Recently, the French Safran Group, which participated in the air show in Singapore, announced that it will significantly increase production in 2024, and its core product LEAP series engine will be expanded by 25% to 2,000 units, which can be equipped with 1,000 large civil airliners, including the LEAP-1C engine used in China's domestic large aircraft C919.
As one of the world's top 500 and the world's third largest aerospace company, Safran has a wide range of products, including aero engines, engine nacelles, thrust reversers, landing gear, aviation cables, etc., almost all of which belong to the category of high-end manufacturing.
At the same time, Safran also has a presence in China. In the Suzhou Industrial Park, Safran Aero Engines (Suzhou) covers an area of 40,000 square meters, specializing in the production and assembly of low-pressure modules and components for the CFM56 and LEAP series engines, including the production and assembly of turbine shafts, compressor shafts, low-pressure turbine shafts and ring exhaust boxes, which are an integral part of the global ** chain of Safran engines.
In the Guiyang National High-tech Industrial Development Zone, Safran Aircraft Engines (Guiyang) Co., Ltd. has established a joint venture with AVIC Guizhou Liyang Aero Engines (Group) Co., Ltd., which produces components such as low-pressure turbine blades, guide vanes and turbine seals for CFM56 and LEAP series engines.
In the Tianjin Binhai New Area Comprehensive Bonded Zone, Safran Nacelles (Tianjin) Aviation Manufacturing Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Safran, was established, which is also the company's first integration center in China. As one of the major projects of Airbus localization, Tianjin Company mainly carries out the assembly and refurbishment of LEAP-1A engines, aircraft nacelles and engine and aircraft connections, so as to realize the integration of LEAP-1A engines and nacelles in China at the same time.
In Chengdu, Safran established the Sichuan International Aero Engine Maintenance Company, located at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport, which specializes in the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services of the CFM56 family of aero engines.
Seeing this, you may have a question in your heart, since Safran handed over the LEAP-1A for the Airbus 320neo to us for assembly in China, and the LEAP-1B engine components for the Boeing 737MAX series were also handed over to us for Chinese production, why not hand over the LEAP-1C for COMAC C919 to us for assembly?
Theoretically, it is not impossible to hand over the LEAP-1C engine to China for assembly, but there must be several prerequisites. First, the LEAP-1A engine and nacelle assembled in Tianjin have reached a high degree of maturity and high production; Second, C919 has entered mass production, with an annual output of more than 150 aircraft.
Why? Because the Tianjin plant only delivered 2 assembled LEAP-1A engines in May 2023, and it will take a long time for the production line, workers and technicians to form a complete and skilled production process. After all, this is an assembly of high-precision aero engines, not ordinary electrical appliances.
As for why the annual production of the C919 should reach more than 150 aircraft, it is because Safran has previously confirmed that the production capacity of the French factory will guarantee the production capacity of the first 300 LEAP-1C engines to COMAC every year. And COMAC's C919 production will reach 150 aircraft per year, at least after 2030.
In addition, it should be noted that there is still an unknown for the LEAP-1C engine to be assembled in China - the United States blocked it. If the United States had been in the way, it would not have been able to do so. At the same time, if it is really necessary to assemble for China, it is only the external devices such as the engine intake, fairing, internal fixing, thrust reverser and tail nozzle, and the real core engine cannot be handed over to China.