China’s new J-20 stealth fighter engine a no-show at Zhuhai air show after it fails reliability tests
- Country’s leading aviation expo was expected to be showcase for purpose-built WS-15 Emei but performance problems force rethink
- PLA relies on Russia for engines for its most advanced stealth fighter
A purpose-built engine for China’s new generation stealth fighter jet has not gone on display as planned at China’s biggest air show after it failed reliability tests, according to military insiders.
It was widely expected that the performance of the WS-15 Emei engine for the J-20 fighter, known as the Powerful Dragon, would be one of the highlights of the six-day air show in Zhuhai in the southern province of Guangdong, but there was no sign of it when the show opened on Tuesday.
“The performance of the engine is still very unstable, and engineers have failed to find the key reason for the problems, even though its vector power is good enough now,” a military insider said.
Insiders said the WS-15 engine, which has been in development for several years, failed to meet overall reliability targets in long-standing trial runs over the course of hundreds of hours.
The South China Morning Post reported in September that the WS-15, which has single crystal turbine blades, was expected to be ready for mass production by the end of the year ahead of the opening of fourth production line for the Chengdu Aerospace Corporation, the maker of the J-20.