123 AF-31FN engines ordered by China

The continuation of AL-31FN import could be interpreted a number of ways, ranging from the indigenous WS-10A turbofan is not primetime ready, J-10A’s production schedule is too tight to allow deviations, to the reservation of all WS-10As for J-11's production runs.

At any rate, this article is a nice supplement to Gabe Collins and Andrew Erickson's “Jet Engine Development in China” deep dive posted a few days ago. (here)

China Signs $500 Million Russian Jet Engine Deal, Vedomosti Says
By Jack Jordan - Jul 3, 2011 10:07 PM PT

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-04/china-signs-500-million-russian-jet-engine-deal-vedomosti-says.html

China’s Ministry of Defense signed a contract to buy Russian aircraft engines worth $500 million in early June, Vedomosti reported, citing an unidentified personsource close to Russia’s state arms-selling agency and an unidentified manager of an aviation company.

The contract is for 123 AL-31FN engines by 2013, the first 13 of which will be delivered later this year, the newspaper said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jack Jordan in Moscow at jjordan22@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Torrey Clark at tclark8@bloomberg.net