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Chinese scientists bring ‘shark skin’ tech to the next-generation jet engine race that US Air Force plans to quit
- Chinese scientists have developed a new 3D-printed structure to go inside a turbofan jet engine which reduces drag and increases efficiency
- It could threaten America’s dominance of engine technology, particularly after it abandoned development of a next-generation fighter engine
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Stephen Chenin Beijing
A revolutionary shark skin structure inside a turbofan engine, which reduces drag by 10 per cent and significantly increases engine efficiency, has been created by a group of researchers in western China.
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The high-strength, large-scale, titanium alloy, precision 3D printing technology behind this breakthrough is set to help China “catch up to, and even surpass” the United States and its allies in the race to develop next-generation aviation engines, project lead scientist Zhang Shaoping with the AECC Sichuan Gas Turbine Establishment said in a peer-reviewed paper published in April in the journal Acta Aeronautica et Astronautica Sinica.
The new generation of engines demands lower fuel consumption for greater thrust, but the path forward has been fraught with challenges. The US Air Force, for instance, said last year it was planning to abandon the Adaptive Engine Transition Programme (AETP) for developing a new next-generation fighter engine, as it instead focused on upgrading existing engines.
However, they fear China may seize this opportunity to catch up.
“Beijing is heavily investing in developing and producing effective propulsion technologies, and these investments are significantly greater than ours from a propulsion perspective, allowing them to close the gap,” John R. Sneden, propulsion director for the US Air Force’s Life Cycle Management Centre, said in an interview with Air & Space Forces Magazine in August 2023.
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“We are losing our propulsion lead to China,” he added.
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