The ARJ-21 is thriving today despite weaker specs because it is supported by the government. Airbus would never have taken off against Boeing if the EU didn't subsidize it.
In the 1970s, China had the Y-10 and the WS-8 turbofan. Both were cancelled when the Chinese government went into cooperation with the West (like what this Mexican is saying.)
The Y-10 flew 130(!!!) flights with 170 hours of flying time with Pratt and Whitney interim engines while waiting for the WS-8.
It carried hundreds of passengers
Beijing,
Harbin,
Urumqi,
Zhengzhou,
Hefei,
Guangzhou,
Kunming,
Lhasa and
Chengdubefore its retirement in 1984.
It was by all accounts a successful project especially at that point in time and the WS-8 was progressing.
Then everything stopped. Why? Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing which made the Y-10 was told by the Chinese government that they will go western joint venture full bore and that started with the McDonnell Douglas plant at Shanghai Aircraft and the CAAC which ordered planes for China's airlines was told to cooperate with Boeing (and later Airbus.)
The Joint Venture period in the 1980s was of course fruitful because it gave China not only the MD-80 plant in Shanghai (which form the basis for the ARJ-21) but it also gave China's its first western military turbofan in the RR Spey which was licensed produced in China as the WS-9 for the JH-7. (Better deal than the F404 for LCA!) China later got an Airbus assembly plant in Tianjin and a Boeing plant in Zhousan. So China knows exactly the advantages of cooperation.
But the dark side of it was that it destroyed local initiatives. It also put your most critical projects at the whims of foreign governments.
If the Y-10 and WS-8 had continued, the indigenous commercial scene would have progressed far earlier. The Y-10 had 130 flights with passengers! The WS-8 was China's first commercial turbofan. Anyone today would see that they should have continued.
China found out in the 1990s with the satellite embargo and the stopping of Projects like Peace Pearl (upgrade of J-8) and Super 7 (J-7 replacement) that you can't depend on foreign nations for critical industries like aerospace.
The ARJ-21, the C919 and the CJ1000 programs today are to rectify the damage done through the cancellation of the Y-10 and WS-8.
Indians here know exactly what I am talking despite what the weirdo Mexican says.
Otherwise, why bother with the LCA why not just be part of Eurofighter or F-35 project or simply buy Rafales and F-16s? Because there is geopolitics. India was not asked to be part of those projects even though it is a democracy.
The Y-10:
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