China has granted approval for the country’s first home-grown 1,000-kilowatt helicopter engine to begin mass production, as Beijing doubles down on its aviation ambitions in defiance of US efforts to restrict its access to key technologies.
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The engine, named the AES100, was granted a production licence by Chinese authorities on Thursday, “laying a solid foundation for its market launch”, state-run news agency Xinhua reported.
The move comes just days after Washington announced a new round of export restrictions targeting China, which included curbs on sales of jet engine-related technologies that could be crucial to Chinese efforts to produce its own fleet of passenger aircraft.
China’s state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) has made rapid progress in developing commercial jets to compete with market leaders Airbus and Boeing in recent years, but it still relies on overseas suppliers for a number of key components.
The AES100 turboshaft engine – produced by the state-owned Aero Engine Corporation of China (AECC) – differs from the type of jet engines Comac uses in its aircraft, but Chinese experts said its development still represented a major step forward for the country’s aviation sector.
Li Gaiqi, chief designer of the AES100, said the granting of the licence reflected “China’s ability to independently develop and manufacture advanced civil turboshaft engines”.