According to relevant Chinese media reports, at the recent military parade for the 70th anniversary of China’s National Day, China’s debut of the H-6N long-range strategic bomber and the newly deployed Y-20 military transport aircraft both adopt a homemade engine, which is a large thrust aero engine developed by a company from southwest China.
According to relevant information, the company has been preparing for the development of this type of turbofan engine since 2002. Through a series of processes such as self-repair, easy-to-use development, modification, imitation, and complete machine development, its has been finalized in 2015 after 13 years. This made China the fifth country after the United States, Russia, Britain and France, who can develop large-thrust turbofan engine with high bypass ratio. The “heart” of domestic long-range bombers and large transport aircraft is no longer a problem for China.
Independent military observers believe that this type of engine is the WS-18 large thrust turbofan engine that we often refer to. It is also known as the domestically modified version of the D-30KP-2 turbofan engine produced in the former Soviet Union. It has a diameter of 12.5 tons, a fan diameter of 1.5 meters, an engine length of 4 meters (without reverse thrust), a weight of 2,300 kilograms, an engine thrust-to-weight ratio of about 5.4, and an engine maximum fuel consumption of 0.7 kg/kg/hr.
Compared with engines of the same thrust produced in Europe and America at the same time, although its fuel consumption rate is larger and the length is almost doubled, its maximum thrust and the thrust-to-weight ratio can fully compete with them. In terms of high-altitude and high-speed, it is even better than the same kind in the West. And in the world’s first fighter to achieve super patrol: MiG 31, D-30 engine was the core of its afterburning turbofan engine.
According to public information, China can successfully master the high-pressure turbine single-crystal blade, the annular combustion chamber, the high-temperature thermal barrier coating, and the digital electronic controller (FADEC system), high-performance aero engine bearings, high-pressure turbine powder plate and other advanced technologies through the development of the third-generation and third-generation-and-half engines. ), which were not adopted for the original D-30KP-2 engine.
WS-18 engine’s improved version can fully apply these domestic advanced technologies, even if its diameter of the fan is not greatly increased, its thrust can be increased to about 14 to 15 tons, making it a backup and competitive model for WS-20 engine, thus meet the needs of improvement of China’s H-6N/K series bombers and Y-20 transport aircraft.