Many of the C919’s most critical components are supplied by Western firms. (Photo: South China Morning Post)
A leading Chinese aviation engineer has set out a detailed blueprint for building a fully self-sufficient supply chain for large passenger jets.The paper, written by Zhang Yanzhong, a senior academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the former chief scientist of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, acknowledged there was a very real risk that the country could be cut off entirely from components made in the West.
Known as the "father of China's large aircraft" for his decades of work on the Y-20, a military transport plane, and the C919 passenger jet, Zhang is one of the most authoritative voices in the country's aviation establishment.
He was remarkably frank about how many critical C919 parts came from Western companies, including the Leap-1C engine, supplied by CFM International, a joint venture between America's GE and France's Safran.
Besides the engine, the auxiliary power unit is supplied by America's Honeywell and the shell around the engine by Nexcelle. The plane also uses avionics designed and tested by GE and its joint ventures; communication and navigation subsystems from Collins Aerospace and an air data system from Honeywell, according to Zhang.
