Russian passenger planes used Western parts and were sanctioned and grounded. In order to participate in the competition in the global regional passenger aircraft market, Russia does not hesitate to accept advanced Western technologies to the greatest extent and adopts as little

SSJ-100 passenger plane is the first civilian regional passenger plane produced by Russia since the 1990s. The initiator of this development plan is Sukhoi Aircraft Company, which is famous for its development of the fighter .

Russian passenger plane uses Western parts and is sanctioned to ground

In order to participate in the global regional passenger plane market, Russia does not hesitate to accept advanced Western technologies to the greatest extent and adopt pure domestic equipment as little as possible. For example, SSJ-100 is equipped with the SaM146 engine jointly developed by France and Russia.

In 2004, Russia's Rebinsk-Saturn Scientific Production Joint Company (Saturn NPO JSC) and France's SNECMA each invested 50% to register and establish a joint venture PowerJet Company to jointly develop an aircraft engine with a thrust range of 6.16-7.7 tons. The

SaM146 engine was developed in February 2002 and the first engine assembly was completed in April 2006. Due to the participation of French companies, the SSJ-100 passenger aircraft quickly obtained the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certification.

However, in 2022, Russia has imposed Western sanctions for well-known reasons. All 150 SSJ100 jet passenger planes operated by the Russian civil aviation system have been sanctioned by Western countries due to the sanctions of key components.

In addition, Boeing and Airbus no longer sell aircraft to Russia. Helpless Russia can only dismantle and peel off parts of jet passenger planes to ensure that parts that cannot be purchased abroad due to Western sanctions can be supplied normally, so that foreign-made aircraft can continue to fly until at least 2025. Currently, most of the disassembled parts are obtained from several Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 , as the company needs more spare parts for these models for other Boeing 737 and Airbus A320.

C919 Western elements

Even so, Russian Airlines is still facing a crisis of not being able to enter the global aviation market, and this also gives the domestic large aircraft C919, a reminder. The engine of the

C919 aircraft was developed in cooperation with General Electric (GE) in the United States and Safran Group in France. The C919 aircraft engine model mainly uses a twin-engine turbofan medium-sized CFM LEAP-1C engine.

In 2016, CFM International's LEAP-1C integrated propulsion system was awarded the model certificate by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the FAA (FAA), paving the way for the COMAC C919 aircraft to be put into commercial operation. CFM is the only engine manufacturer to obtain dual original certification issued by two aviation certification agencies at the same time.

C919 large aircraft uses CFM LEAP-1C engines in addition to the relatively lagging domestic engine technology, there is another reason, which is also to compete for the global aviation market. After all, only by obtaining the EASA airworthiness certificate from the US FAA and Europe, C919 can start international flights, enter the international market, and sell them in the international market.

Therefore, there are many "American elements" in the C919: Honeywell's fly-by-speed flight control system, auxiliary power unit and landing gear; Rockwell Collins' meteorological radar and simulation system; Parker Hannifin's flight control system and fuel system; GE's engine; and even Michelin tires...

: I'm right here to say that Boeing and Airbus have also used parts from other countries in large quantities. Don't think that if you use parts from other countries, aircraft will be easily made. How to deal with

C919

But Russia's experience also reminds us that if we sacrifice the domesticization rate in order to participate in the global market, what should we do when we are strangled? You must know that if we are subject to comprehensive sanctions from the West like Russia, Boeing and Airbus will no longer supply Chinese passenger planes, which will be a heavy blow to China.

In 2020, the number of civil aviation passenger aircraft in China was 3,717, while in 2015, this number was still 2,650. It can be seen that China has a very large demand for civil aviation passenger aircraft. After all, China is the world's largest civil aviation market.

In addition, we are different from Russia. After all, Russia has few people, so the demand can be filled by dismantling the parts of a few passenger aircraft. In 2021, China's domestic routes completed passenger transport volume reached 439.0802 million, which is not something that can be filled by dismantling the parts of the passenger aircraft.

In fact, when the manufacturer of C919 was China Commercial Aircraft Co., Ltd. (COMAC), was included in the sanctions list by the United States, Commercial expected this possibility to appear. At the beginning of the launch of the

C919 project, considering that the Chinese have never encountered a "big aircraft" since the domestically produced 10 aircraft, China Commercial Aircraft Co., Ltd. conservatively estimates that the domesticization rate of C919 is as long as it is greater than 10%.

However, after gathering the efforts of all domestic civil aviation universities and research institutes, when the C919 was delivered and put off the line, this large Chinese aircraft that was comparable to the two famous brand aircraft Boeing and Airbus at the time of its birth actually achieved a domestic production rate of nearly 60%, and received an order of 570 aircraft. ( big aircraft industry is divided into three levels according to the importance of parts, and first-level suppliers are divided into four categories; there are 40 first-level suppliers developed by COMAC C919 project, 23 in China, 9 in the United States, and 3 in France. Comprehensive calculation of Chinese enterprises with the products provided by second- and third-level suppliers, the comprehensive domesticization rate of C919 large aircraft reaches 60%)

Give a simple example. If an aircraft is compared to a person, then the engine is the heart, hydraulic system is blood, and the control law is the soul. Although it is a freight flight control system provided by Honeywell, it is subject to US law and cannot provide the C919 project party with the technology of flight control law algorithm, and can only be independently developed by COMAC. During the research and development process, Honeywell was only responsible for implementing the algorithms and solutions designed by COMAC. Regarding the question of whether the programming is appropriate, Honeywell only answers "right" or "wrong", and the fault will be located and eliminated by COMAC.

So, although the control law technology of the aircraft is participated by Honeywell, the core is developed by the Chinese team itself. In fact, COMAC sets a "threshold" when purchasing original imported products, that is, once a certain product is purchased by COMAC, it will eventually be gradually localized, thereby achieving 100% domesticization. What does

mean? That is to say, in order to participate in the global market, C919 will purchase Western parts and equipment, but every part and equipment can be replaced by domestic products. This is COMAC's response strategy. Including the engine.

C919 will use the CJ-1000A turbofan engine in the future. According to the currently published data, the thrust of the CJ-1000A turbofan engine reaches 13 tons, which is the same as the performance of the US LEAP engine used in the current C919 prototype, especially the fuel consumption and reliability indicators are basically close. Some new technologies have also been adopted in noise and emissions to meet the standards of European and American countries.

So, although Western parts are used, every part of C919 can be replaced locally, so we don’t need to worry.

In addition, even if C919 is subject to Western sanctions and cannot participate in the global market, as long as it is supported by the domestic market, C919 can have sufficient profits to continue its research and development.

Another good news is that C919 will receive a certificate of airworthiness this year, which means that we can board our own large plane by the end of this year or the beginning of next year.