The Chinese aviation industry is having serious problems building engines for both civilian and fighter jets
despite Beijing's pride in declaring an equal footing with the United States in the development of fifth generation fighter jets
The "heart" of the plane is the problem that gives China too much headache
China can copy all weapons, but with jet engines, China has to give up, because engines are extremely complex technologies
In the world, currently only the US and Russia, are independent research and manufacture of fighter engines
China is very successful in the weapon industry with a clever tactic: Joint Venture - Learn from Experience - and final Master Technology.
With the purchase of a stake in the Ukrainian company Motor Sich, China wants to own an aircraft engine manufacturer
But the deal failed
Exactly 10 years ago, China shocked the world with the successful flight of the Chengdu J-20 fighter, in January 2011
The first flight, of the first stealth fighter, was successfully developed in China
And yet, in October 2012, the Shenyang FC-31, China's second stealth fighter, conducted a test flight
Since then, there has been a lot of speculation about the FC-31
It is believed to be a future Chinese carrier-based fighter, similar to the US Navy's F-35C
However, China's stealth aircraft still has to fly with Russia's "heart", the jet engine
According to sources, only a single J-20 was tested with a Chinese-made WS-10B engine
and the rest were powered by AL-31FN engines, built by Russia's NPO Saturn
This is also the engine mounted on the Chengdu J-10 - the Chinese pride
With economic and technological potential, China has devoted all efforts to develop aircraft engines
They built the WS-15 engine, but its design, lagged behind the J-20 itself and lagged far behind Russian and American engines
It was recently reported that the WS-15 engine struggled with a severe loss of thrust (up to 25%)
as soon as it reached its critical operating temperature
According to the information, the durability of the WS-15 is very poor and unreliable
The PLAAF also refused to fit these domestic engines on its fighters
China wishing to get rid of dependence, as usual, turned to ask for help from Russia
but the Russians only sell AL-31 engines if China continues to buy the Su-35
China has approached Ukraine, once the backbone of the Soviet aviation industry
Ukraine's Motor Sich aircraft engine maker has been in serious trouble since the Crimea crisis of 2014
due to the loss of its most important market, Russia
Some Chinese investors, including Beijing Skyrizon Aviation
want to buy Motor Sich and use Ukrainian know-how to develop engines for their aircraft
But the Ukrainian government announced to stop the deal
Instead of being in Chinese hands, Motor Sich is now nationalized
Aleksey Danilov, head of the National Defense and Security Council of Ukraine, said the company will be "returned to the people of Ukraine".
The reason Ukraine nationalized it, because it was in a state of war and could not give up control of Motor Sich
In fact, the Ukrainians were not alone in deciding their interests, but mainly due to pressure from Washington
The Chinese company Skyrizon has long been blacklisted by the US Department of Defense along with other Chinese companies.
The United States, as well as Russia, were concerned that the sale of Motor Sich could spur China's engine development efforts
China's acquisition of Motor Sich has always been closely watched by Western and Russian intelligence
And it would be completely unhelpful for both the US and Russia, if China could bridge this sizable gap in the aircraft engine industry
And America immediately, using its "soft power", secretly thwarted the deal
This incident caused a wave of outrage in China