The next five years will be a critical time for the U.S. commercial supply chain on what decisions will be made for its future competitiveness.” A new global competitive structure is quickly unfolding, displacing the dominance held by Boeing and Air- bus. In 2008, China created the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) to develop a single aisle commercial airliner – the C919 – that will compete directly against Boeing’s 737 and Airbus’s A-320. COMAC is also developing a regional aircraft, the ARJ 21. In order to provide COMAC with hardware systems, foreign suppliers have been required to form joint ventures with majority ownership held by Chinese partners.
Over the past 30 years, through similar technology transfer and production requirements, China has acquired “the full capability for producing aircraft that would meet U.S. Federal Aviation Administration certification standards,” says Pritchard. In what Pritchard describes as a dumb economic policy, President Obama said he would help the Chinese get the ARJ-21 certified by the FAA. Obama made the pledge on a visit to China last November. “You don’t just give the golden keys of technology to them,” says Pritchard. “Once you get FAA certification, it’s a validation to sell worldwide and [the aircraft] is accepted. I just don’t understand why you would want to do that. You know China is subsidizing its aircraft industry and yet you don’t do anything about it and, by the way, the President is going to help you. There is a disconnect here.”
Over the past 30 years, through similar technology transfer and production requirements, China has acquired “the full capability for producing aircraft that would meet U.S. Federal Aviation Administration certification standards,” says Pritchard. In what Pritchard describes as a dumb economic policy, President Obama said he would help the Chinese get the ARJ-21 certified by the FAA. Obama made the pledge on a visit to China last November. “You don’t just give the golden keys of technology to them,” says Pritchard. “Once you get FAA certification, it’s a validation to sell worldwide and [the aircraft] is accepted. I just don’t understand why you would want to do that. You know China is subsidizing its aircraft industry and yet you don’t do anything about it and, by the way, the President is going to help you. There is a disconnect here.”
Excerpted from http://www.sldinfo.com/united-states-is-on-the-verge-of-losing-its-aerospace-industry-analyst-warns/
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