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Comment by FpUser | original | Why jet engines aren't made in China
[−]FpUser · 2026-07-02 Thu 01:22 UTC · link
>"50 years of trial and error that is well kept under lock in key in the west."

Bollocks. Russia does that as well, single crystal turbine blades in particular so the west is not the sole gatekeeper here. Given the circumstances Russia might as well share the tech for some things in return

[−]tptacek · 2026-07-02 Thu 01:55 UTC · link
Does Russia do it at comparable yield at the same quality level? India can do single crystal turbine blades too, but at a small scale.
[−]seanmcdirmid · 2026-07-02 Thu 02:20 UTC · link
Cheap AND high performance. There is a reason Russian passenger jets are often engined with western jet turbines even though Russia makes their own.
[−]vkazanov · 2026-07-02 Thu 05:36 UTC · link
One more factor: Similar to how this works in semiconductors, some things are just too expensive to build without having an economy of scale.
[−]Scramblejams · 2026-07-02 Thu 06:06 UTC · link
I doubt that very much. 20ish years ago I read about the Indians being very upset that the engines in the Sukhoi fighters they bought weren't even making it to the promised (very modest) 300 operating hours between overhauls. That's far less than Western engines routinely achieve. And with the hollowing out of the Russian industrial base that's occurred since then, I'd be surprised if it's gotten any better in the intervening years.