Sunday, 14 February 2021

Continental turbofan 13 engine production line is ready to become the heart of J-31

china-defense.blogspot.com



21:56 2021/02/10 
China Times News 
Jiang Feiyu

The development of the F-31 is not clear to the outside world, and it may be difficult to obtain a suitable mid-thrust engine.  (Photo/Flying Military)

The mainland media reported that mainland China has completed the construction of the "third-generation medium-caliber aero engine" production line. This engine will be the source of power for the JF-17 and the medium-sized fifth-generation fighter J-31.

Defense World reported that the news came from National Business Daily. It quoted a statement from the Aviation Power Department of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), stating that the production line for medium-caliber engines has passed Acceptance work.

Military observers in the mainland speculate that the engine mentioned in the report is a turbofan 13 (WS-13) code-named "Taishan". According to the mainland Baidu Encyclopedia, the turbofan 13 engine has a total length of 4.14 meters and a maximum outer diameter of 1.02 meters. It has a weight of 1135 kg and a maximum thrust of 86.37 kilonewtons (kN), which is 19,416.74 lbf (lb) and 8,807 kgf (kgf)

For comparison, the maximum thrust of General Dynamics F404 is 78.7 kilonewtons, the maximum thrust of F414 is 97.9 kilonewtons, the Rolls-Royce EJ2000 has a maximum thrust of 90 kilonewtons, the Safran M88 has a maximum thrust of 75 kilonewtons, and the Klimov RD93 has the largest thrust. The thrust is 81.3 kilonewtons.

Turbofan 13 may be applied to JF-17 fighter jets (called FC-1 Fierce Dragon) and J-31 stealth fighter jets that China and Pakistan cooperated with. Among them, FC-31 has attracted more attention because of rumors. It is believed that the FC-31 will be the carrier-based fighter of the mainland's next-generation aircraft carrier because it is more suitable in size than the J-20.

However, according to the Global Times today, mainland China is also negotiating with Russia on plans to import RD-93 engines. Turbofan 13 may not necessarily be selected, and a more complete performance evaluation will be conducted.

(Zhongshi News Network)


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