The family of the Russian-Chinese wide-body long-range aircraft was officially named CR929. The naming ceremony took place on September 29 at the COMAS headquarters in Shanghai. Latin letters C and R designate participants: С - China, R - Russia. CR is also the first two letters of the name of the Russian-Chinese enterprise China-Russia Commercial Aircraft International Corporation (CRAIC), which is the operator of the new aircraft program.
PJSC "United Aircraft Corporation" and "China Civil Aircraft Corporation" (COMAC) solemnly assigned the name to a wide-body long-range aircraft of a new generation, and also presented the liner livery.
The first flight of the head prototype SHFDMS is scheduled for 2021, and the start of serial deliveries of the SHFDMS is expected in 2025-2027.
A memorandum on the joint creation of the SHFDMS was signed by the Russian and Chinese sides in April 2014. The documents on the program for the creation of a new wide-body long-haul passenger aircraft were signed on June 25, 2016 during the official visit of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to China, including an agreement on the establishment of a joint venture on a partisan basis necessary for the implementation of the program, which will be registered at the headquarters. SOMAS apartment in the free trade zone in Pudong district of Shanghai.
The first flight of the head prototype of the SHFDMS is planned for 2021, and the start of serial deliveries of the SHFDMS is expected in 2025-2027, depending on the expected number of new technological solutions selected during the development. A joint engineering center for aircraft design will be set up in Russia. and the serial production itself will have to be carried out at the COMAS plant in Pudong (built for the production of the promising Chinese medium-haul aircraft C919).
The parties also unveiled the CRAIC joint venture logo used in the liner's livery. It consists of two equal wings that move evenly from left to right. The colors of the wings symbolize the project participants: red - China, blue - Russia.
The Russian side was represented at the ceremony by Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Oleg Bocharov, President of PJSC UAC Yuri Slyusar. China was represented by the Deputy Minister of Industry and Informatization of the People's Republic of China Xin Guobin and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of COMAC He Dongfeng. The President of the joint venture China-Russia Commercial Aircraft International Corporation (CRAIC) Guo Bozhi also took part in the event. ⠀
Commenting on the choice of the main numbers of the future liner, Yuri Slyusar explained:
"In Chinese culture, the number 9 means eternity. We are strategically building the concept of a single offer of civil aircraft with the name and numbering. Thus, the CR 929 family reflects the ability to form an offer for airlines in conjunction with the Chinese narrow-body project C 919, and the numbering of each member of the family continues the line of proposals. commercial aircraft of the UAC, from MS-21-200 / 300/400 to CR 929 - 500/600/700 ".
Another quote: "The global demand for wide-body aircraft in the period 2023-2041 may be at least 8,200 airliners."
COMAC Chairman He Dongfeng said: "The next 20 years will be a strategically important period in the development of the global civil aviation industry. We will do our best to make the CR 929 an example of successful cooperation between Russia and China in the modern world."
⠀⠀⠀
The basic version of the wide-body long-range aircraft will be designated as CR929-600, the younger version will be CR929-500, and the older version will be CR929-700.
Engines
The parameters of the aircraft are not fully known. It was planned that the plane will be equipped with PD-35 engines, but at the first stage it is planned to install British Rolls Royce or American General Electric.
In September of this year, the UAC signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Chinese engine-building company AECC on the joint development of a gas turbine engine.
Joint work on a promising aircraft engine in the global aircraft industry is exceptional. Engines are not made by all countries and technologies are trying not to share. It is assumed that the Russian-Chinese engine will have a thrust of at least 35 tons, and will become one of the most modern in the implementation of scientific and technical groundwork.
The cost of developing the aircraft will be $ 13 billion, financing will be carried out on a parity basis. As previously reported, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation sent an application to the government for financing the development of the aircraft in the amount of 3.9 billion rubles in 2018.
It is assumed that the first firm contract for the CR 929 could be concluded as early as 2019. If the project is implemented as planned, it will be a real breakthrough in the civil aircraft industry and a severe blow to the monopoly of Airbus and Boeing, which today control the entire world market for long-haul wide-body aircraft.
The CR 929 is said to be 15 percent more efficient than the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus 350. The aircraft is slated to incorporate the latest advances in aerodynamics and composite materials.
Russia and China will be equally responsible for the design and construction of the aircraft. Experts believe that the global demand for wide-body aircraft in the period 2023-2041 will be at least 8,200 units. The largest market will be China, with a demand for at least 1,500 liners. And Russia, taking into account the size of our country, CR 929 is very useful.
The implementation of the wide-body long-haul aircraft program is proceeding according to schedule, said the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov in an official statement.
"The concept of the family has been developed, the characteristics of the aircraft have been determined. Immediate plans are the transition of the program to preliminary design and the stage of requesting proposals for suppliers of systems and equipment," the minister said.
"The aircraft being created immediately fits into the global context for a full-fledged presence in the world market. At the same time, we are creating a single project, forming a single positioning of the new aircraft with our Chinese colleagues," explained Denis Manturov.
A promising family of wide-body long-haul aircraft is called CR 929. The basic version is CR 929-600, the younger version is CR 929-500, and the older one is CR 929-700.
Latin letters C and R designate participants: С - China, R - Russia. CR is also the first two letters of the name of the Russian-Chinese enterprise China-Russia Commercial Aircraft International Corporation (CRAIC), which operates the program of a promising wide-body long-range aircraft.
The ceremony, which announced the name of the liner and presented its future livery, was held at the headquarters of the China Civil Aircraft Corporation (COMAC) in Shanghai. Our country was represented by the Deputy Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Oleg Bocharov and the President of the United Aircraft Building Corporation (UAC) Yuri Slyusar. From the side of China were the Deputy Minister of Industry and Informatization of the PRC Xin Guobin and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of COMAC He Dongfeng. The event was also attended by the President of the Russian-Chinese joint venture CRAIC Guo Bozhi.
Commenting on the choice of the main numbers of the future airliner, Yuri Slyusar explained: "In Chinese culture, the number 9 means eternity. We are strategically building the concept of a single proposal for civil aircraft with the name and numbering. For example, the CR 929 family reflects the opportunity to form a proposal for airlines in conjunction with the Chinese narrow-body project From 919, and the numbering of each member of the family continues the line of UAC commercial aircraft offerings, from MS-21-200 / 300/400 to CR 929 - 500/600/700 ".
The global demand for wide-body aircraft in the period 2023-2041 may be at least 8,200 airliners
COMAC Chairman of the Board of Directors He Dongfeng said: "The next 20 years will be a strategically important period in the development of the global civil aviation industry. We will make every effort to make CR 929 an example of successful cooperation between Russia and China in the modern world."
The parties also unveiled the CRAIC joint venture logo used in the liner's livery. It consists of two equal wings that move evenly from left to right. The colors of the wings symbolize the project participants: red - China, blue - Russia.
Joint work on a promising aircraft engine in the global aircraft industry is exceptional. Engines are not made by all countries and technologies are trying not to share. It is assumed that the Russian-Chinese engine will have a thrust of at least 35 tons, and will become one of the most modern in the implementation of scientific and technical groundwork.
The work on the project is proceeding very dynamically. A memorandum on the possibility of creating such an aircraft was signed in April 2014. Fundamental documents - June 25, 2016 within the framework of Vladimir Putin's official visit to China. At the 20th International Aviation and Space Salon China Airshow 2016, on November 2, they presented the appearance of a Russian-Chinese liner. And already in September of this year, the UAC signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Chinese engine-building company AECC on the joint development of a gas turbine engine.
It is assumed that the first firm contract for the CR 929 can be concluded as early as 2019, the first flight in 2023, and the start of deliveries in 2026.
If the project is implemented as planned, it will be a real breakthrough in the civil aircraft industry and a severe blow to the monopoly of Airbus and Boeing, which today control the entire world market for long-range wide-body aircraft.
The CR 929 is said to be 15 percent more efficient than the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus 350. The aircraft is slated to incorporate the latest advances in aerodynamics and composite materials.
2023 is slated as the year that the new aircraft will take its wings
Russia and China will be equally responsible for the design and construction of the aircraft.
Experts believe that the global demand for wide-body aircraft in the period 2023-2041 will be at least 8,200 units. The largest market will be China, with a demand for at least 1,500 liners. And Russia, taking into account the size of our country, CR 929 is very useful.
Everything is on schedule
The implementation of the wide-body long-haul aircraft program is proceeding according to schedule, said the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov in an official statement.
"The concept of the family has been developed, the characteristics of the aircraft have been determined. Immediate plans are the transition of the program to preliminary design and the stage of requesting proposals for suppliers of systems and equipment," the minister said.
"The aircraft being created immediately fits into the global context for a full-fledged presence in the world market. At the same time, we are creating a single project, forming a single positioning of the new aircraft with our Chinese colleagues," explained Denis Manturov.
By 2025, a new Russian-Chinese long-distance passenger aircraft will appear in Russia. The memorandum was signed by the parties in April 2014, but only in November of this year it was possible to reach a feasibility study and "shake hands". At the international air show in China China Airshow 2016 in early November, a model of the future wide-body long-haul passenger aircraft (SHFDMS) was demonstrated.
Ossi-Chinese passenger plane. Photo: United Aircraft Corporation
The authors of the project are the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) of Russia and the Aircraft Corporation of China - COMAC. Partners from the Celestial Empire have christened the C929 aircraft, while the Russian side has so far limited itself to the abbreviation SHFDMS. The launch of the first aircraft is scheduled for 2025. The joint project will allow replacing foreign airliners with domestic ones and pushing two key Western manufacturers - Boeing and Airbus - on the world market. Today these two companies produce almost all wide-body aircraft of this class.
According to its characteristics, the aircraft is on the border between the classes of small (200-300 seats) and medium (300-400) capacity. The approximate number of seats is 280, the flight range is up to 12 thousand kilometers. The medium-sized segment is the most demanded in the world. For example, half of all orders from Boeing and Airbus are for medium-sized wide-body aircraft with 300-400 seats. The voiced characteristics of the capacity and range of the future aircraft indicate that an agreement has been reached between the Russian and Chinese parties, since in the summer the corporations failed to come to a common denominator on the market niche of the future offspring. The point is that "what is good for a Russian, death for a Chinese".
In Russia, almost all liners are designed for medium-range routes of 2.5-6 thousand km with low passenger traffic of up to 300 seats. China, on the other hand, needs a long-haul aircraft with a large capacity of 400-450 seats. In the Celestial Empire, the flow of passengers flying to Europe and the countries of the Asia-Pacific Region (APR) is constantly growing. The range of these flights exceeds 7 thousand kilometers. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) predicts that in 20 years China will double the number of flights, overtake the United States and become the main market for passenger transportation. By the time the C929 aircraft is released in 2025, the Chinese will have another 10 years to build a large fleet in addition to the planned increase in passenger traffic. As we can see, the range characteristics are "sharpened" for overseas flights of Chinese airlines carrying passengers over distances of 7-10 thousand kilometers to Europe, the USA, Australia, and the African continent. Clearly, Chinese manufacturers are seeing an increase in overseas flights for their citizens. For Russia, on the contrary, the important thing is the middle class with a capacity of 300 people, including foreign transportation.
The developed characteristics can be called mutually beneficial, but to a lesser extent for Russia if the aircraft is used on domestic flights. The operating costs of a long-haul aircraft may turn out to be unprofitable at medium ranges, which means that airlines will purchase them exclusively for flights to the USA, Japan, India and Thailand. In any case, Russia needs a wide-body aircraft. Including for export. True, according to analysts, it is not worth counting on great demand following the example of Western manufacturers, whose orders do not exceed the range of 250 aircraft in this class. However, these figures will change in the coming decades, Chinese companies. According to forecasts, Chinese airlines will purchase about 6 thousand aircraft, of which at least 1.5 thousand aircraft will be used for wide-body aircraft. Since the project is joint, Russia will also benefit from the supplies.
The development of a new aircraft family can make the project profitable for all parties. An agreement has been reached on this in advance, and the current version will be the basic one. The corporations did not specify what parameters the changes will affect, but it is obvious that the capacity will vary. Range variations are more complex as they affect engine performance. Today it is known that the Russian side is developing the PD-35 engine for the future aircraft. It belongs to the high thrust category and is designed for long-haul aircraft. But the first airliners of the C929 project will be equipped with two Western General Electric or Rolls-Royce engines in the 35-ton thrust class. The Russian side will take over the most technical elements of the aircraft, which are difficult to manufacture. This is the creation of a composite wing, the mechanization of the entire aircraft, avionics. Only Ilyushin has experience in creating a long-haul wide-body class vehicle. The group of developers and manufacturers also includes the Tupolev Design Bureau and Sukhoi Civil Aircraft. The Chinese company will get the work on the fuselage. The production itself will be taken over by an aircraft plant in the suburbs of Shanghai, where the medium-range Chinese C919 aircraft is already under construction. The joint project will be coordinated in the Pudong Free Trade Zone near Shanghai. Its total cost is estimated at $ 15-20 billion, which are equally invested by Russia and China.
In the meantime, the Russian government has decided to create a transitional model of a long-range aircraft before it appears in 2025-2027. a Russian-Chinese liner. According to Dmitry Rogozin, the production of the Il-96-400 will allow to abandon purchases of Western cars, which have risen sharply due to the exchange rate difference. This aircraft is a deep modernization of the Il-96-300 and will receive a flight range of up to 12 thousand kilometers. The Ministry of Industry and Trade is allocating 50 billion rubles for the "transitional" project. The liner will be equipped with modern avionics and the length of the fuselage will be increased. The first test flights will take place in 2019. Today it is the only domestic wide-body long-haul aircraft. But even in a modernized form, it cannot compete with Western counterparts in terms of efficiency. Nevertheless, the decision is strategic, as Western companies may increase sanctions and deprive the Russian aviation market of imported spare parts.
That together with the "China Civil Aircraft Corporation" (COMAC) in a solemn ceremony gave the name to the wide-body long-range aircraft of the new generation, and also presented the liner livery.
The official presentation model of the developed joint Russian-Chinese wide-body long-range aircraft CR929 (c) of PJSC "United Aircraft Corporation"
At the ceremony, which took place at the SOMAS headquarters in Shanghai, the Russian side was represented by Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Oleg Bocharov, President of PJSC UAC Yuri Slyusar. China was represented by the Deputy Minister of Industry and Informatization of the People's Republic of China Xin Guobin and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of COMAC He Dongfeng. The President of the joint venture China-Russia Commercial Aircraft International Corporation (CRAIC) Guo Bozhi also took part in the event.
The name of the aircraft family is CR 929. The basic version of the wide-body long-range aircraft will be designated as CR 929-600, the younger version - CR 929-500, and the older version - CR 929-700.
Latin letters C and R designate project participants: С - China, R - Russia. CR is also the first two letters of the name of the Russian-Chinese joint venture, CRAIC, which operates the wide-body long-range aircraft program.
“In Chinese culture, the number 9 means eternity. We, on the other hand, are strategically building up the concept of a single proposal for civil aircraft by name and numbering. Thus, the CR929 family reflects the ability to form an offer for airlines in conjunction with the Chinese narrow-body project C919, and the numbering of each member of the family continues the line of proposals of UAC commercial aircraft, from MS-21-200 / 300/400 to CR 929 - 500/600/700 "- said the President of PJSC UAC Yuri Slyusar at a ceremony in Shanghai.
“The next 20 years will be a strategically important period in the development of the global civil aviation industry. We will make every effort to make CR 929 an example of successful cooperation between Russia and China in the modern world, ”said He Dongfeng, Chairman of the COMAC Board of Directors.
The parties also unveiled the CRAIC joint venture logo used in the liner's livery. The logo represents two equal wings that move evenly from left to right. This symbolizes co-development and the vector of forward movement. The colors in which the wings are made symbolize the project participants: red - China, blue - Russia.
As for the stages of work on the wide-body long-haul aircraft program, by now the parties have developed the concept of the family and determined the preliminary characteristics of the aircraft. Immediate plans - the transition of the program to preliminary design and the stage of requesting proposals from suppliers of systems and equipment.
In the process of development, the wide-body long-range joint Russian-Chinese CR929 aircraft has increased in size and requires a more thrust power plant than was expected before the launch of the program in 2017 (translation of the article is provided on the website aviation21.ru).
Model of a promising wide-body long-range joint Russian-Chinese aircraft CR929 (SHFDMS) (c) aviation21.ru
The aircraft, comparable in size to the Airbus A330-900 in the conceptual design of 2015, has an increased fuselage diameter, which allows nine passenger seats to be installed in a row in an economical version. Now the liner requires engines with a thrust of 35.4 tons, whereas in 2015, power plants with a thrust of 32.3 tons to 34 tons were required.
The Chinese Civil Aviation Corporation COMAC released data for one of the preliminary iterations of the project, while Sukhoi Civil Aircraft (SCA) provided information on the second iteration, which is expected to be final. The differences in numbers appear to reflect progress in the development of the project.
The flight range of the aircraft in both iterations of the project remained unchanged, as in the concept of 2015 - 12,000 km. Aircraft A330-900 and Boeing 787-10 have approximately the same performance. This is enough to cover 95% of medium and long distance routes, according to COMAC.
In the iteration of the project provided by the SCAC, the three-class layout of the passenger compartment accommodates 281 seats, the A330-900 in the same configuration has a capacity of 287 seats, but the comparison of passenger capacity is almost meaningless due to the large number of variations in premium cabins on long-haul aircraft.
Fuselage sizing reveals that the CR929 will accommodate more passengers than the A330-900 with a standard cabin layout. The length of the aircraft is 63.25 m, which is only 45 cm less than that of the A330-900. The SCAC does not specify the diameter of the fuselage, but according to the proportions of the preliminary design drawing submitted by COMAC, this figure is about 5.9 m.In the 2015 concept, the exact value was 5.92 m and, obviously, provided for the presence of nine seats in a row. Therefore, there is no reason to assume that the diameter has changed a lot in the version of the project provided by the SCAC.
The A350, which has nine seats in a row, has almost the same fuselage diameter - 5.96 m. The A330 can accommodate only eight seats in a row. A consortium of COMAC and the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) (CRAIC) has abandoned the option chosen by Boeing for the B787 - to design a fuselage that will have eight comfortable seats and wide aisles or nine narrow ones in a compact version.
The CR929 is primarily intended to replace the A330-300, which has the same fuselage length as the A330-900. Over the past 10 years, the A330-300 have become the workhorses on China's busiest domestic routes. By 2027, these aircraft will require replacement, just by that time CR929 deliveries are expected to begin.
The increase in the size of the CR929 is probably due to the fact that COMAC and the SCAC expect an increase in passenger traffic, and the natural desire of airlines to have more seats by the time A330-300 aircraft are removed from the carrier fleets. The chief designer of the CR929 at COMAC, Chen Yingchun, said in September 2017 that the aircraft requires a 34t thrust engine, and is now talking about an even more powerful power plant.
The table below presents data from COMAC and GSS. Design Iteration designations A and B are arbitrary and have not been officially named.
To ensure the competitiveness of the aircraft, a modern power plant is needed. In December 2017, CRAIC issued a request for proposals for a suitable thrust engine. Aviation week believes that the only contenders are GE Aviation and Rolls-Royce, which have designs for wide-body aircraft. Pratt & Whitney is not being considered as it focuses on engines for narrow-body airliners. The Russian side offers a promising PD-35 engine for the aircraft.
In 2016, the United Aircraft Corporation suggested that Rolls-Royce or GE would offer an engine of about the same level of technology that was available for Airbus and Boeing aircraft in the mid-2000s. A GE candidate could be a version of the GEnx engine, which in its GEnx-1B76 standard produces 34.5t thrust for the B787-10. Rolls-Royce is likely to offer a version or a derivative of the Trent 7000. This engine develops thrust from 30.8 t to 32.6 t on the A330-900. There is also a Trent 1000 TEN engine which is certified with a thrust of 35.4 tons.
Obviously, for their project, CRAIC wants to have a power plant with a headroom for the larger versions of the CR929.
The approximate drawing of the joint Russian-Chinese aircraft CR929 (SHFDMS) is based on the project data published by the COMAC corporation, designated Project Iteration A (c) Scott Marshal / AW&ST
