People's Liberation Air Force jet engine development

Opinion Piece by Luke Herbert

In this article I have chosen not to cover the influence of Russian engineering and design on the research and development of jet engines for the People's Liberation Air force . Nor will the reader find a complete a list of jet engines in service or under going testing for the People's Liberation Air Force. Both points are well documented elsewhere and as such do not meet my aim of bringing the reader content that you will only find under The Lens of History.

I believe that western commentators are short sighted when they are quick to dismiss the Chinese Aviation industry's capacity to develop and manufacture jet engines for the People’s Liberation Air Force Let us take a step back for a moment and consider that while the Chinese engineers will have used the Russian jet engines as the basis of there design work they will have undertaken research and development to meet there own design targets.

Since the need for common components is a tenement of successful mass production of items that can vary from the TV in your living room to aircraft , I believe that versatile jet engine designs that can be use in multiple aircraft designs is a central goal of the Chinese military aviation industry. Likely they will be working on say two variants of a jet engine design one for transport aircraft like the Y-20 and the replacement for the Xian H-6 strategic bomber and the second variant for smaller more nimble aircraft like the J-31 multi role Stealth combat aircraft.

This approach I believe can be seen in the number of variants Shenyang WS-10 jet engine that has been under development for around a decade.

WS-10 – original design producing a thrust of 126 kilonewtons (28,000 lbf) 
WS-10A – improved variant producing a thrust of 130 kilonewtons (29,000 lbf) 
WS-10B – upgraded variant producing a thrust of 135 kilonewtons (30,000 lbf) 
WS-10G – upgraded variant producing a thrust of 155 kilonewtons (35,000 lbf) with Thrust Vectoring and stealthy nozzles that have jagged edges and tiles 

WS-20 – derived variant with high-bypass ratio and none afterburner to power the Y-20 transport. 138 kilonewtons (31,000 lb)

During World War 2 the Merlin engine powered aircraft from the Spitfire to the Lancaster bomber which proved a single aircraft engine design could be very successfully utilised in aircraft that served very different purposes. The example of the Merlin engine also proves that an aircraft engine that can serve multiple design platforms is not unprecedented.

Both the ease of supply of spare parts from a manufacturing standpoint , common repair and maintenance procedures all come with the multiple aircraft engine design approach. The reader may consider this akin to when a common make of car is taken in by its owner for a service both spare parts and qualified auto mechanics are readily available.

Another down side is that greater engine performance that would come from more specialised designs that are paired with an aircraft is sacrificed , but this is within keeping with the Chinese design philosophy that I have outlined above.

The opposite approach of having specialist jet engine designs tied to separate aircraft would be like taking an obscure model and make of car for a service and finding that no qualified auto mechanics or spare parts available. The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is powered by the F135 engine provides the reader with but one example of combat aircraft that the reader could consider as being being the obscure model and make of car in my comparison.

Time and a future war will be the testing ground of my hypothesis that I have presented to the reader. Should I be proven to be correct in a future war United States and allied countries design and production school of thought will change to providing the common make and model of car , err I mean jet engines and aircraft.

New Zealand government lack of sanctions against Russia

Prime Minister John Key says major companies such as Fonterra have been asked not to exploit the gap left by other countries' trade sanctions on Russia because to do so would be a "terrible look" for New Zealand.

Mr Key also revealed that although New Zealand has not officially imposed trade sanctions on Russia, government officials had called in Fonterra and other companies to ask them not to exploit the gap left in the Russian market. Mr Key said it was made clear that would be a terrible look for New Zealand - and while the Government could not stop them doing so, he believed they were acting responsibly.

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Well does anybody really believe that Fonterra will not exploit the openings in the Russian market created by the sanctions imposed by other nations? Companies like Fonterra really only care about their profit margins and opening up new markets. Russia has been an emerging market for New Zealand dairy export's for a number of years before the downing of flight MH17 and the conflict in the Ukraine.

Under the leadership of Prime Minster John Key the New Zealand government has made the decision that maintaining trade relations with Russia is of far greater importance than imposing sanctions. Heck Key's government only official protest laid has come from delaying the negotiation and signing of the New Zealand Russia Free Trade Agreement until an unspecified time.

The Kiwi and the international reader can rightfully John Key as being New Zealand 's Neville Chamberlain. The lack of moral and political condemnation from Key's government is Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement rearing its ugly head in it's most blatant form.

Like the cold hard depth of a Russian winter the sanctions or the lack of them from a Kiwi stand point have had no impact on Putin's regime incursion into the Ukraine. The policy of appeasement has been given a shabby make up job by the countries (including Australian Prime Minster Tony Abbott who shirt fronted himself at the G20 summit ) that have chosen to impose sanctions against Russia over the events in the Ukraine. The New Zealand government has chosen to throw away the Hollywood make up kit and adopt the policy of appeasement in its most naked form.

John Key's government will go down in history as having appeased the Putin regime along with the international community. History will shame the cowardly Kiwi political leaders who have appeased the Adolf Hitler of our time. I can only leave the reader with the following thought, if our political leaders and the vast majority of people have not heeded the hard learned lessons from two world wars what hope do we have of not repeating history?

The coming European war will be the fruits from the tree of appeasement. While the details of how the war will unfold are for another time it can be summarised that Russia will play the role Germany did in World War 2. Put another way Russia will be the aggressor in western Europe starting with Poland and the former East Germany and where there tanks stop rolling is yet to be treadled.