Russia again disagreed over the progress of the CR929 project, launched by the Russian state-owned UAC and the other state-owned company, but from China, COMAC.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov declared that after some disagreements, Russia should reduce its participation in the project, or even withdraw from the development entirely. This threat from Russia to withdraw from the project has occurred before, when COMAC wanted to take over all sales to China, without UAC participation.
“We have this project with China, it is not going the way we'd like. As China becomes an industrial giant, it is less and less interested in our services.”, said Borisov, according to the Russian state news agency TASS.
"The Chinese have more demands than we do today. Our involvement [in the CR929 project] gets smaller and smaller. I don't want to prognosticate the future of this project – are we going to withdraw from it or not. It's still happening”, said Borisov.
It is noteworthy that in recent days the Russians stated that the two countries were looking to develop a CR929 with oriental components, without dependence on European or North American industries. The move is to prevent sanctions from affecting the production or use of the new widebody.
One of the main components is the Russian PD-35 engine, developed on the basis of the new generation Aviadvigatel PD-14 engine. Without this propellant, China would have to develop technologies to create an entirely new and efficient engine for use in commercial aviation.
The Chinese already manufacture engines, however, usually these are versions for military use based on Russian technologies, developed at the time of the Soviet Union or in the 90s.
Russia is also developing various structural components in composite materials, as in the case of the MC-21, while China is working on the avionics and interior of the aircraft. Without Russia's participation, the Chinese would need to develop these components as well, using their experience in the C919.
Previously, CRAIC announced that the new CR929 concept approaches the size of the A330-900neo, and will also need an even more powerful engine, with 78000 lbs of thrust, previously UAC estimated an engine of 71000 lbs for the aircraft.
Despite the larger size, the range estimate remains the same (for the CR929-600), 12000 km. According to CRAIC, this is enough to fulfill most long-haul routes, including flights from Asia to the United States.
The aircraft family will include stretched-body (CR929-700) and shorter-body (CR929-500) versions.
The aircraft will be 63,25 m (208 ft) long. That's just 45 cm shorter than the A330-900neo, yet the fuselage width is almost 6 meters, larger than the competition and on par with the A350, a higher category aircraft.
