Thursday, May 29, 2025

Remember, I Warned ...

 ... about it. I warned for a long time that this is coming. This is two years ago:

It is a Western plane whether we like it or not. And that is a huge deal, because Chinaisation of this plane, if it ever commences, will be a torturous and prolonged process. If... So, each time I read or hear that C919 is a "competitor" to Boeing or Airbus, I cringe. Commercial aviation is an extremely complex industry which incorporates know-how only very few countries have and China is not there yet, and that is also a cold hard fact. Will China's commercial aerospace be sanctioned, thus disrupting C919? Certainly, possible. Chinese know that, and this is their vulnerability--a serious strategic one. I thought you might be interested. Especially against the background of China leaving CR-929 project because Russia is not going to share with her technologies for free and, as a result, Chinese COMAC Wide-Body (this is how it is called now) will be a larger version of... and you guessed it... COMAC 919--a Western made aircraft assembled in China.

Look again, what is under the wing of C-919. 


It is CFM Leap-1. It is 50-50 JV between Saffran and, you have guessed it, General Electric. Well, now it arrived, as NYT reports:

U.S. Pauses Exports of Airplane and Semiconductor Technology to China. President Trump has stopped some critical products and technologies made only in the United States from flowing to China, flexing the government’s power over global supply chains.

Namely "The Trump administration has suspended some sales to China of critical U.S. technologies, including those related to jet engines." Don't tell me I didn't warn. I rest my case. 

P.S. No, Russia is not going to sell her PD-14 to China, she needs them for REAL competitor to Boeing and Airbus--MC-21.