Translation:MOSCOW, March 28./TASS/."Aerocomposite" has manufactured and tested at TsAGI a prototype wing of the Russian-Chinese wide-body long-haul aircraft CR929.Anatoly Gaidansky, General Director of Aerocomposite, First Deputy General Director of the Irkut Corporation, stated this during the Composites Without Borders forum."We have finished this year and have now put a prototype of a composite wing for the CR-929 aircraft for testing at TsAGI. You know this is our joint project with our Chinese partners, which we are now preparing for testing and will probably be tested by the middle of this year,"he said.According to the press service of the Irkut Corporation, which includes JSC Aerocomposite, the wing of a promising wide-body long-range aircraft will be presented at the MAKS-2023 air show.The aircraft was developed for several years by the UAC together with the Chinese CRAIC.It was planned that the Russian side would take over the engineering work, and the final assembly of aircraft would be arranged in China.The aircraft was supposed to be put on the market in 2025-2027.It was to be presented in three versions.In the basic configuration, the airliner was supposed to carry 280 passengers.
I will repeat it again: Russia does not need China for CR 929 because Russia has the state-of-the-art IL-96 400, PD-35in development and all composite industry she needs. Flying from Kaliningrad to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky could be done in one stop by TU-214 or MC-21 somewhere in Novosibirsk or Krasnoyarsk, or, eventually, with MC-21 Extended Range non-stop.
Yes, they are flying the thing in experimental mode now.
Per situation with children and their psycho-bitch murderer. I can not easily take this, but I 100% agree with Larry:
I am on record--most of the US media and "intellectual" class are war criminals and criminals against humanity. There are no normal people working for the US MSM--none.
Denis Manturov, the head of Minpromtorg, finally explained to TASS those "issues" with CR-929 and they expose, quite well, reasons why I am always stand-offish whenever I speak about joint projects with China. This "insight" explains it very well.
Translation:- Returning to the topic of international cooperation, what is happening with the joint project of Russia and China to create a long-haul wide-body airliner CR929?
- I think we will hold regular negotiations in the first quarter of next year, and reach clear prospects and deadlines.But our Chinese colleagues today have applications for participation in this project from various manufacturers of components from third countries.We do not consider such a format for ourselves, given the current situation and all the risks that we understand very well.Therefore, in order not to encounter them, we may make a decision for ourselves from a partner within the framework of this project to move into the status of a supplier of aggregates and components.
In other words, geopolitical aims, and whenever speaking about aerospace we need to keep in mind that it is an industry of global importance, of Russia and China diverge here, and diverge seriously. Russia is pursuing, quite successfully, an autarkic model in strategic industries, China does not and the trend in Chinese commercial aerospace is very clear. I already presented here the composition of Chinese C-919 and wrote about it recently. Remember?
I cannot emphasize enough when speaking about aerospace that China, for all her great economic achievements, is STILL not in the premier league of the aerospace and, as an example, nuclear submarines, among few other sectors. China builds her commercial aerospace with the sight on the West's markets, thinking, very wrongly, that practically all-Western aircraft produced in China, such as C-919, or even joint CR-929 containing a truck-load of Western-made systems, will somehow grant China the entrance to Western market or the markets elsewhere. In this case China sets herself for failure, because commercial aerospace market doesn't work like this.
Manturov is correct, that if China decides to go this way, Russia must simply withdraw as a partner from this project and contract herself as a supplier. It will release Russia's resources for development of her domestic wide-body aircraft which, most likely, will be redesigned and re-motorized to two PD-35s iteration of an excellent IL-96. Never again will Russia depend on the combined West for anything, especially in such critical industrial field as commercial aerospace. In combat aviation Russia remains one of the two leaders in the world, and, as today's events showed, Russia increases production of SU-57s and today a new batch has been delivered to Russian Air Force (in Russian).
As Lavrov stated today--the US informed Russia through diplomatic channels that they do not want to fight Russia directly. Sure, who would, but the US thinks it can exhaust Russia. Naive and uneducated people they are in D.C. Not very bright, because they didn't study real economy and war. Same goes for Brussels. But I repeat myself.
As someone on our discussion boards noticed, beautifully: Russia and China do not stand shoulder to shoulder, but back to back. Very succinct. That is why I am always standoffish in regards to Russian-Chinese cooperation in some (by far not all) spheres. While China and Russia are de facto military allies, economically--they are competitors. And here is what Yuri Borisov confirmed a week ago:
ALEKSIN / Tula region /, June 29. /TASS/. Russia is reducing its participation in the project to create a long-range wide-body aircraft CR929 jointly with China, Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov said at the plenary session of the Future Engineers forum.
“We are working with China on this project, which, in principle, is not going in the direction that suits us. China, as it becomes an industrial giant, is less and less interested in our services, we have our design bureau, we have vast experience in TsAGI ( Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute - TASS note).<...> But the Chinese have more needs than we have today. Our participation is decreasing and decreasing. I don't want to predict the future of this project - will we leave it or not , but for now it is actually on its way," Borisov said.
So, what could this "direction" be which "doesn't suit" Russia. Let me speculate a bit, or, hell with it, go on a limb here and I wrote about it for a long time. I think the issue here is engine, namely PD-35 which is in works and was supposed to be installed on CR-929. China depends on foreign engines when it comes to commercial aviation and this tradition will not change because, as with nuclear submarines, Chinese technology in this respect lags and lags significantly behind the West and Russia. Stating concerns with sanctions China, and here I begin to speculate, most likely wanted technologies for PD-35 "appropriated" as in "indigenous" Chinese engine. This is not the "gift" Russia is willing to give to China. And rightly so. Modern jet engine technologies are one of the most advanced and sensitive technologies anywhere.
It is inconceivable for Pratt and Whitney or Rolls Royce, or GE to simply "share" with China, even at the peak of West-Chinese cooperation in 2000s and 2010s with their engine technologies. As I already stated not for once--China lags here. Why she lags--it is a whole other issue altogether. Creating competitive commercial aircraft with own indigenous engine is a hell of undertaking and if China, including through cooperation with Ukraine at some point, wants to take this road alone, sure. But it has to be clearly stated that at this very moment China doesn't have competitive engine for both Comac 919 (which was planned to be "motorized" by LEAP-1) and, especially, CR 929.
Pay attention to date. So, by all measure Chinese expect at least 18 years developing such an engine. As of today no serial produced competitive indigenous engine is available for Chinese commercial aviation. Consider a development cycle for PD-14 whose first run was in 2014 (concept of engine was presented in 2009) and it is now in serial production since 2021. Make your own conclusions. China's achievements in economy, some technologies, science etc. are very impressive and demand admiration and appreciation. But there are few specific and crucial fields in which China still lags greatly behind the West and Russia. Commercial aviation is one such field. There is a hefty number of other industries. But Borisov's statement is a good indication of Russia's full intent to remain one of the leading nations in design and engineering of a very high end technology and Russia is not going to make "presents" in this respect to anyone. Especially, recalling how China (and not only China) was transporting plane loads of technical documentation from Russia and Ukraine on latest Soviet commercial and military technologies. In the end, Russia has a ready and wonderful platform of IL-96 to be re-motorized on PD-35 and no one is better a marketing "director" for this than Vladimir Putin himself.
Mark Chapman (The New Kremlin Stooge), thank you Mark, pointed out to this news which created a lot of consternation in Trump's Admin. As Russian daily Gazeta.Ru titled it: Nord Stream-2 Broke Through All Obstacles (in Russian). Denmark folded and the road to completion of this strategic pipe-line is open. Deutsche Welle reported on that. New sanctions from the US? You can bet your house and 401K, if your have any, on that. But the choice is Europe's (ahem, Germany's) if Germany still wants to preserve what's left of her industry, which, of course, is the matter of national survival. It is slightly more than mere bread and butter issue. Meanwhile Russians and Chinese begin to run the world in accordance to their own vision.
Russia and China have blocked a proposal
at the United Nations Security Council aimed at keeping open two border
crossings that channel aid into Syria’s opposition-held northwest from
Turkey. Russia, which backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the conflict, previously made clear its intent to veto the proposal, despite last-minute hopes the Kremlin might abstain. According to Reuters, Russia and China want to approve only one aid crossing from Turkey for a period of six months.
Obviously, the UN definition of "opposition" is a complete baloney since involves a lot of jihadist element supported by the West and, before Western powers begin to shed crocodile tears about "humanitarian situation" in Syria, they, together with Turkey, better look in the mirror to see responsible for this catastrophe.
But if that wasn't bad enough for Western propensity to support all kinds of democratic jihadists, news from this Eurasian Front are getting even worse for the Empire which is the process of a complete implosion.
The author of this piece does provide a look at the rationale' for this new massive pipe-line for both sides. Of course, COVID-19 features prominently there and people from Moscow's Carnegie Center (why not then just go to CIA and ask directly) offer their views. China's rationale', however, is very clear: it is geopolitical and no amount of fluffy platitudes can obscure the unfolding of the conflict between the US and China and China's necessity to have energy supplies secured. No, of course, the author still tries to look academic and concludes:
Despite the favorable environment, it is yet to be seen whether a
deal can be struck. In the case of Power of Siberia-1, it took four
years to sign a contract from the moment terms and conditions were
agreed. Furthermore, construction took five years after the long-term
contract agreement was signed. Power of Siberia-2 could take a similar
amount of time meaning it could be operational around 2030. Gazprom’s
flexibility in considering the Mongolia route offers an additional
advantage. Russian gas could be supplied to the heavily polluted capital
city Ulan Bator which ranks among the most polluted cities in the
world. Poverty and a relatively small state budget rule out big energy
projects that would bring cleaner fuels to Mongolia's cities. The Power
of Siberia-2 pipeline, therefore, is a unique opportunity. However,
the biggest beneficiaries would be China and Russia because the
pipeline could further solidify the political and economic integration
of the world's second-biggest economy with the world's largest energy
producer.
My only question here is this--is this dude fvcking for real. Did I just read his rating China's monstrous economy as the "second-biggest" in the world? Well, there goes your Western expertise (or is it mental incapacity?) when economy which dwarfs that of the US (I assume, "number one") is called "second-biggest". You make your conclusions how much such an "analysis" is worth. As if the butt-hurt hasn't been evident through this piece of "analysis", Russia confirmed that:
I guess I don't need to elaborate on what I elaborated not for once that CR929is effectively a dam on the flow of the Western wide-body commercial aircraft to China, yes, that "second-biggest" economy's gigantic air-travel market. How large is this market. Let me give you some visual representation of the size of that market in one of the sectors which wasalways viewed as West's dominated--automobiles. You know, motor-vehicles.
Observe, in motion, how US "elites" sold out own country and its people, and continue to so as I type this, for a few dollars more. The faster they recognize (they will--this is not the issue, the issue is to keep them away from military) that it is over for them and that they are losers both externally and internally, the less pain will be inflicted on the majority of Americans and many people outside the US. In the end, combined West thought it had it all, whatever it was--it is not there anymore.
It is not true, actually, Russia and China need many of those. But Russia's MC-21 couldn't have come out at a better time. As couldn't new Russian Constitution. But that is the whole other story, a gigantic one.
Behind all the chaos of modern world and a wall of BS by the so called "legacy" media, one piece of news is of a particular interest. While MAKS-2019 proceeds as planned, with MC-21 making a flying (public) debut, news of CR-929 getting to fly in 2023 are a huge deal. As Izvestiya reports two days ago (in Russian), Chief Designer of CR-929 program Maxim Litvinov (I wonder if he is related to Stalin's 1930s Peoples' Commissar of Foreign Affairs) stated that the first flight of CR-929 will happen in 2023 while serial production will start in 2025. This is fast, folks, for a project of such a scale, it is really fast. Russia, in this joint venture, is responsible for a design of the wing and center section of aircraft (in Russian) and, drum roll, for PD-35 engine, which will power this machine.
As you know, PD-14 already received the certificate of a type and is in serial production for MC-21. Here is what was stated about PD-35 in 2017:
So, these latest news about CR-929 taking to the skies in 2023, then, could be viewed as a confirmation that PD-35 development is on schedule (give and take a year). This is also a confirmation of Russian civil aviation not just taking off--we knew that it was taking off years ago--but getting to the cruise echelon. As Yvonne Lorenzo reports (in her wonderful review of my new book):
What do ya know. Of course, one should remember that a lot of things, including a wing for B-787, were designed at Boeing's engineering facility in Moscow. So, while the United States sanctions Russia non-stop and insists, especially, on Europe doing the same (those morons evidently took it too far for their own comfort now), somehow Boeing continues to operate in Russia and even, well look at that, hosts Russian school kids, the winners of the contest Aviation From A to Z in 2018 (in Russian). Indeed, and why would Boeing do such a thing (wink, wink).
But all this brings us back to a purely geopolitical question. Whose side is Russia on? The answer is very simple: Russia is on Russia's side, period. Moreover, pushing on with the development of the MC-21 and CR-929 and the line of their power-plants such as PD-14 and PD-35 Russia not only returns to own domestic civil aviation market with a vengeance, she made sure she will have a huge share of a Chinese one. While public at MAKS 2019, traditionally, was treated to a dizzying display by Russian combat aviation, it was this bird which stole the show for people who look at the world not just through the aiming device.
In related news, Europe (the United States is not far behind, but there is still a hope, maybe) continues her descend into madness and totalitarianism with Thought Crimes exposed now by Thought Police non-stop.
I am not sure in 20 years Europe will be able to produce a decent kitchen combine, let alone aircraft, because it will be too busy developing mechanisms of upholding gender, race and religious quotas, lest there be a dominance of smart white males in manufacturing of the technologies for the XXI century.
Of course down the article Yahoo makes a distinction:
In fact, France has warned
against any escalation of the trans-Atlantic subsidies argument, with
Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire saying
last week that it could “play into the hands” of a potentially
significant competitor to both companies: the Commercial Aircraft Corp
of China, or Comac. Comac, in partnership with Russia’s United Aircraft Corp, recently
unveiled proposals for a long-haul widebody jet. It is already selling
smaller models to Chinese carriers such as Chengdu Airlines, and trying
to target some emerging markets such as Ghana with those regional planes. And all with the Chinese government’s support.
I have news for France's Finance Minister, who, obviously, having degree in literature from Sorbonne, before enrolling into Government Administration program, may not know it, but there are few very, how to put it politely, noticeable issues with this statement. Good that at least UAC and Russia were mentioned there. COMAC-919 is being created as primarily internal Chinese commercial aviation market filler for the nearest (10-30 years) future. COMAC-919 which still continues to have issues, is an outdated design and, apart from being a thoroughly "Western" aircraft it doesn't have...drum roll... indigenous competitive engine. It is simply not there, apart from few demonstrators which are not in the production and God knows when will be.
And here is a Russian "coincidence: in Vzglyad with a telling title:
Enter life-giving US sanctions on Russia. Only totally delusional people will continue to believe BS of sanctions in military and aerospace field against Russia as having something to do with politics--BS. It is all about Boeing and American Military-Industrial Complex. After all, none other than Russia's PM Dmitry Medvedev (whose role I am in the process of reassessing in a very positive direction now, after some new facts) today already reported Russia's military contracts portfolio worth $54.5 billion. Thankfully, by imposing sanction, such as those on composites by Hexcell, US, thinking that they damage MC-21 program, merely accelerated and to a breakneck speed localization of this aircraft, which will be a direct, unlike is the case of COMAC-919, competitor to both A-320neo and whatever the ill-fated B-737Max 8 will become.
But that is the whole point, for the first time in history China was invited to become a co-organizer of the famed MAKS air exhibition, MAKS-2019. It will be at this massive salon that China will feature own progress but also the mock-up of CR-929, Russian-Chinese wide-body airliner--the actual article, which together with MC-21 is honed to break up Boeing-Airbus duopoly. Behind all that one can see the shadow of not only majority of Russian home-made systems ranging from APU to avionics, and composites, which are already part of the newly constructed MC-21s, but of PD-14 engine which already received the certificate of type, while Russian-made APU received certificate from EASA. Russia ALREADY has certified PD-14 and the logical next step of PD-35 for wide-bodied intercontinental CR-929 and, wait a minute, IL-96, is being taken as I type this.
In the end, it is about more than just Boeing-Airbus saga, it is about those shady Russkies, hiding behind the tree in the ambush and waiting for their chance. So, let me reiterate--no own engine, no great aviation power. COMAC-919 will be powered undeniably by P&W or CFM. PD-14 is competitive and it already flies and is being produced, actually. Chinese AJ-1000A, will see. But in any case, Russia's return to commercial aircraft market will be noticed. Hell, it is already noticed, hence US sanctions--sanctity of Boeing, especially after this gigantic FUBAR with B-737 Max 8, must be well-guarded. Make no mistake, I am not sarcastic here, when I type this. The duopoly will be broken one way or another and behind it, apart from obvious advanced avionics, materials and design, all of which Russia has, is a massive Soviet/Russian school of engine manufacturing which was and is behind some of the most outstanding military aircraft in history. This experience is a key--that is why China paid billions to get her hands on Russian version of SU-35, that is why Egypt wants it, Indonesia signed the contract for 11 of them and that is why United States slaps economic sanctions on anything Russian--because it is too damn good and competitive. So simple, really.
As per MAKS-2019. That is going to be a treat for aerospace obsessed and an eye candy. It always is.
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