The renaming of C929 to C929 has been confirmed, and it is not a bad thing for China and Russia to develop separately on the wide-body passenger aircraft project, but it will still have a certain impact. Recently, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Manturov revealed that Russia is committed to providing "excellent components" for the C929 airliner. This statement may mean that Russia may delay the development of the PD-35 turbofan engine, so that the C929 airliner cannot rely on this engine in the short term. Therefore, the C929 airliner can only choose Western engines in the short term. Russia's domestically produced 35-ton large-bypass ratio turbofan has also attracted much attention. The development of Russia's localized single-aisle airliners, including MS-21, SJ-100 and other projects, will become the focus of Russia's focus, and strive to complete test flights as soon as possible to replace existing Western airliners. Russia has met its relatively limited needs for wide-body airliners by restarting the Il-96-400M.
All three projects will be carried out by Russia independently, without dependence on the West, so there is no need to worry about sanctions, etc. In fact, the Civil Aviation Administration of China has issued a certificate of airworthiness for the Trent 7000 engine of the Royce Royce company, which has a large bypass ratio turbofan thrust of 300-320kN, which is the only power of the A330neo and fully meets the needs of the C929. The Trent 7000 engine can meet the test flight and early production delivery of the C929, but it is not a long-term solution. There will be potential political risks associated with the long-term use of Western aviation development. In the Trump era, some anti-China politicians in the United States and Britain have set their sights on China's civil aircraft industry, calling for "not allowing a second Huawei" to try to suppress China's civil aircraft industry. Under this consideration, for the Russian side, a wide-body airliner like the C929 does not seem urgent.
Therefore, the research and development of domestic aviation development of the same level is imperative, and the Yangtze River 2000 engine has also attracted much attention. (Compared with the CJ1000A engine and the CJ2000, there is a large difference in size between the two). The CJ2000 large bypass ratio turbofan engine is further developed on the basis of the advanced technology and performance of the Yangtze River 1000A (CJ1000A) engine, and has successfully carried out aerial test flights. To meet the needs of the C929 wide-body airliner, the CJ2000 adopted a proportional enlargement and upgrade of the CJ1000A's size and progression, resulting in enhanced thrust and the introduction of a series of new technologies to improve performance. This scaling development method is one of the commonly used methods for aero engines, which can shorten the engine development cycle, reduce project risks, and reduce development costs.
The overall structure of CJ2000 large bypass ratio turbofan engine includes 1-stage fan, 10-stage high-pressure compressor, 2-stage high-pressure turbine, 7-stage low-pressure turbine, 4-stage low-pressure supercharger, and the fuel chamber is an annular fuel chamber, which adopts advanced combustion technology to reduce emissions. Similar to the Genx series of Boeing 787 series airliner engines of General Electric, the CJ2000 has the same excellent performance indicators, with a take-off thrust of 35 tons, a bypass ratio of 10, and a cruising fuel consumption rate of 051 kg kgf. hours, the power-to-weight ratio of the engine is more than 6. In addition, CJ2000 also introduces new technologies such as large-diameter composite fan blades, ceramic matrix composites, 3D printing technology, the most notable of which is gear transmission technology. This technology offers extraordinary potential to increase engine efficiency and reduce fuel consumption and noise.
The application of gear transmission technology in Western large bypass ratio turbofan engines is still in its infancy, and it is currently mainly used for small and medium-thrust engines. If the CJ2000 can adopt this technology, it will mean that we can take advantage of the latecomer advantage and potentially achieve technical corner overtaking. According to reports, the core engine of CJ2000 large ducted fan engine has completed the technical development in 2019, and the core engine has been successfully started and related technical tests have been completed in 2020. In the test, the performance of the core machine was stable, and the maximum speed reached 1006%, exceeding performance expectations. This suggests that the CJ2000 may have adopted gearing technology. It is expected that around 2020, CJ2000 will enter the stage of technical verification machine, and the first CJ2000-AX technical verification machine has been assembled and entered the stage of ground test commissioning.
The development is expected to be completed by 2025, followed by test flights at the Y-20 air test bench after 2025, while the C929 will make its first flight in 2030 and be put into service in 2035. The successful development of CJ2000 will provide a strong "Chinese heart" for the C929 airliner, which will no longer be controlled by others. At the same time, the excellent performance of CJ2000 also provides sufficient power reserve for the continuous upgrade of C929 passenger aircraft. The CJ2000 large duct has military potential compared to the turbofan engine, with a thrust of more than 35 tons, almost twice that of the TF39 turbofan engine. The TF39 engine has a take-off thrust of 18 tons and is equipped with the C-5A giant transport aircraft. In comparison, the take-off thrust of the D18T engine of the Russian An-124 is only 22 tons, which is about 60% of the CJ2000 engine.
Therefore, based on the performance of CJ2000 large bypass ratio turbofan engine, we can develop domestic giant transport aircraft to meet the needs of rapid delivery of heavy equipment of the People's Liberation Army and ultra-large cargo transportation of civil aviation. (In comparison, the development of the Russian PD-35 engine has seriously slowed down.) After the Y-20, we also need to develop and equip giant transport aircraft such as the C-5A and An-124-100, the "Y-30" is a temporary designation, which will be equipped with 4 CJ2000 turbofan engines with a large bypass ratio and a take-off thrust of 140 tons. Even taking into account the large thrust-to-weight ratio required for take-off and landing at the Southwest Plateau Airport, its maximum take-off weight will exceed 500 tons, making it the largest military transport aircraft today.
The breakthrough of CJ2000 engine not only contributed to the smooth advent of C929, but also is likely to promote the advent of "Y-30" and push the development of domestic large aircraft to the world's leading level. This major breakthrough can be said to be on a par with the glory of the United States and the Soviet Union, and highlights the significance of the CJ2000 engine.