bluntly, everyone earns money together, and Europe and the United States because of the early development of the aviation industry, has always been the main vested interests in the international civil aviation market.
If COMAC wants to get a piece of the international civil aviation market, it must submit a petition to the European and American aviation giants, otherwise it is impossible to break into the sphere of influence of others.
Therefore, C919 has chosen two paths to go hand in hand, one is to follow international practice, make C919 an international cooperation project, and introduce global civil aviation technology to integrate and cooperate in the development process, so that the high efficiency can ensure the internationalization of the project, which is more acceptable to foreign users.
【C919】
The second is to engage in domestic backup, C919 key systems have domestic equipment as a replacement option, once the international situation abruptly changes, Western equipment can not be provided to China, C919 production line can still ensure normal production and delivery.
Therefore, in the core area of aviation product development, C919 will appear LEAP-1C and CJ1000A go hand in hand. Of course, the C919 is actually only the first step of COMAC, and the research and development of the C929, which is a dual-aisle long-range wide-body passenger aircraft such as the Boeing 787 Dream, has also been put on the agenda.
The C929 was originally called CR929 and was a joint development project between China and Russia, but as Russia went to work on its own Il-96-400M, the C929 has been changed to be independently developed by China, and according to COMAC, the aircraft has entered the detailed design stage.
[CR929 model]
C929 will be the same as C919 in the future, on the one hand, GEnx may be used as a power option, on the other hand, it will also provide domestic CJ2000 engines, with a take-off thrust of more than 35,000kgf, which is fully capable of the needs of intercontinental flight.
At that time, COMAC will truly become a strong competitor of Boeing and attack its share of the world's civil aviation market.
Prospects for COMAC
In fact, behind the game between C919 and Boeing 737MAX is the competition between the aviation industry of China and the United States, the United States is a traditional aviation power, China is an emerging aviation upstart, and the research and development of C919 and C929 is a very critical step for China.
[C919 off the assembly line]
In addition to commercial use, C919 and C929 actually have a certain military value, at present, the mainland is very lacking in the United States-made P8A Poseidon like the sea long-range patrol anti-submarine aircraft, on the Y-9 platform to transform similar models in terms of range and cruising speed are far from Poseidon.
Poseidon uses the Boeing 737-800 as an aerial platform, and the mainland can follow this line of thinking and convert the C919 into a long-range maritime anti-submarine patrol aircraft for China.
China has a vast sea area and has some conflicts with many of its maritime neighbors, so with such a new type of equipment it can better safeguard the mainland's maritime rights and interests and territorial sovereignty integrity.
【American P8A Poseidon】
C929 also has a similar role, the mainland's only large strategic early warning aircraft is only the Air Police 2000, the strategic transport aircraft as an early warning aircraft platform is completely helpless.
If the C929 can be used as a platform for a new strategic early warning aircraft, the Chinese Air Force will gain unprecedented air situational awareness, and China's air combat system will be strengthened in a new round.
Sources:
[1] C919 Successfully Makes Its First Flight, Opening a New Era of China's Civil Aviation .xinhuanet.2017-05-05[Citation Date:2023-02-02]