In previous articles, the author chatted with you about a series of stories about the development of continental aircraft, such as various fighters. Today, let's talk about the development of mainland civil airliners. In 2023, the Continental C919 passenger aircraft has entered commercial operation and has entered the stage of mass production. At the same time, Continental has already begun the C929 large passenger aircraft project. From the joint development of China and Russia to China's independent development, what level does the C929 large aircraft belong to? Today, we will talk about this issue.
First of all, let's talk about the development process of mainland airliners. In the fifties and sixties, due to the limited level of aviation on the mainland, in a short period of time, the mainland could not afford to design and develop large passenger aircraft. Therefore, at this stage, the passenger aircraft in the field of civil aviation in the mainland are basically imported passenger aircraft, such as the Il-series, the Tu series and so on. It has to be said that the Soviet-style passenger aircraft is obviously inferior to European and American passenger aircraft in terms of comfort, overall reliability, range and other aspects.
In the international passenger aircraft market, two major systems have basically been formed: the European Airbus family and the American Boeing family. The design of passenger aircraft is not an overnight thing, and for a long time, the mainland mainly imported passenger aircraft from Europe and the United States. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the mainland has begun to develop its own passenger aircraft program step by step. Due to the difficulty of design, the mainland started with the development of regional airliners.
In 2014, the Continental-designed ARJ21 regional airliner was put into operation. As of 2022, a total of 100 RAJ21 airliners have been produced, marking a new stage of mass production, large-scale operation and serial development of domestic jet regional airliners. Please note that the ARJ21 is a regional airliner with a capacity of between 78 and 90 seats, mainly for short- and medium-haul missions. The ARJ21 is the first and key step in Continental's airliner business.
Therefore, with the finalization and mass production of passenger aircraft, the mainland has gradually accumulated design experience in all aspects and a large number of technical personnel, which is very valuable. In 2023, Continental's C919 large aircraft will be put into commercial operation, which is of great significance. The C919 passenger aircraft is a domestic large passenger aircraft developed by the mainland, which is basically benchmarked against the Boeing 737 and Airbus 320. According to the current announcement, the purchase price of the C919 passenger aircraft is 108 million US dollars.
With 158-192 seats, it can be adjusted for different tasks. At the same time, the voyage range is between 4,075 and 5,555 kilometers, which can basically meet the extraordinary tasks of various domestic voyages on the mainland and the transportation of neighboring countries. In the process of C919 development, it has attracted and driven a number of colleges and universities and a number of enterprises to participate in the development of large passenger aircraft projects - 5 categories, 20 majors, more than 6,000 civil aircraft technologies, and the design and development of C919 has led to a group breakthrough in mainland technology, materials and processes, which is very important.
Next, let's talk about the C929 airliner project. If the ARJ21 passenger aircraft is a regional airliner, the C919 is a medium and long-range large passenger aircraft, then the C929 is a large intercontinental passenger aircraft. The original name of the CR929 project is CR929, where C stands for China and R stands for Russia. It is a long-range wide-body passenger aircraft with 250 to 350 seats, with a maximum range of 12,000 kilometers, capable of flying directly from the mainland to countries such as Europe and the United States. In terms of the specific positioning of the passenger aircraft, it is basically the same as the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350.
In 2016, the CR929 project was established. However, after the start of the project, there were great differences between China and Russia in the design concept, technical investment, and use of funds for the CR929 passenger aircraft. In particular, Russia wants to further optimize the design concept on the basis of its existing passenger aircraft. The mainland needs to develop its own domestically produced intercontinental passenger aircraft, and further sharpen its talents and accumulate technology.
If you knock on the basis of the existing Russian model Il-96 airliner, it will not meet the original expectations at all, after all, the Il-96 belongs to the products of the 90s. Even if it is optimized and upgraded, it still lags behind European and American countries in all aspects, which the mainland does not want to see. In the end, due to the big gap between the two sides' philosophies, they chose to part ways. At the "2023 Nanchang Flight Conference" held in Nanchang, Jiangxi, AVIC officially announced the official establishment of the "Intercontinental Wide-body Large Passenger Aircraft" C929, which was changed from code CR929 to C929.
It means that it is no longer a product of Sino-Russian cooperation, and the Russian side has been downgraded from a joint venture partner to a major supplier. Judging from the data released at the venue, the maximum take-off weight of the C929 passenger aircraft is 247.5 tons, the maximum landing weight is 190 tons, the maximum take-off field length is 2900 meters, and the maximum landing field is 1900 meters long. The first flight is expected in 2030, and the development time is about 7 years.
Seriously, it is very difficult for the mainland to develop an intercontinental large passenger aircraft, after all, this is the mainland's first attempt. However, it is also a test. In the process of developing the C919 passenger aircraft, Continental has accumulated experience, technology and talent reserves in various aspects in terms of human resources, domestic supply chain improvement, key technological breakthroughs, as well as the integrity of the entire R&D system, as well as verification, flight test and airworthiness certificate application.
For the mainland, this is a challenge, but also an opportunity. More than half of the composite materials used in the C929 wide-body aircraft main structure are benchmarked against the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787, resulting in weight reduction and design flexibility. In December 2023, the core components of the high-lift system developed by the domestic large aircraft C929, the 540V and 25kW motors completed the performance loading verification test in Xi'an, marking that the company has broken through the bottleneck of high-voltage motor development technology and filled the gap of high-voltage and high-power motors in the field of domestic aviation airborne actuation.
The wide-body passenger aircraft represents the highest technical level of aviation to a considerable extent, and has experienced continuous exploration and breakthroughs from Y-10 to ARJ21, from C919 to C929, showing the ambition and strength of China's aviation industry. In particular, the C929 intercontinental airliner, once finalized and put into commercial operation, means that the continental aviation industry has completely broken through the bottleneck of large aircraft.
There are many more stories about the construction and development of the aviation industry on the mainland. The author will talk to you slowly in future articles.