On September 29, my country's independently developed C919 civil aviation passenger aircraft finally obtained the airworthiness certification issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of China in Beijing, which means that C919 will be handed over to its first global customer, China Eastern Airlines, as early as the end of this year. We can take the trunk passenger aircraft independently designed and manufactured by our country to go home for the New Year during the Spring Festival this year.
However, after C919 obtained the airworthiness certification license, some not very good language appeared on the Internet. Most of them said that although C919 was designed independently, except for the entire fuselage, we made it ourselves, the other core components including aircraft engines, landing gear, APU auxiliary power system, flight control system, cockpit display system, environmental control system and other core components are imported from abroad or provided by Sino-foreign joint ventures. Then sum up is that C919 is a "empty shell cargo". We don't have any independent manufacturing, but we are under the banner of independent design and manufacturing.
First of all, from the perspective of reality, I admit that C919 uses many parts imported from abroad or produced by Sino-foreign joint ventures, especially in core systems including AVIC , landing gear, avionics, etc., which are indeed provided by foreign companies or joint ventures. But this situation is normal for C919. Even if we take off CR929 long-range wide-body passenger aircraft with a larger take-off weight and higher passenger capacity appears in a few years, it is impossible to guarantee 100% Chinese design or Chinese manufacturing.
1. C919 is the first small trunk passenger aircraft independently designed and manufactured in my country. It is positioned the same as the world's best-selling A320Neo series and B737max series. This also means that after the C919 is delivered in batches, it will not only gradually replace the imported B737 series and A320 series in the future, but will gradually become the main models of major domestic airlines and major domestic routes.
At the same time, C919 will also produce special models such as military anti-submarine type and early warning type in the future. In addition to meeting domestic market demand, C919 will definitely target a broader international market. The ultimate goal is to form a "three-legged" situation with Airbus and Boeing . Therefore, in order to be exported to more countries and regions, the C919 uses the latest international standards from design to manufacturing, especially in the manufacturing process, because my country's aviation industry has a big gap compared to the international development strength, especially in the field of civil aviation passenger aircraft, not only has a shallow background, but also has weak strength.
So in order to enhance the competitiveness of C919 in the future, Commercial Aircraft was in line with the mainstream development trend of international aviation when developing C919, and adopted an international bidding solution to find the world's top and most in line with the latest civil aviation standards for C919's subsystems and core components. For example, the C919, like Airbus' latest A320neo series and Boeing B737max series, both adopt the latest LEAP-1C advanced turbofan engine developed by CFM, the most powerful and popular CFM company. At the same time, international suppliers of the same level have been adopted in core components such as avionics, cockpit environment control, and landing gear, achieving the overall technology of A320Neo and B737 that is comparable and even surpassing.
2. From the moment, the C919 does use a large number of parts manufactured by foreign companies, but this problem is not only ours. The European Airbus A320 series passenger aircraft that entered the market in the 1980s and has surpassed the B737 series at this stage has not achieved 100% independent design and manufacturing for decades. For example, the latest A320neo airliner has the fuselage and wings made by Airbus in several countries such as Germany, France, Italy, and finally assembled in Toulouse, France. However, the front and rear edge flaps of the aircraft come from the United States' UK factory (the factory also produces Airbus body parts such as A350XWB and A380), the meteorological environment control system comes from Collins in the United States, and the cockpit display system comes from the United States' Honeywell . More than 37.7% of the parts of the entire aircraft come from US suppliers, and 1.8% of the parts come from China, and even the LEAP aeroengine turbine blades installed in the A320neo, B737MAX, and C919 are also manufactured in my country.
, including many passenger aircraft in Boeing in the United States, also use domestic and foreign supplier components. For example, the most popular B737 aircraft fuselage is provided by American Shibi Rui Airlines. Although the company was a new company established by Boeing after selling its fuselage factory to the Canadian Foundation in 2005, it is still an independent brother. However, many Boeing's passenger airliners use foreign parts, such as fuselage, wings and many other structural parts come from China, Japan and other countries. However, the US aviation industry is very developed, so that core components such as avionics and aeroengines are still provided by American companies.
So judging from the current development status of the two major competitors of C919, C919 cannot be regarded as the only empty shell we have created.
3. Since its development, C919 has had a very strict and very international procurement standard system for all parts suppliers. For example, in order to adapt to international market demand, C919 did not deliberately pursue comprehensive domestic production from the beginning, but instead adopted various international advanced standards and advanced suppliers. However, in all core components, C919 is a development model of self-developed domestic backup or a joint venture with advanced foreign suppliers at 50:50. For example, among the core components of C919, such as avionics, landing gear, environmental control system, and cockpit, avionics are provided by AVIC and Honeywell, and the landing gear is provided by AVIC established by AVIC and Liebherr, Germany, and the environmental control system is provided by AVIC and Collins. Moreover, these joint ventures all adopt a technology sharing development model.
is these foreign-funded enterprises that provide technical design, our own specific research and development, and ultimately pass the inspection of foreign-funded enterprises. This ensures that even if all these foreign-invested companies are withdrawn, these established joint ventures can still operate normally, providing a steady stream of parts for C919.
Of course, in the most core AVIC, we did not adopt the joint venture R&D model. In the early stage, we adopted a pure import development model, but before the C919 was officially delivered, AVIC has successfully launched the advanced AVIC 1CJ-1000A independently developed. At this stage, it is rumored that it has entered the ground bench test and is expected to be installed flight tests around 2024.
So to sum up, C919 seems to have adopted a large number of foreign parts at this stage, but this is also to pursue the development needs of the international market and ensure the long-term operation of the C919 project, and it follows the trend, and it is on the same path as Boeing and Airbus. Moreover, during the same period, the C919 and more Chinese civil aviation passenger planes walked on two legs in the future, and they mastered independent intellectual property rights or finishing and direct supply capabilities in all core components. In other words, although our C919 has many foreign parts at this stage, C919 is not afraid of being sanctioned or cut off from . Because the moment of sanctions and cut off from supply, it is the time when many domestic backup suppliers move from behind the scenes to the front. Moreover, with my country's position as the second largest aviation market in the world, even if a single C919 is not exported, it can develop for a long time in its entirety, and it can still make a lot of money and continue to make profits and develop healthily.
