Aircraft for $ 20 billion. How Russia and China create a long-haul airliner
The project of the joint Russian-Chinese ShFDMS CR929 is at the stage of analyzing proposals for aircraft systems received from suppliers and selecting from them the most appropriate to the requirements of the TOR. In the first quarter of 2020, after the project passes the Gate 3 stage (protection of the draft design), the list of suppliers will be permanently "frozen". About the features of the selection process of suppliers of basic systems […]
The first test flight of a wide-body long-range aircraft (SHFDMS) is expected in 2023-2025, said Yury Slyusar, President of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) PJSC, on the air of the Rossiya 24 TV channel. In an interview with the TV channel, the head of the UAC noted that there are no examples of the creation of an aircraft by two companies in the world. “There are examples of the creation of an aircraft by one company, which was established by several countries […]
The first composite prototype of the front fuselage for the joint Russian-Chinese wide-body airliner CR929, which is under development, has been manufactured in China. This is reported by Flight Global with reference to the press service of COMAC. With a 15 by 6 meter design, Chinese engineers pioneered the concept of fully composite materials for the fuselage. This element of the glider of the future […]
A new production plant for the manufacture of the composite wing of the Russian-Chinese SHFDMS CR929 can be built in the Primorsky Territory near Vladivostok. Maxim Litvinov, chief designer of the liner from the Russian side, spoke about this in an interview with Vzlyot magazine. In his opinion, for the manufacture of the wing, it is necessary to use the capacities of CJSC Aerocomposite, which already produces […]
The Chinese corporation AECC Commercial Aircraft Engine Co, Ltd (AECC CAE) and the Russian United Engine Corporation (UEC, part of Rostec) are negotiating the creation of a joint venture to produce engines for the CR929 wide-body long-range aircraft. It is reported by RBC with reference to its sources in the industry. JV is one of the most […]
The Samara enterprise Aviaagregat, which is part of the Technodinamika holding, has completed research work on creating the appearance of the chassis of the wide-body long-haul aircraft CR929, the press service of the Rostec Group of Companies reports. In May of this year, Aviaagregat entered into an agreement with the company Civil aircraft Sukhoi" to perform preliminary calculations of the parameters of the shock absorber struts of the front and main landing gear as part of the […]
During the China Air 2018 International Air Show in Zhuhai, China, a life-size model of the CR929 wide-body aircraft with a three-class layout and a cockpit was presented. The chief designer of the aircraft, Maxim Litvinov, spoke in an interview with RIA Novosti about the current state of work and the impact of anti-Russian sanctions on the project. Joint Russian-Chinese venture […]
In the course of development, the CR929 wide-body long-haul joint Russian-Chinese aircraft has grown in size and requires a more thrust propulsion system than anticipated prior to the launch of the program in 2017. aviation21.ru).
Model of a promising wide-body long-range joint Russian-Chinese aircraft CR929 (SHFDMS) (c) aviation21.ru
The aircraft, which is comparable in size to the Airbus A330-900 in the concept design of 2015, has increased the diameter of the fuselage, which allows you to install nine passenger seats in a row in an economical version. Now the liner requires engines with a thrust of 35.4 tons, while in 2015 power plants with a thrust of 32.3 tons to 34 tons were required.
Chinese Corporation civil aviation COMAC has published data for one of the preliminary iterations of the project, while Sukhoi Civil Aircraft (SCAC) has provided information for the second iteration, which is expected to be final. Apparently, the differences in the numbers reflect progress in the development of the project.
The flight range of the aircraft in both iterations of the project remained unchanged, as in the 2015 concept - 12,000 km. The A330-900 and Boeing 787-10 aircraft have approximately the same figures. This is enough to cover 95% of medium and long distance routes, according to COMAC.
In the iteration of the design provided by GSS, the three-class layout of the passenger cabin accommodates 281 seats, the A330-900 in the same configuration has a capacity of 287 seats, but passenger capacity comparison is almost meaningless due to a large number variations of premium-class cabins on long-haul aircraft.
Refinement of the fuselage dimensions shows that the CR929 will accommodate more passengers than the A330-900 in the standard cabin layout. The length of the aircraft is 63.25 m, which is only 45 cm less than the A330-900. The GSS does not specify the diameter of the fuselage, but according to the proportions of the preliminary design drawing submitted by COMAC, this figure is about 5.9 m. In the 2015 concept, the exact value was 5.92 m and apparently provided for nine seats in a row. Therefore, there is no reason to assume that in the version of the design provided by the GSS, the diameter has changed significantly.
The A350 liner, which has nine seats in a row, has almost the same fuselage diameter - 5.96 m. The A330 can accommodate only eight seats in a row. A consortium of COMAC and United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) (CRAIC) abandoned the option chosen by Boeing for the B787 - to design a fuselage that will have eight comfortable seats and wide aisles, or nine narrow ones in a compact version.
The CR929 is intended primarily to replace the A330-300, which has the same fuselage length as the A330-900. In the past 10 years, the A330-300 has become the workhorse on China's busiest domestic routes. By 2027, these aircraft will require replacement, just in time for the start of deliveries of the CR929.
The increase in the size of the CR929 is likely due to the fact that COMAC and GSS expect an increase in passenger traffic, and the natural desire of airlines to have more places by the time the A330-300 type aircraft will be withdrawn from the carriers' fleets. Chen Yingchun, chief designer of the CR929 at COMAC, said in September 2017 that the aircraft required a 34 ton thrust engine, now we are talking about an even more powerful power plant.
The table below shows data from COMAC and GSS. The designation of Design Iterations A and B is arbitrary, official names for them are not reported.
To ensure the competitiveness of the aircraft, a modern power plant is needed. In December 2017, CRAIC issued a request for proposals for an appropriate thrust engine. Aviation week believes that the only contenders are GE Aviation and Rolls-Royce, which have developments for wide-body aircraft. Pratt & Whitney is not considered as it concentrates on engines for narrow-body aircraft. The Russian side offers a promising PD-35 engine for the aircraft.
In 2016, the United Aircraft Corporation suggested that Rolls-Royce or GE would offer an engine at about the level of technology that was available for Airbus and Boeing aircraft in the mid-2000s. GE's candidate could be a version of the GEnx engine, which in its GEnx-1B76 standard produces 34.5 tons of thrust for the B787-10. Rolls-Royce will most likely offer a version or derivative of the Trent 7000. This engine produces 30.8t to 32.6t of thrust on the A330-900. There is also a Trent 1000 TEN engine which is certified with 35.4 tons of thrust.
Obviously, for their project, CRAIC wants to have a power plant with more power for larger versions of the CR929.
The approximate drawing of the joint Russian-Chinese aircraft CR929 (SHFDMS) is based on the design data published by COMAC Corporation, which received the designation Iteration of the project A (c) Scott Marshal / AW&ST
A promising family of wide-body long-haul aircraft is named CR 929. The basic version is CR 929-600, the younger version is CR 929-500, and the older version is CR 929-700.
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 advanced wide-body long-range aircraft program.
The solemn ceremony, which announced the name of the liner and presented its future livery, was held at the headquarters of the China Civil Aircraft Corporation (COMAC) in Shanghai. Our country was represented by Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Oleg Bocharov and President of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) Yuri Slyusar. On the Chinese side, there were Vice Minister of Industry and Informatization of China Xin Guobin and Chairman of the Board of Directors of COMAC He Dongfeng. Guo Bozhi, President of the Russian-Chinese joint venture CRAIC, also took part in the event.
Commenting on the choice of the main numbers of the future liner, Yuri Slyusar explained: "In Chinese culture, the number 9 means eternity. We are strategically building the concept of a single sentence by name and numbering civil aircraft. 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 UAC commercial aircraft offers, from MS-21-200/300/400 to CR 929 - 500/600/700 ".
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 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.
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 project is progressing very dynamically. A memorandum on the possibility of creating such an aircraft was signed in April 2014. Fundamental documents - June 25, 2016 within the framework of Vladimir Putin's official visit to China. At the 20th International Aviation and Space Salon China Airshow 2016 on November 2, the appearance of the Russian-Chinese airliner was presented. And already in September of this year, UAC signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Chinese engine building company AECC on the joint development of a gas turbine engine.
It is assumed that the first firm contract for the CR 929 can be signed as early as 2019, the first flight - in 2023, the start of deliveries - in 2026.
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.
2023 is planned as the year when the new aircraft will take to the wings
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.
Everything is on schedule
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.
Back in the spring of 2014, during a visit to the capital of China, Russian President V.V. Putin signed a memorandum on joint work on the creation of a wide-body long-range aircraft (SHFDMS). Its implementation was entrusted from the Russian side to the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), from the Chinese side - to the state-owned company COMAS (Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China).
Already two years later in Chinese city Zhuhai, in November, at the China Airshow-2016 International Salon, a model of a Russian-Chinese air liner was shown to the general public.
After the signing by the governments of the two countries of an agreement on the joint implementation of the SFDMS program, China-Russia Commercial Aircraft International Corp.Ltd was established. The large Chinese metropolis of Shanghai was chosen as the head office and headquarters of the joint company, Guo Bozhi, who was the head of the wide-body aircraft department at COMAS, was appointed its president. From Russia's side, a seat on the board of directors in China-Russia will be taken by S. Fomin, who led a team at the UAC that develops programs for aircraft with a wide fuselage.
For the countries, the roles for the creation of the SFDMS were distributed as follows - the Chinese COMAS is responsible for the development and manufacture of the composite-metal fuselage, and the Russian UAC will develop and establish the production of a composite wing. The Shanghai plant will handle the final assembly of the airframe.
The first series of ShFMDS will be equipped with engines from Western companies Rolls-Royce or General Electric. In July 2016, the Russian and Chinese sides gathered a team to jointly develop an engine with a capacity of 35 tons. In Russia, the PD-35 project was started earlier, taking as a basis the developments on the PD-14 engine for the liner.
In March 2017, the joint venture "Chinese-Russian International Commercial Company" took over the task of developing, manufacturing and marketing with subsequent maintenance of the SFDMS. As of April 6, 2017, the Russian side has completed the second stage of the SFDMS project, the following important work has been completed: with the specification of data as required for wide-body aircraft, a 3D model of the theoretical contours of the aircraft has been developed and a model of the DMS wing has been made, the calculated data of all aircraft characteristics have been optimized, and others technical calculations and requirements.
The cost of the entire project is 117.5 million dollars, the first serial deliveries are planned for 2027, the SFDMS will take to the air no later than 2022. This aircraft will be 20% cheaper than its competitors in the first year, and we hope it will create healthy competition for Boeing and Airbus, which dominate this segment.
Creation of the wide-body long-haul aircraft CR929 is the most ambitious and most technologically advanced joint project between Russia and China. Its cost may amount to several tens of billions of dollars, but this considerable investment should take the China-Russia Commercial Aircraft International Corporation (CRAIC) joint venture into a huge market estimated in the next 20 years at $2.3 trillion in 2020. Currently, only Boeing and Airbus are present in the long-haul aircraft market. Designed to carry 250-300 passengers, the CR929 is planned to be more efficient, economical and comfortable than competing aircraft - the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350. At what stage is the project now, why Russian aircraft manufacturers needed cooperation with China to create an airbus, and how the Russian aviation industry can keep its secrets and technologies from being copied, Maxim Litvinov, chief designer of the CR929 from the Russian side, told Forbes in an interview.
Domestic aircraft manufacturers have experience in creating their own airbuses, one of them, the Il-96-300, is still used by the Russian president. Why was it necessary to create a joint venture with China when creating a new wide-body aircraft? We have the technology and skills. Didn't have enough money?
It is not rational for us to do this on our own. When the country's leadership set the task of creating such an aircraft, the United Aircraft Corporation conducted a market analysis and came to the conclusion that in the period from 2023 to 2045, air carriers will need 7,200 such aircraft, of which 15% - to China, 28% - to other countries of the Asia-Pacific region. Russian demand will not exceed 5%. China is the largest market for Airbuses, a technically and economically booming country, and we have high competencies, but a small market. So the joint work on this project turned out to be beneficial for both parties.
In a joint venture, Russia and China have equal shares, will investments also be equal? And is the figure of $20 billion, which was previously announced as the cost of the entire project, correct?
So far, the partners finance all their work on their own. Negotiations are still underway on investments, the final amount has not yet been determined. We call $16 billion, the Chinese side - $20 billion.
At what stage are the works now? How are they distributed?
We have passed the second milestone - GATE 2: the preliminary characteristics of the aircraft, geometric characteristics, variants of functional systems schematic diagrams, equipment composition have been determined. Now the program is at the stage of preliminary design, upon its completion, the appearance of the aircraft will be formed. In 2018, the requirements for the main systems of the aircraft will be developed, since December 2017, the procedure for working with potential suppliers of equipment and systems has begun. We must complete the supplier selection procedure in 2019. Other tasks of GATE 3 are to conduct experimental research in the field of aerodynamics, strength and in the choice of structural materials.
The work between the partners is still divided in terms of the airframe, and even that is preliminary. The Russian side is entrusted with the design and development of wing consoles, center section, wing mechanization, pylons, engine mounting - this is one of the most high-tech parts of the program. Chinese partners create the fuselage, horizontal and vertical tail, fairing.
The planes will be made in China. Will it not turn out that if relations between the countries suddenly worsen, then the Chinese partners will abandon Russian developments, copy the parts that Russia makes for the aircraft, and start producing the aircraft completely independently?
It is quite difficult to take parameters, physical and mechanical properties from such a complex unit as a wing, for example. Direct copying will not lead to a fast and efficient result. Yes, you can copy and assemble, but in this case the percentage of errors is very high, since it remains unknown why certain technical decisions were made.
Russian entrepreneurs working with Chinese factories say that only strict control by the customer can ensure high-quality production at them. How will the reliability and quality of Chinese aircraft components be ensured?
The production of aircraft components is based on very strict international regulatory requirements, all components and assemblies are controlled and rigorously tested. What is put on the plane must satisfy a huge number of requirements from different points of view. Both in terms of strength and work in different temperature conditions, and humidity, and even the requirements when working under the influence of salt fog and the influence of fungus. A substandard unit simply will not fit on an airplane - the certifying authorities will not allow this, either in our country or in China. Civil acceptance in a number of issues is even tougher than the military one. On a combat aircraft there are handles for ejection, on a passenger aircraft there is none. Development passenger aircraft It is safety first and foremost.
When it comes to aircraft component manufacturers in China, they have serious advantages and serious disadvantages. In China, a lot of financial and human resources are invested in aviation industry, large design and research organizations, joint ventures with European manufacturers of components are being created. On the other hand, they have little developed competence in the field of integration of complex technical objects, such as a passenger aircraft. Individually, everyone is well versed in the subject, in the methods of design and organization of work, but in order to glue everything together, experience is needed. And we have this experience, this is our advantage, our competence, which we can bring to the project.
The Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft, in the design of which you also participated, has a very large proportion of imported components, which was perceived by many experts as a drawback. What will be the ratio of supplying countries in CR929?
I do not consider a high proportion of imported components in an aircraft to be something bad. This is an international practice, and in addition, it allows you to study and receive the most advanced solutions in the development and production of various aircraft components. CR929 has now been shortlisted for potential suppliers. First of all, Russian or Chinese manufacturers will be selected for the project in a 50/50 ratio. If there is no such supplier, then we look at manufacturers who already have joint ventures with Russia and China. The third option is to choose a supplier outside of China and Russia.
Will anti-Russian sanctions interfere?
The risks here are less than they could be in a purely Russian project. Global manufacturers of aircraft components are very interested in CR929, there are simply no programs of this magnitude in the world now. They need to earn money, load their design offices, experimental base, production. Therefore, they treat the project with great optimism.
Will the engines on the plane be made in the West?
Based on interviews with aviation and leasing companies, a document “Preliminary necessary and desirable market requirements” was compiled, according to which we must ensure that we have a choice of two power plants from two suppliers. Potential partners include Rolls-Royce and General Electric. This is at the first stage. For the second stage, we are actively working with Perm Motors (part of the UEC) on the engine of the PD-35 project. As far as I know, the Chinese side has also started designing an engine for this aircraft. Perm Motors is also collaborating with one of the Chinese corporations to create an engine with the required thrust.
How closely are you currently working with your Chinese colleagues?
For now, we work autonomously, but as part of a joint team, we regularly meet during multi-day working sessions in Shanghai and Moscow. The Chinese are, of course, complex negotiators, highly structured and tough. If it is possible to resolve issues with European or American partners at the level of heads of areas and with individual specialists, then the Chinese partner coordinates each issue with the management, then with his boss, then the decision goes back. At the same time, the Chinese partners have their own opinion and defend it on every technical and organizational issue. But we also have something to present, and we are also ready to defend our interests.
But they also understand that the experience and technology of construction large aircraft while only the Russian side has it in this project?
This is a livelihood. With the approach that the Chinese side has - with systematic work, powerful financing, large-scale cooperation with companies in the global aviation industry - they will have all this. Not as fast, of course, as they would like, but over time they will reach a decent level in the field of aircraft construction.
Would they themselves, without Russia, be able to build a wide-body long-range aircraft?
I guess, yes. But it would be long, expensive and not always of high quality.
