Chinese Engines Miss The Finish Line

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Banned Idiot
Because they are already copying the core of CFM56. Studying the Al-31 is not copying. Studying the Al-31 and reverse engineer the core of CFM56 at the same time are not mutally exclusive.
i chose to believe the First Deputy General Director of JSC "NPO Saturn" R & D & D - General Designer Victor CHEPKIN.


Senior Member
The fact is they did extend the lifespan of the AL-31 according to this article. Now if they can extend the lifespan of the AL-31, there's no reason the newer design WS-10A will not at least match that lifespan. In fact more likely the WS-10A will exceed it. The problem they were, at one time, having was production issues which has nothing to do with the design of the engine. One of the reasons, imo, they made the decision of not retrofitting the J-10 / older flankers is that it's cheaper and less hassle to continue using the AL-31F engines. The WS-10A still needs to be modified to a version with a different gearbox position for the J-10, not to mention the aft fuselage of the J-10 / older flankers (including for example the engine's holding brackets) would need to be modified to fit the newer engine.
Russian engines, and most other things, are notorious for very short life and poor quality compared to WS10 & western ones.
Even after PLA improved them significantly, they still need to be replaced very often.
So indeed the old J11 & J10 still need many AL31 until they retire. It's not worth upgrading them to WS10 as AL31 sell very cheaply.


VIP Professional
Registered Member
Please note that we already have an engine thread. Next time, try to post into that one.

btw, there are some really bad assumptions and conclusions made in the original article and some of the posts here.
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