NRao wrote:Chola,
Good synopsis.
On China, I would be interested in their infrastructure: wind tunnels, CFD capabilities, testing equipment - including air crafts, land based facilities, etc, etc, etc.
Thanks
Here goes.
To start off with, the current state of AC engines in Cheen is best described by the incorporation of the AECC (Aero Engine Corp of Cheen) in 2016. From wiki, the “corporation consists of 46 affiliate companies, including 22 engine companies, several institutes, and 3 aeroengine-repairing factories.”
Forty-six is obviously a massive number compared to our GTRE (research and design) and HAL (manufacture.)
I’ve identified a handful that are dealing with the well-known turbofans that their fanboys like to cream over:
Shenyang: WS-10, WS-20
Xian: WS-9, WS-15, SF-A
Guizhou: WS-13, WS-17
Chengdu: WS-18
Southern: WS-11
Not sure how the rest of the 22 engine companies breaks down but design, research and manufacturing of pistons and turboprops must occupy a good number of them. Historically turbojets were built by the elite companies now involved in the turbofan projects.
Windtunnels and dynamic fluids modelling capability can be inferred from their hypersonic test facility:
https://www.livefistdefence.com/2017/04 ... ility.html
This large facility of 660 acres located 6 km West of the Mianyang airport, Sichuan has three closed loop wind tunnels, two facilities for scramjet vacuum spheres and what appears to be a hypersonic impulse tunnel. The solid walled facility also has administrative buildings, auxiliary buildings and a large parking space. This facility is claimed to be largest wind tunnel testing facility in the world by some experts.
They have an IL-76 testbed identified in pictures carrying the WS-20 high by-pass.
Also, we know they use J-11 testbeds for pairing the test engine (WS-10 variants) with a AL-31.
I’ll take four engines to describe the history of their industry. A key here is the origins of the first three came from the USSR but then parts and support were cut by the Sino-Soviet split while the fourth originated from the West which had components embargoed after the Tianenmen Square Massacre. In all cases, isolation forced the PRC to build the ecosystem from ground up with local parts.
Zhuzhou Huosai HS-6 radial piston: this powered the (iconic) CJ-6 trainers built in the thousands. Modern decendents power cropdusters, light utility and drones. Its origin is the AI-14R.
Zhuzhou WJ-6 turboprop: cloned from the AI-20 built for Y-8 An-12 Cub ripoff. Critically important as it powers a score of AWACS, ASW, Maritime Patrol, etc. variants of the Y-8X and Y-9. Also will power tha giant new seaplane AG-600.
Shenyang WP-7 turbojet: copied from the Russian R11-F-300 on early MiG-21s. This engine and its WP-13 descendent were built in the thousands for the J-7 — and allowed export of the MiG-21 ripoff. Experience from building turbojets, WP-6 (for J-6) and WP-7, led to Shenyang’s first turbofan, the WS-6. The WS-6 reached prototype stage with 8 built by the 1970s but by then Western engines had arrived in the form of the Rolls Royce Spey intended for the JH-7 and also the civilian engines that powered the McDonnell Douglas DC series being assembled in Shanghai.
Shenyang WS-10: this is Cheen’s main thrust into the modern turbofan. The key to its existence is the 1980s acquisition of two CFM-56s for the DC assembly before that collapsed post Tianenmen. The CFM-56, while a civilian high-bypass, is actually based on the F101 military turbofan that powered the B1 bomber and, in its derivative the F110, the F-14 and F-15. Shenyang would spend years trying to extract the F101 base out of the CMF-56 but then in the early 2000s got help from Russia. The WS-10 was actually being tested in Moscow at the same time as the Kaveri a decade ago. This seems to have allowed them to cover the last mile and the WS-10 is now installed hundreds of J-11B and J-16 Flanker ripoffs since 2010. The latest WS-10B variant was seem on a J-20 this year.
So an analysis of Cheen’s engine experience in relation to our GTRE/HAL/Kaveri comes down to the breadth and depth of their eco-system versus the fragile, thin layer that is ours. The Kaveri proved that ours is one of excellence since getting a modern turbofan to the testing stage puts us in a small select elite. But it is still a thin layer of excellence.
Turbofans are exceptionally hard. The WS-6 was their Kaveri. An interesting write up of it could be found here:
https://www.globalsecurity.org/military ... na/ws6.htm. In the end, Cheen needed to import Western base technology and then sought Russian help to get their first productionized turbofan. But pursuing the WS-6 helped in building institutional knowledge and they now have multiple turbofan projects going concurrently as listed above.
But the lack of a simple viable piston or turboprop had stunted the rest of our aviation industry (if we bothered to look beyond the LCA and glamorous turbofans.)
Cheen’s industry is selling drones by the hundreds because they have an indigenous turboprop. Their AEW/Elint/MP programs are flourishing on countless propeller Y-8/Y-9 variants. We are held up on our AEW programs by foreigner platforms (with new Phalcons taken hostage by Russian blackmail.) A damn piston or turboprop should be well within the capability of our industry.
I see no hope of us bridging the gap unless we build our foundation and we need to be able to compete in the less glamorous aviation segments held by the simple propellers and turbojets. We must have sources of work and income beyond flagship projects like the Kaveri and LCA. The PRC is selling turbojet trainer/light attack craft like the FTC-2000 or light utility pistons and turboprops like the Y-12 and Le500 in the civilian market.
In fact, more worrisome than the WS-10X series and their supposed super mil engine, the WS-15 Emei, are their forays into the civvy engine markets with the SF-A, WS-20 and especially the CJ-1000A.
The CJ-1000A is being built by a civilian firm ACAE in Shanghai. This is to power their C-919 airliner and it is supposed to be ready in 2018. Once they break into the civilian market with the massive money available there — as well as the feedback loop enforcing reliability and quality — it’ll transform their already formidable military sector. Just like Boeing and Airbus do for the mil sector in the West.