Now that people have a chance to look the C919 over...
That’s because a large chunk of the plane’s parts come from foreign suppliers, predominantly in North America and Europe.
Chinese state media has said about 40% of the model’s components are imported, though experts say the real proportion is much higher.
While it is normal for manufacturers to source equipment for their planes from around the world, “the C919 is unique in that almost nothing that keeps it in the air is from China,” said Scott Kennedy, who spent two years leading a team that researched China’s decades-long efforts to develop its own commercial aircraft.
Their conclusion? “The C919 is primarily a non-Chinese airplane with Chinese paint on it,” said Scott, trustee chair in Chinese business and economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington.
Even if the foreign sources are as Chinese state media said is at %40, that is still above the critical threshold. Most likely, of that %40, all of them are critical flight systems such as avionics, propulsion, and environmental. Those critical flight systems are internationally established.
COMAC is also working on a long-range,
widebody plane called the CR929. But the project, a
joint effort by China and Russia, has likely stalled since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, said Kennedy.
“That plane will probably never be more than a photo, never be more than a drawing,” he told CNN. “No one is going to be supplying technology to a Chinese-Russian joint venture.”
China has acknowledged the criticism. “Some people have been questioning whether the C919 can be called a domestically-manufactured aircraft when it relies on imports,” Chinese state-run tabloid Global Times said in an
editorial Monday.
“It is true that there is a long list of foreign suppliers for the C919.”
The aircraft contains
“Honeywell’s (HON) electricity system and landing gear, GE’s (GE) flight recorder, CFM Leap’s engine, Parker Aerospace’s flight control system and fuel system, Rockwell Collins’ weather radar and simulate system, and Michelin’s (MGDDY) tires,” the outlet noted. All are US or European companies.
The C919 have been delayed multiple times even with foreign systems installed. If it is true that the CR929 is a China-Russia joint venture and if that project fails because of the Russia-Ukraine war, the C919 will remain dependent on foreign sources for yrs more to come because COMAC cannot afford to delay some more to wait for indigenous critical flight systems.
