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Not Top Gun Yet: China Struggles With Warplane Engine Technology
Reuters ^ | January 29, 2016

Posted on 01/29/2016 9:39:11 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki

BEIJING: China has built a potent military machine over the past 30 years but is struggling to develop advanced engines that would allow its warplanes to match Western fighters in combat, foreign and Chinese industry sources said.

The country's engine technology lags that of United Technologies unit Pratt & Whitney, General Electric and Rolls-Royce, said Douglas Barrie, senior fellow for military aerospace at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

China's Defence Ministry, in a brief statement to Reuters, said there was a "definite gap" between Chinese military technology and some developed countries, adding Beijing would continue to strengthen its armed forces.

Western restrictions on arms exports to China prohibit the sale of Western engines for military use, forcing China to rely on homegrown designs or engines Russia has agreed to sell.

"Chinese engine-makers face a multitude of problems," said Michael Raska, assistant professor in the Military Transformations Programme at Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

Among the issues, China's J-20 and J-31 stealth fighters cannot super-cruise, or fly at supersonic speeds like their closest rivals, Lockheed Martin's F-22 and F-35 stealth planes, without using after-burners, said two industry sources who follow Beijing's military programmes closely.

After-burners remove a warplane's stealthiness, a capability that allows them to escape radar detection.

Even the warplane engine that experts consider to be China's best has reliability issues, said the sources, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.

(Excerpt) Read more at ndtv.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aerospace; china; engine; metallurgy
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1 posted on 01/29/2016 9:39:11 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
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To: sukhoi-30mki

Which is why gearbox and turbine engine technology is restricted just like actual armaments.


2 posted on 01/29/2016 9:43:39 AM PST by Psalm 73 ("Gentlemen, you can't fight in here - this is the War Room".)
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To: sukhoi-30mki

Super cruise and supersonic are overrated.

Supercruise/supersonic is needed to get to somewhere, but if you have enough fighters then they are already there.

You can’t fight at supersonic speeds, so that’s out.

The price of these fighters is getting far higher than missile technology for far cheaper.


3 posted on 01/29/2016 9:45:10 AM PST by CodeToad (Islam should be banned and treated as a criminal enterprise!)
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To: Psalm 73

I wonder how reliable the Ukrainian gas turbines are.


4 posted on 01/29/2016 9:46:14 AM PST by meatloaf
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To: sukhoi-30mki

If Hillary gets in office, whe will continue Bill’s practice of selling military technology to the Chicoms.


5 posted on 01/29/2016 9:47:13 AM PST by Blood of Tyrants (Liberals are the Taliban of America, trying to tear down any symbol that they don't like.)
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To: sukhoi-30mki

Why not just make a large donation to the Clinton Foundation?


6 posted on 01/29/2016 9:47:14 AM PST by PGR88
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To: Jeff Head

Ping


7 posted on 01/29/2016 9:48:19 AM PST by StoneWall Brigade (Vote Tom Hoefling of America's Party for President the only person to restore the Republic)
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To: sukhoi-30mki

If Hillary is elected she will fix this.


8 posted on 01/29/2016 9:48:44 AM PST by Obadiah
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To: sukhoi-30mki

What a load of bull.How difficult would it be for the Chinese to buy or steal an engine or the blueprints for an engine that would be used by the f22 or f23.Not difficult at all.


9 posted on 01/29/2016 9:50:05 AM PST by puppypusher ( The World is going to the dogs.)
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To: sukhoi-30mki

I don’t see the problem here. The Clinton Family Foundation is open for business and special sales are always on.


10 posted on 01/29/2016 9:50:54 AM PST by Gritty (Syrians aren't Jews fleeing Nazi Holocaust but Nazis relocating from a bombed out Berlin-DGreenfield)
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To: puppypusher

Blueprints are one thing...
Think of all the Chinese knockoffs you’ve encountered.
Stand back safe distance.


11 posted on 01/29/2016 9:54:03 AM PST by moose07 (DMCS (Dit Me Cong San ) - Nah. Okay ,who ordered the Cheese Toasty?)
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To: sukhoi-30mki

Whatta laff.

Listen, the original design equations for gas turbines were written up by Chung Hua-Wu when he was in the U.S. in the 1950’s working for NACA.

His method for axisymmetric throughflow analysis is what GE and Pratt used for decades. It has only recently been replaced by viscous flow Navier-Stokes solutions.

But most of the grad students writing that stuff are um...Asian. And they got no problem going home and taking what’s in their brains with them. Or selling it on the open market.

Wu was like Tsien: he went home when the U.S. refused him a clearance in the 1950’s. He founded their jet engine industry, and it continues to this day.

Only a matter of time before they get on par between free trade, free immigration, and the decline of American manufacturing and education at the hands of the trash that opened our borders and holds Americans in contempt.


12 posted on 01/29/2016 9:54:43 AM PST by Regulator
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To: moose07

Personally I try to avoid anything that is manufactured in China because the Items are usually lower in quality and dependability but you can’t even buy an IPhone that’s not made in China.

How far America’s production capability has fallen.


13 posted on 01/29/2016 9:58:03 AM PST by puppypusher ( The World is going to the dogs.)
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To: CodeToad

I wonder if the engines they get from Russia are monkey models.


14 posted on 01/29/2016 10:01:39 AM PST by sparklite2 ( "The white man is the Jew of Liberal Fascism." -Jonah Goldberg)
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To: sukhoi-30mki

Hillary will sell it to them — if Barack doesn’t beat her to it.


15 posted on 01/29/2016 10:05:06 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: puppypusher
...How difficult would it be for the Chinese to buy or steal an engine or the blueprints for an engine...

That in itself isn't enough - the real challenge is the manufacturing/heat-treating of the first-stage turbine blades.

16 posted on 01/29/2016 10:11:23 AM PST by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: puppypusher

It’s not the design or the blueprint the ChiComs really need. They probably already have those. It’s the metallurgy that they lack. Jet engines have some really exotic metals and if you don’t have all that knowledge making parts durable and flexible at the same time the engines will implode and break into little hot, extremely sharp pieces of shrapnel.

CC


17 posted on 01/29/2016 10:16:06 AM PST by Celtic Conservative (CC: purveyor of cryptic, snarky posts since December, 2000..)
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To: meatloaf
"I wonder how reliable the Ukrainian gas turbines are."

Reliability is only part of the equation - it's power to weight ratio, or actually power turbine outlet temps - how hot can it run without the PT blades melting...

(I've had a few blow while under throttle - it's not a pretty sight)

18 posted on 01/29/2016 10:17:34 AM PST by Psalm 73 ("Gentlemen, you can't fight in here - this is the War Room".)
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To: sukhoi-30mki
China Aircraft Carrier

A China uncensored YOUTUBE. About two minutes in, China can not make a powerful enough engine to fly off a carrier.

19 posted on 01/29/2016 10:28:35 AM PST by 11th Commandment ("THOSE WHO TIRE LOSE")
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To: Blood of Tyrants
That's what I was thinking.

If she's somehow stays out of jail and gets elected, this sort of stuff just might get her family foundation a big Chicom “donation”.

20 posted on 01/29/2016 10:36:18 AM PST by skimbell
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