China has built a potent military machine over the past 30 years but is struggling to develop advanced engines that would allow its warplanes to match Western fighters in combat, foreign and Chinese industry sources said.
The country's engine technology lags that of United Technologies unit (UTX.N) Pratt & Whitney, General Electric (GE.N) and Rolls-Royce (RR.l), said Douglas Barrie, senior fellow for military aerospace at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in london.
Western restrictions on arms exports to China prohibit the sale of Western engines for military use, forcing China to rely on homegrown designs or engines that Russia has agreed to sell.