KUNMING (China), September 21. /TASS/. Six companies, including General Electric and Rolls Royce, have submitted proposals to develop a power plant for the Russian-Chinese wide-body long-haul aircraft CR929, said Denis Manturov, Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation.

"CRAIC (joint venture - project operator) received responses to the RFP (request for proposal - approx. TASS) on the power plant from six companies, they are currently being analyzed," he said on Friday in the Chinese city of Kunming (the provincial capital Yunnan, Southwest China).

“Also, among others, a joint proposal was received by the Russian company ODK JSC (United Engine Corporation) and the Chinese AECC CAE (Aero Engine Corporation of China Commercial Aircraft Engine Co - TASS note),” Manturov added.

Western companies are ready to participate in the project, despite the sanctions against the Russian Federation. "Oddly enough, companies are happy to supply their products and at the same time have no restrictions. I hope that this will continue in the future," said the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation.

Russian-Chinese engine

"We must strive to have a Russian-Chinese engine on our aircraft. This is important from the point of view of developing competencies, financing our national economies and technological independence from our Western partners," Manturov said.

The operator of the CR929 project is China-Russia International Commercial Aircraft International Corporation (CRAIC). In 2018, the CR929 program will move into the preliminary design phase. The selection of suppliers of aviation systems and equipment will also begin, which will last about 1.5 years.

In the basic configuration, the airliner will be designed for 280 seats with a flight range of 12,000 kilometers. The aircraft will be assembled in Shanghai and designed in Russia. The total budget for the program is estimated at $13 billion.

That, together with the China Civil Aircraft Corporation (COMAC), in a solemn ceremony, gave the name to a wide-body long-range aircraft of a new generation, and also presented the livery of the liner.

The official presentation model of the joint Russian-Chinese wide-body long-range aircraft CR929 (c) being developed by United Aircraft Corporation PJSC

At the ceremony, which took place at the COMAS headquarters in Shanghai, the Russian side was represented by Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Oleg Bocharov, President of PJSC "UAC" Yuri Slyusar. China was represented by Xin Guobin, Vice Minister of Industry and Informatization of the People's Republic of China, and He Dongfeng, Chairman of the Board of Directors of COMAC. The President of the joint venture China-Russia Commercial Aircraft International Corporation (CRAIC) Guo Bozhi also took part in the event.

The name of the aircraft family is CR 929. The basic version of the wide-body long-haul aircraft will be designated CR 929-600, the junior version CR 929-500 and the senior version CR 929-700.

The Latin letters C and R denote the project participants: C - China, R - Russia. CR is also the first two letters of the name of the Russian-Chinese joint venture - CRAIC, which is the operator of the wide-body long-haul aircraft program.

“In Chinese culture, the number 9 means eternity. We are strategically building the concept of a single offer of civil aircraft by name and numbering. Thus, the CR929 family reflects the opportunity to form an offer for airlines together with the Chinese narrow-body project C919, and the numbering of each member of the family continues the line of UAC commercial aircraft offers, from MS-21-200/300/400 to CR 929 - 500/600/700 "- said the President of PJSC "UAC" Yuri Slyusar at a ceremony in Shanghai.

“The next 20 years will be a strategically important period in the development of the global civil aviation industry. We will make every effort to make the CR 929 an example of successful cooperation between Russia and China in the modern world,” said He Dongfeng, Chairman of the Board of Directors of COMAC.

The parties also presented the CRAIC joint venture logo used in the liner's livery. The logo represents two equal wings that move uniformly from left to right. This symbolizes co-development and the vector of forward movement. The colors in which the wings are made symbolize the project participants: red - China, blue - Russia.

As for the stages of work on the wide-body long-range aircraft program, by now the parties have developed the concept of the family and determined the preliminary characteristics of the aircraft. The nearest plans are the transition of the program to preliminary design and the stage of requesting proposals from suppliers of systems and equipment.

An enterprise will be opened to create a Russian-Chinese wide-body passenger aircraft. What will this car be like and why is its production moved to China?

The liner should make its first flight in seven years, and in ten years it is planned to start delivering the machine to customers. It is assumed that the production of the aircraft will be carried out in China, the development - in. The cost of the program for this moment estimated in the range of $13–20 billion.

Earlier it was reported that for this project, a PD-35 engine with a thrust of 35 tons is being created in Russia, which will take at least ten years, so the first aircraft will be equipped with General Electric or Rolls-Royce engines.

In Russia, the future airliner still bears the technical name of ShFDMS (wide-body long-haul aircraft), in China - C929. In terms of characteristics, it will have to surpass Airbus aircraft and Boeing by at least 10%.

Chinese money

It is important to clarify that "manufactured in China" does not mean that the aircraft will be completely manufactured in China. In Russia, it is planned to create a composite wing, mechanization and avionics, in China - the fuselage and tail unit. But the assembly of all elements will be carried out at an aircraft factory in the suburbs of Shanghai.

The key question for Russia is how much the domestic aviation industry will benefit from such a distribution of roles. The head of the UAC, Yuri Slyusar, explained this decision by saying that the Celestial Empire is the main sales market: several hundred cars of this class will be needed here in the next 20 years. But there are other reasons as well.

“It is quite obvious that the more own funds one or another partner is ready to invest, the more opportunities he will have to configure the project for himself,” says aviation expert Oleg Panteleev.

In his opinion, in the project, each party assumed those obligations in which it is most competent. Russia has a developed school of aircraft design, from aerodynamics and strength to composite wing manufacturing technology, and China is able to build a powerful production site. In addition, one should not discount the fact that China is not under sanctions, which means that it can freely purchase some units and equipment abroad.

Chinese compromise

Cooperation in the high-tech sphere is always a complex process, which has its pros and cons. The advantages are that funding falls on the shoulders of two states, not one.

In addition, each project participant is doing what he does best, so there is no need to reinvent the wheel. Today, almost all civil aircraft are created according to this principle, including airliners from Boeing and Airbus.

But there are also disadvantages. First, for different countries airliners with different characteristics are needed, and this issue required long negotiations. The developed characteristics (280 seats, flight range - up to 12 thousand km) can be called compromise.

In Russia, most aircraft are designed for medium-range routes - from two and a half to six thousand kilometers. In China, on the contrary, an aircraft with a capacity of 400-500 seats is needed.

Secondly, with the joint creation of an aircraft, the question of copyright arises. “There are two options for dividing the rights to this car. Or 50/50, and then we have a mutual dependence. Or there is an option when both parties fully own 100% of the rights to the liner.

That is, each side can modernize and produce this aircraft independently of the other. It is not yet clear how this issue has been resolved,” said Roman Gusarov, head of the AVIA.RU portal.

But the most important question is how the issue of copyright for the PD-35 engine will be resolved. “Technology transfer to China is unlikely. There are single manufacturers of aircraft engines in the world, and it is not customary to transfer such technologies,” Gusarov said.

It is important to note that the PD-35 engine is also being created for a heavy transport aircraft, and this will reduce the cost of its creation. In addition, it is likely that some of the design solutions used in the Russian-Chinese widebody will migrate to a new transport vehicle for the Ministry of Defense.

The ninety-sixth will live

Our country has experience in building wide-body aircraft, and this experience is unique and tragic. Those who were involved in the creation of the Il-86 in the 1970s are rightfully proud of this. Without exaggeration, the entire industry of the country worked for this machine, and in many respects it was the break in technological chains after the collapse of the USSR that put an end to the development of the project.

Although it was not without lobbying of their interests by foreign companies, which, by hook or by crook, sought to “squeeze” a competitor out of the market.

As a result, the car did not go into mass production, and instead, used Airbus A310, Boeing 747, Boeing 767 appeared on domestic airlines. Today, several Il-86s are used by Russian departments, but since 2011 this car has not been flying on passenger flights . In total, 79 aircraft out of 106 produced were cut into scrap metal.

As for the first long-haul Il-96, created on the basis of the Il-86, he was a little more fortunate. Firstly, this plane became the president's plane (aircraft number one). At the moment, the Rossiya flight squad includes seven Il-96-300s and four Il-96-300PUs. Second, six aircraft operated Russian airlines and five - Cuban Cubana.

The modernization of the aircraft was announced several times: in October 2016, Ilyushin announced that it would create a new aircraft number one for the head of state on the basis of the Il-96-400M. And on April 14, 2017, it was announced that AK them. S. V. Ilyushin received an order to create a modernized Il-96-400M.

The company's message says that this "will contribute to solving the problems of ensuring the transport accessibility of Russian regions, meeting the need for long-haul aircraft of domestic production, as well as technological independence Russian Federation».

“For strategic reasons, Russia is forced to have its own wide-body aircraft, which is completely built in our country, even when working on joint projects. It can be produced in the version of a transporter, tanker or passenger liner", - says Roman Gusarov.

Gusarov noted that one or two aircraft will be produced per year, which will not be too costly for the budget and will not interfere with work on a new aircraft.

No step back

One of the main problems of the domestic aviation industry recent years- the lack of young designers who would have experience working on both military and civilian aircraft and helicopters.

This is due to the fact that in the 1990s and early 2000s, there were practically no developments of new technology in our country, and therefore university graduates, at best, went to foreign companies, and at worst, they generally got jobs not in their specialty.

In addition, the Soviet system itself meant the development of several machines in different design bureaus, which means that after 1991 one design bureau could be loaded with work while another was idle.

Today in Russia, the creation of the so-called UAC Design Bureau is underway, which will allow uniting the efforts of engineers and designers from all over the country.

The creation of such a system is a rather difficult task related to the protection of communication channels, but it was solved: for the first time in the history of domestic aviation, several design bureaus are working on the modernization of the Tu-160 strategic bomber. Tupolev's co-executors were Sukhoi Design Bureau, RAC MiG, Irkut Corporation, TANTK im. G. M. Berieva, Ilyushin Design Bureau, MAI.

Yesterday, July 23, the aerospace show MAKS-2017 ended; its main guest, as always, was Vladimir Putin. He looked at the fifth-generation T-50 fighter, heard about the MS-21 medium-haul passenger aircraft, and even looked at the Boeing booth. It seemed that attention would also be paid to the joint Russian-Chinese aircraft. There is no plane, of course. But over the course of a year, so many events took place within the framework of this project (including with the participation of Putin) that it would be strange to ignore it. Nevertheless, at MAKS, information about a large aircraft that Russia and China should build together appeared quite sporadically. The impressive size of the aircraft model made by the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) did not reach Zhukovsky near Moscow.

The layout was first shown at Airshow China in November 2016 - it was, one might say, a premiere. For the sake of this event, Minister of Industry Denis Manturov and President of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) Yuri Slyusar flew to Zhuhai for one day. Together with their Chinese colleagues, they solemnly pulled off the red cloth from the mock-up under the guns of many cameras.

COMAC also came to the Paris Airshow 2017 with the layout, which marked the international presentation of the project. The mock-up stood at the stand of the Chinese aircraft manufacturer, with footage from the meetings between Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin playing in the background.

A separate intrigue is the name of the aircraft. In the Russian version, it is simply a "wide-body long-haul aircraft" (SHFDMS). In Chinese - C929 (or C9X9), that is, the next in the line after the recently taken off C919.

In Le Bourget, the layout of the aircraft, however, was held as LRWBCA (Long-Range Wide-Body Civil Aircraft; translated into Russian, the same ShFDMS). The hard-to-pronounce abbreviation, both in Russian and in English, raises the question: when will the aircraft have a sonorous official name? Slyusar says that they have not thought about it yet: “The plane does not have a name, and we are not stressing over this topic yet. If you have any fantasies [by name], then I will be grateful to you. The Chinese, like people who are quite consistent, have certain approaches to naming their aircraft. We treat them with respect."

At MAKS, let me remind you, there was no layout. COMAC did not participate in the Moscow air show, which means that their layout did not appear either. UAC has not yet made its own.

Rise on politics

Negotiations on the joint construction of the country's aircraft have been going on for almost ten years. In 2009, Aleksey Fedorov (then president of the UAC) predicted that the third player in the global aviation industry would appear precisely "as a result of joint projects between Russia and China." True, he admitted that everything is very difficult: “For a single country, the creation big plane can be an extremely difficult task. But I can say what is the main difficulty [of the negotiations]: both Russia and China want to be the leader of the project. Although the best option is a 50/50 risk sharing.”

The project had the status of “consultations underway” for several years. Simply put, no one really did it - the KLA, and Russia as a whole, then pinned more hopes on the West than on the East (which is worth the epic about the promotion of the Sukhoi Superjet 100). China, for sure, also had no time for a large aircraft: the country, without a strong engineering background, was hastily gaining competencies in the aviation industry - in particular, it launched the ARJ21 regional aircraft program.

Putin, at meetings with Chinese leaders, has repeatedly stated the need to unite efforts to create a wide-body aircraft "in order to take its rightful place in world markets." In 2011, in a conversation with Chinese President Hu Jintao, he noted that more and more American and European aircraft are being purchased, while "countries such as Russia and China are able and should have their own production."

Context

Moscow has set the starting price for Irkut aircraft corporation shares at $500 million

Financial Times 22.10.2003

The Russian version of the survival of the Ukrainian aircraft industry

Mirror of the Week 07/16/2008

MS-21 - an alternative to Airbus and Boeing?

Les Echos 10.06.2016
In 2012, Xi Jinping came to power in China. The topic of a large aircraft did not disappear from the agenda of the meetings of the heads of state, but the movement in the project did not increase either.

The process noticeably accelerated in 2014, under the influence of both internal and external circumstances. In both countries, large state-owned aircraft manufacturing conglomerates have finally taken shape; Europe and the United States imposed sanctions on Russia, and Xi Jinping, during a visit to the COMAC plant, expressed regret that the lack of its own aircraft makes China dependent on foreign aircraft manufacturers. In May 2014, while Putin was in China, UAC and COMAC signed a memorandum of cooperation. In June 2016, again during Putin's visit to Beijing, the countries reached an intergovernmental agreement. At the same time, there was clarity on the creation of a joint venture (JV): there is no leader in the project, everything is divided equally.

And at the end of 2016, Putin told reporters that part of Rosneftegaz’s dividends would be used to create a powerful aircraft engine (35 tons thrust), which “will allow, together with our Chinese friends, to create a wide-body long-range aircraft” (we need to write a separate story about engines, given that and China intends to build its own engine). Rosneftegaz is 100% owned by the state, owns a controlling stake in Rosneft, shares in Gazprom and Inter RAO. According to Putin, Rosneftegaz is another government budget. It is also a source of funding for the regional Il-114 and wide-body Il-96-400 projects, which are actively lobbied by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.

By the way, the return to the Il-96-400 is explained by the preservation of competencies just for the Russian-Chinese aircraft. This argument, however, arose quite recently - consider it retroactively (that is, it could not have been a motive). And one more thing: at the dawn of the negotiations, Russia offered to build a wide-body aircraft based on the Il-96, but the Chinese refused, insisting on creating it from scratch.

Judging by the way Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping take care of the plane, this is a political project. Russia and China have big ambitions: they want to be in the few major leagues of states with their own civil aviation industry on a par with the US and Europe. For the sake of these ambitions, the countries are even ready to unite, because one by one they cannot defeat either Airbus or Boeing.

Generic but Chinese

In early 2017, UAC and COMAC established China-Russia Aircraft International Commercial Corporation (CRAIC). “But craic in English is “revelry”. Not a bad name for a joint project!” - evil tongues joke. The project participants, however, are serious - they opened an office, appointed management, distributed work. They try to maintain the set line, when everything is 50 to 50. The office is located in Shanghai, closer to the final assembly line - the COMAC plant. In Moscow an engineering center will be opened.The COMAC manager is appointed as the general director of the joint venture, and the UAC manager is appointed as the chairman of the board of directors.There are eight people on the board of directors, four from each side.

“According to the division of work, which applies exclusively to the airframe, we agreed that the wing, center section, tail unit are production in Russia. The fuselage itself and the final assembly are Shanghai. There is a colossal plant, well equipped, which, in our opinion, allows the implementation of the third project [along with the assembly of ARJ21 and C919],” Slyusar said in Le Bourget. The location chosen for the assembly is explained by the proximity to the target markets. And fears that the aircraft will eventually become Chinese, Slyusar calls unfounded: “We will be able to penetrate the market, which sells ten times more aircraft than in Russia, and we will have guaranteed demand for many years to come, if only in the Chinese market. There are few such opportunities for any manufacturer, they should be cherished.”

Slyusar does not undertake to evaluate the contribution of each of the parties: “We proceed from ideology; despite the fact that this is a project of two companies and even two countries, only one team can create an aircraft. It will not work for two teams to have one plane. Slyusar speaks somewhat philosophically about the financing of the aircraft: “This is a capital-intensive project, of course. You must imagine that an aircraft is developed for 8 to 12 years, then it is produced for about 30-40 years and flies for another 40-50 years. A story about a new aircraft for centuries, for centuries. And here any calculations are rather conditional, both in terms of forecasting and the effects that you get.” According to preliminary calculations, the project needs 13-20 billion dollars.

The construction of the aircraft should begin with the basic version: a capacity of 280 seats, a range of 12,000 km. Completion of the preliminary design and its protection is scheduled for the end of 2018. The first firm contract is expected in 2019, the first flight - in 2023, the start of deliveries - in 2026, this was stated in the feasibility study of the project (feasibility study), which was prepared by UAC.

In the Russian pro-state media (and in the Chinese, they say, too), the aircraft that did not yet exist was dubbed the "killer" of Airbus and Boeing. There was only confusion about which types of aircraft to be "killed". Based on Slyusar's statements, these are A350 and B787. If you listen to the top manager of COMAC Guo Bozhi, then the A330 and B777.

All listed aircraft belong to the category of long-haul wide-body aircraft. But there is a fundamental difference: the A350 and B787 are novelties of the global aviation industry, more than 50% made of composite materials (which implies a slightly different production cycle). A330 and B777 are aircraft of the so-called previous generation, with the predominant use of aluminum. In general, it is premature to talk about competition: the Russian-Chinese aircraft will enter service in ten years (as the feasibility study says); it is unlikely that all this time Airbus and Boeing will sit idly by.

But long before entering the market, the project may face a large number of pitfalls. And it is not known which he will be able to bypass, and which he will not. The most obvious risks are these. Political - the project is very long in time, what will happen to it when the leaders of the countries change? Economic - the only source of funding is the budget; both Russia and China are not going through the most better times in the economy, and the forecasts are not encouraging. Corporate - just remember how difficult it is for Germany and France to get along in Airbus; and these are countries with a common culture. Finally, mental - language barriers, the difference in behavior patterns and other seemingly trifles that can complicate the process, up to its stop.

The materials of InoSMI contain only assessments of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the editors of InoSMI.

The family of Russian-Chinese wide-body long-haul aircraft was officially named CR929. The naming ceremony took place on 29 September at the COMAS headquarters in Shanghai. Latin letters C and R designate participants: С - China, R - Russia. CR is also the first two letters of the name of the Russian-Chinese enterprise China-Russia Commercial Aircraft International Corporation (CRAIC), which is the operator of the new aircraft program.

PJSC "United Aircraft Corporation" and "China Civil Aircraft Corporation" (COMAC) solemnly assigned the name of a wide-body long-haul aircraft of a new generation, and also presented the livery of the liner.

The first flight of the head prototype of the ShFDMS is scheduled for 2021, and the start of serial deliveries of the ShFDMS is expected in 2025-2027.

The memorandum on the joint establishment of the SHFDMS was signed by the Russian and Chinese parties in April 2014. Documents on the program for the creation of a new wide-body long-range passenger aircraft were signed on June 25, 2016 during the official visit of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to China, including an agreement on the creation of a joint venture on a parity basis, necessary for the implementation of the program, which will be registered at the headquarters COMAS apartment in Shanghai Pudong Free Trade Zone.

The first flight of the head prototype of the ShFDMS is scheduled for 2021, and the start of serial deliveries of the ShFDMS is expected in 2025–2027, depending on the expected number of new technological solutions chosen during the development. A joint engineering center will be organized in Russia to design the aircraft. and the mass production itself will have to be carried out at the COMAS enterprise in Pudong (built for the production of the promising Chinese medium-haul C919 aircraft).

The parties also presented the CRAIC joint venture logo used in the liner's livery. It consists of two equal wings that move uniformly from left to right. The colors of the wings symbolize the project participants: red - China, blue - Russia.

At the ceremony, the Russian side was represented by Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Oleg Bocharov, President of PJSC "UAC" Yuri Slyusar. China was represented by Xin Guobin, Vice Minister of Industry and Informatization of the People's Republic of China, and He Dongfeng, Chairman of the Board of Directors of COMAC. The President of the joint venture China-Russia Commercial Aircraft International Corporation (CRAIC) Guo Bozhi also took part in the event. ⠀

Commenting on the choice of the main figures for the future liner, Yuri Slyusar explained:

"In Chinese culture, the number 9 means eternity. We are strategically building the concept of a single offer of civil aircraft by name and numbering. Thus, the CR 929 family reflects the opportunity to form an offer for airlines together with the Chinese narrow-body project C 919, and the numbering of each member of the family continues the line of proposals UAC commercial aircraft, from MS-21-200/300/400 to CR 929 - 500/600/700".

Another quote: "Global demand for wide-body aircraft in the period 2023-2041 may be at least 8200 liners."⠀⠀⠀

COMAC Chairman He Dongfeng said: "The next 20 years will be a strategically important period in the development of the global civil aviation industry. We will make every effort to make the CR 929 an example of successful cooperation between Russia and China in the modern world."
⠀⠀⠀

The basic version of the wide-body long-haul aircraft will be designated CR929-600, the junior version CR929-500, and the senior version CR929-700.

Engines

The parameters of the aircraft are not completely known. It was planned that the aircraft would be equipped with PD-35 engines, but at the first stage it is planned to install the British Rolls Royce or the American General Electric.

In September of this year, UAC signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Chinese engine building company AECC on joint development of a gas turbine engine.

Joint work on a promising aircraft engine is an exceptional business in the world aircraft industry. Not all countries make engines and try not to share technologies. As expected, the Russian-Chinese engine will have a thrust of at least 35 tons, and in terms of the implementation of scientific and technical reserves in it, it will become one of the most modern.

The cost of developing the aircraft will be $13 billion, financing will be carried out on a parity basis. As previously reported, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation sent an application to the government to finance the development of the aircraft in the amount of 3.9 billion rubles in 2018.

It is assumed that the first firm contract for the CR 929 could be awarded as early as 2019. If the project can be implemented according to plan, it will be a real breakthrough in the civil aircraft industry and a strong blow to the monopoly of Airbus and Boeing, which today control the entire world market for long-haul wide-body aircraft.
The CR 929 is said to be up to 15 percent more efficient than the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus 350. It is planned to incorporate the latest advances in aerodynamics and composite materials into the aircraft's design.

Russia and China will bear the cost of designing and building the aircraft equally. Experts believe that the global demand for wide-body aircraft in the period 2023-2041 will be at least 8200 units. The largest market will be China with a need for at least 1,500 liners. And Russia, given the size of our country, the CR 929 is very useful.

Implementation of the wide-body long-range the plane is coming on schedule, Denis Manturov, head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, stated in an official statement.
"The concept of the family has been developed, the characteristics of the aircraft have been determined. The nearest plans are the transition of the program to preliminary design and the stage of requesting proposals from suppliers of systems and equipment," the minister listed.

“The machine being created immediately fits into the global context for a full-fledged presence in the world market. At the same time, we are creating a single project, forming a single positioning of the new aircraft with our Chinese colleagues,” Denis Manturov explained.