Not Top Gun yet: China struggles with warplane engine technology

[Sinnerman108]

It is only a matter of time before the Chinese will crack this nut.

 

[LowPost]

Russia is selling engines to China. Otherwise, J10/J15 won't be able to fly. Why are you saying they are not helping?

Hm, it's been quite a while since the last engine sale had happened though. The same article is also discussed on Sino Defence Forum and the lads over there, including @siegecrossbow, have already rebutted the author's arguments.

https://www.sinodefenceforum.com/chinese-engine-development.t252/page-343

 

[Ewok6102]

Russia is selling engines to China. Otherwise, J10/J15 won't be able to fly. Why are you saying they are not helping?

It is not the case of our planes won't fly without the help of Russian engines. Much rather, it's the case that our domestic engines cannot satisfy our demands yet. So to put numbers up into the air, we require both.

 

[Beast]

White man know nothing about China military development. This is just a sourgrape article with smearing by the west.

 

[Echo_419]

White man know nothing about China military development. This is just a sourgrape article with smearing by the west.

I agree, you do have a very secretive Military industrial complex

 

[Great Sachin]

Jet engine development is not easy stuff.....India also struggled with Kaveri

 

[Beast]

I agree, you do have a very secretive Military industrial complex

Sun Tzu art of War

" All warfare is based on deception. "

 

[siegecrossbow]

Hm, it's been quite a while since the last engine sale had happened though. The same article is also discussed on Sino Defence Forum and the lads over there, including @siegecrossbow, have already rebutted the author's arguments.

https://www.sinodefenceforum.com/chinese-engine-development.t252/page-343

I think it's safe to say that the author doesn't even have a casual level of military tech understanding.

 

[damiendehorn]

In a decade or China will have caught up with the west in engine tech and most other fields. I remember when they used to speak about japan in the same way then about taiwan....and south korea.....now all these nations are just as advanced in many fields.

in due time China will to.....

 

[mike2000 is back]

They still need quite some time to get to western powers engine tech level, but they will get there with time I believe. These coming decades will be crucial.

 

[Ewok6102]

They still need quite some time to get to western powers engine tech level, but they will get there with time I believe. These coming decades will be crucial.

It was not that long ago when the world used to refer to the Japanese products as "Jap Junk". Look where they are at now? We shouldn't worry about technological gaps. In a lot of cases we have closed the gap, surpassed or is a lot closer than what most people think.

Instead of worrying about what others think, we should give them time to get use to our products. These coming decades will be equally crucial for the west, they will need to keep up with the pace. These days China is throwing a lot of money and man power into scientific research and developments.

 

[Sasquatch]

Articles outdated China has already installed the WS-10 variants on the J-10, J-11, and J-15, its reaching full maturization. I'm skeptical of the anonymous sources but the only truth in the article is China does not have turbofans that can match the F-119 as of yet, the WS-15 will come.

 

[Dash]

Engine tech is hard to mature. Even today with all that technology , Russian engines are NOW catching up with west. What makes us think its easy? China India all are struggling wit it.

 

[Beast]

Engine tech is hard to mature. Even today with all that technology , Russian engines are NOW catching up with west. What makes us think its easy? China India all are struggling wit it.

Dont put India with the same category with China. We are far ahead and better than India.

Your Kaveri havent even put to a LCA for testing while our engine has put to hundreds of plane for usage.

 

[xunzi]

They still need quite some time to get to western powers engine tech level, but they will get there with time I believe. These coming decades will be crucial.

Mike, people often lump the West together to imply the technological prowess of each Western country on equal level. That is far from the truth. The only country in the West truly at the top of the engine game is the USA with the F119 proven 5th gen, 180kn thrust, 9+ thrust-weight ratio in operation. EU current best engine is the EJ2000 (a development which your country Britain contributed the most) which match the USA's quality thrust-weight ratio and possible lifespan but no where near the power of the F-119. The only two other engines that match the F119's power is China's WS-15 and Russia's AL-41. Quality aside, both WS-15 and AL-41 still need time to prove.

France's best engine Snecma M88 is not in the same class as WS-15 or AL-41. In fact, it is not even in the same class as the 4th gen engine WS-10 or AL-31. But you can put them in the same level. So in general, all bias aside and make comparison on engine power and quality alone, these are a fair evaluation of engine development of the top country in aerospace.

US is at the top in both engine power and quality.
Russia is the 2nd best in engine power but lack the quality of the US's engine.
Britain is the 3rd best in engine power but match the US's engine quality.
China is the 4th best in engine power but lack the quality of the US's engine.
France is the 5th best in engine power but lack the quality of the US's engine.

Russia, China, France, in those respective order, that have similar engine quality.

Now, I'm talking of engine in CURRENT operation and not those in development so we exclude the power of Russia's AL41 and China's WS-15.

So really, to sum it up.

Engine Power.

1. USA
2. Russia
3. Britain
4. China
5. France

Engine Quality.

1. USA
2. Britain
3. Russia
4. China
5. France

Again, these are current engine in operation.

Dont put India with the same category with China. We are far ahead and better than India.

Your Kaveri havent even put to a LCA for testing while our engine has put to hundreds of plane for usage.

India has no business in competing for engine prowess but that is basically the same for every other world power, including Japan, SK, Israel, etc...