China has built 490 WS-10A turbofan jet engines

[Martian]

China's WS-10A turbofan jet engine test.
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Source (Use Google Translate): 中国太行发力年交付490台 即将摆脱对俄依赖 - 突袭新闻

"China Taihang [WS-10A turbofan jet engine] force delivered 490 sets about to get rid of dependence to Russia
2015/8/1"

 

[Martian]

At AsiaWind, Mr. Liang was kind enough to translate part of the article.

Quote from the article:
"年均生产约45至55台之间，可以说已经形成了较大的装备规模，不过与我国采购的近千台AL-31发动机相比，仍然有差距，不过万事开头难，未来，我军将有更多战斗机使用国产发动机，年均生产量也将提高到每年100台以上。"

Translation by Liang:
The average annual production is between 45 and 55 [WS-10A engines]. It can be said to be a bigger assembling model. But compared to our country's purchase of some 1,000 AL-31, it is still a distance. But all things are difficult at the beginning. In the future, our military will have even more fighters using our own nationally produced engines. The annual average production will also increase to more than 100 [WS-10A engines].

 

[Martian]

China's indigenous WS-10A turbofan engine is an engineering marvel. It doesn't smoke. This means there is no oil leaking into the engine's combustion chamber. This requires perfect machining of aerospace parts to ensure no oil can leak through an imperfect gap. This requires a 3-micron five-axis CNC machine tool.

Interestingly, recent Russian AL-31 engines are almost smokeless. The older AL-31 engines were very smoky. How do we explain this sudden improvement in Russian AL-31 engines? I postulate that the older model AL-31 engines are still being built with older Russian machine tools. I believe the new almost-smokeless Russian AL-31 engines are being built with Chinese 7 to 35-micron five-axis CNC machine tools.

Russia had to wait until China became a serious industrial power to import restricted micron-level five-axis CNC machine tools. The US prohibits the sale of high-performance five-axis CNC machine tools to Russia and China for military use.
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U.S. Precision Machine Tool Industry Is No Longer A Global Competetitive Force | Manufacturing and Technology News

"There are six American companies dedicated to producing five-axis machine tools, and at least 20 in China. Five-axis tools are used for the production of precision components in the aerospace industry...."

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China produces a 3-micron five-axis CNC machine tool.

Critical Technology Assessment: Five Axis Simultaneous Control Machine Tools (p. 48)

 

[Punya Pratap]

http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?cid=1101&MainCatID=11&id=20150809000086

J-10B still needs Russian engine after domestic engine fails

• Staff Reporter
  
• 2015-08-09
  
• 12:13 (GMT+8)

A WS-10 engine. (Internet photo)

After Shenyang Liming Aircraft Engine Company failed to reduce the failure rate of the WS-10 Taihang engine developed for Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group's J-10 fighter, the Chinese jet will have to be equipped with the Russian-built AL31FN-S3 engine, according to the Beijing-based Sina Military Network.

China has successfully fitted its J-11 fighters, the design of which is based on the Russian-built Su-27, with the Taihang engine. This proves that the country is already capable of building engines for advanced combat aircraft. However, the Taihang engine has been proven unsuitable for the J-10 because its bypass ratio is way too big for the fighter, which would reduce the aircraft's maneuverability during supersonic flight, according to the report.

The failure rate of the AL-31FN engine on the J-10 is much higher than the AL-31F on Su-27 fighters. Unlike the Su-27, which is designed as a twin-engine fighter, the J-10 is a single-engine aircraft, meaning that the requirement of the J-10B's engine is even higher than the Su-27 and J-11. Without a proper domestic engine, China must fit the aircraft with the Russian-built engine until the problem is solved.

Until the problem is solved, the development of J-10B can not be completed since the aircraft was originally upgraded to be fitted with a domestic engine.

Besides this technical problem, China needs to prove for political purposes that it is capable of build domestic fighter engines.