Bradley Perrett covered China, Japan, South Korea and Australia. He is a Mandarin-speaking Australian.
Before joining Aviation Week in 2006 he was a macroeconomics, politics and aerospace journalist with Reuters. Perrett holds a bachelor’s degree in law from Macquarie University, Sydney. He left Aviation Week in 2020.
Chinese missile and space group Casic is entering the civil aircraft manufacturing world, presenting a significant competitor to composite suppliers. It is setting up a factory in Zhejiang where it wants to make some composite parts for the Comac C919 airliner—fiber composite ailerons, fairings, winglets and tail cones. The factory will engage in military/civil dual-use production, and is part of the company's strategy to move into more commercial aviation markets.
Avic’s Shenyang plant has completed a composite aft-pressure bulkhead test piece for the Comac C919 airliner, using materials and techniques that are new to China. The bulkhead is the first large composite specimen to be made for the C919 program, Comac says, reiterating its commitment to deliver the first of the 156-seat aircraft in 2016. A specimen nose was built late last year.
Chinese manufacturer Casic will set up a factory to manufacture composite parts, including some for the C919 airliner, underlining the ambitions of the space and missile specialist to build up a civil aeronautics business. The factory, to be built at Zhejiang in eastern China, will focus on the development and manufacturing of composites, international aeronautics subcontracting, and military/civil, dual-use production, says the local government. For the C919, the plant will make carbon-fiber composite ailerons, fairings, winglets and tail cones.
