**Beijing**: China’s state-owned aerospace firm COMAC is reducing reliance on US suppliers due to trade conflicts, pivoting towards European companies like Safran and Rolls-Royce. This strategic shift aims for full domestic aircraft production by 2028-2029 and global market access through EASA certification amid ongoing geopolitical tensions.
China’s state-owned aerospace manufacturer, COMAC, is at a pivotal strategic crossroads amid escalating geopolitical tensions and the impact of trade policies initiated during the Trump administration’s presidency. The Chinese company, seen as Beijing’s answer to aviation giants Boeing and Airbus, is advancing its domestic aircraft production capabilities to compete internationally. Yet, reliance on American aerospace components has exposed vulnerabilities that recent trade frictions have intensified.
COMAC’s ambition to rival Boeing and Airbus manifests in its development of the C919 narrow-body airliner and the forthcoming C929 wide-body aircraft. For over 15 years, China has pursued a domestic aerospace manufacturing strategy designed to build indigenous industrial competence in engines, avionics, flight controls, and auxiliary systems. This approach has incorporated partnerships and technology transfers involving major global aerospace suppliers, including American entities such as GE Aviation, Honeywell, Collins Aerospace, and Parker Hannifin, alongside European manufacturers.
The introduction of significant tariffs—up to 145% on Chinese goods under the Trump administration—and the consequent trade war have compounded operational risks for COMAC’s supply chains while opening new strategic avenues. China has restricted exports of critical minerals essential to aviation manufacturing with explicit controls on country and end-use, particularly disadvantaging the US jet turbine industry. Additionally, China’s cessation of purchasing US liquefied natural gas (LNG) compounds uncertainties around American LNG infrastructure investments.
In response, COMAC appears set to shift its strategic alignment away from American suppliers towards increased collaboration with European aerospace firms. Companies deeply engaged in COMAC programmes—including Safran, Liebherr Aerospace, Thales, and Rolls-Royce—are positioned as primary candidates to replace US-sourced aircraft components. This transition would entail substituting wheels, brakes, auxiliary power units, avionics, navigation systems, landing gear, environmental control systems, flight-control actuators, hydraulic components, and fuel systems currently mainly provided by American firms.
Safran already plays a significant role in COMAC’s supply chain and could expand to replace components supplied by Honeywell. Thales, with expertise in avionics and defense, could supplant Collins Aerospace and GE Aviation for navigation and core avionics equipment. Liebherr Aerospace’s existing joint ventures in China provide a familiar platform to broaden its involvement in flight control and hydraulic systems, easing technology transfer and local production.
Engine development remains critical to COMAC’s ambitions. While the domestic CJ-1000A engine, designed for the C919, marks substantial technological progress, full European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certification remains a challenge. In the interim, COMAC may rely on European engines from Safran or Rolls-Royce for both the narrow-body and the larger CR929 wide-body jet. Rolls-Royce’s Trent 7000 engines offer immediate market acceptance outside the US regulatory sphere, which is essential given the ongoing US-China trade tensions and the FAA’s regulatory capture favouring Boeing.
COMAC is also expected to adopt a certification strategy favouring EASA approval, considered critical in accessing global markets, including regions like Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. While countries closely allied with US regulatory regimes—such as Canada, Japan, and South Korea—may hesitate, recent trade tensions and tariff impositions have prompted some openness to alternative, non-US aircraft suppliers.
COMAC’s anticipated diversification of suppliers within Europe aims to mitigate dependency on any single country and to buffer against future geopolitical disruptions. Simultaneously, China will likely continue parallel domestic development of critical components as part of a broader objective for full aviation independence.
The European aerospace industry stands to benefit commercially from this shift, potentially gaining access to Chinese markets previously constrained by US dominance and export controls. However, underlying questions remain regarding Europe’s capacity to navigate the complexities of China’s long-term strategic ambitions and corporate-national interests.
In terms of delivery timelines, it is envisaged that within one to two years COMAC could produce planes for the Chinese domestic market free from American components. By 2028 to 2029, the goal is to deliver fully domestically produced aircraft for domestic consumption and to work through international certification with EASA. Looking ahead to 2035, China aims to manufacture and export aircraft that fulfil both narrow-body and wide-body segment demands entirely with Chinese engineering and manufacturing, challenging Boeing’s presence in markets affected by US trade measures and establishing competition with Airbus, which has led Boeing in recent years.
This strategic pivot underscores a complex reorientation of China’s aerospace industry that balances immediate supply continuity with longer-term aims for autonomy. As described in CleanTechnica’s analysis, this move is more than a response to current trade pressures; it represents a calculated, multiyear strategy to leverage shifting international alliances and regulatory frameworks to build a resilient, globally competitive aerospace sector beyond reliance on American technology and certification.
Source: Noah Wire Services
