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.