China and Russia signed a three-year contract for aircraft engines supply

Almaty. October 25. Silkroadnews – Recently “Rosoboronexport” and the Chinese side has concluded new contracts for further supply of Russian aircraft engine AL-31 and D-30 to China, newspaper “Vedomosti” writes.

“This is a three-year contract for the supply of a hundred engines of each type. The cost of such a number of engines may amount to around $1 billion. The cost of AL-31 engine only has probably exceeded $5 million per unit, the cost of A-30 is less likely to be lower”, the publication says.

The continued procurement of Russian aircraft engines for the Chinese military aircraft may mean that, despite the considerable efforts the Chinese industry undertakes it still cannot work out the counterparts of the same degree of reliability, Vasily Kashin, the expert of the Institute of Far Eastern Studies, said.

According to him, the AL-31 engines type can be used for both the replacement of engines for the Russian fighters operating as a part of the Air Force of People’s Liberation Army of China and the equipment of the aircraft of one’s own production.

It can be assumed, the expert continues, the more reliable with longer-life Russian engines better match the needs for the duty and personnel training in time of peace. As for the procurement of D-30, it is evident that the production of H-6K and Y-20 will make not less than 100 units for each machine and so far they are designed to operate with the Russian engines.

According to V.Kashin, new purchases may also mean that China is not satisfied with the quality of its engines for the fourth-generation fighter aircraft, thus, the possibility of cooperation with Russia in the field of engines for the fifth-generation fighter still remains there. It is known the new Chinese fighter J-20 was tested not only with the Chinese engines, but with a modification of the AL-31, the expert summarizes.