It is said that at that time in 1999, the international situation was quite chaotic. Yugoslavia was in full swing, and NATO troops led by the United States dropped bombs every day. On the evening of May 7, local time in Belgrade, the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia was suddenly hit by five precision-guided bombs, all of which were dropped by US B-2 stealth bombers.
The address of the embassy was Cherry Blossoms Road 3, where it was very quiet, and immediately the pot exploded.
Three Chinese journalists, Zhou Yuan, Zhou Yuan, and Zhou Yuan, were killed on the scene, and more than twenty others were wounded, burned, broken, and two others were unable to find traces at once. NATO soon said it was an intelligence error, and the embassy was considered the Southern Union's arms warehouse, using outdated map coordinates.
High-ranking U.S. officials, including President Clinton, said it was a tragic mistake and provided compensation for $20 million to rebuild the embassy and $4.5 million to the families of the victims, but China did not buy the bill, directly protested that it violated international law, violated diplomatic immunity, and filed a complaint with the UN Security Council to demand an investigation.
This incident made a big noise, and the Chinese people were furious. There were * demonstrations in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other places for several days. The crowd shouted slogans around the US embassy and consulate, and the police had to maintain order.
There are also many discussions internationally. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed shock, and some European countries began to question the accuracy of NATO's actions. Afterwards, the investigation showed that the coordinates of the embassy had long been made public, and the CIA admitted that the map was outdated. However, the Chinese side felt that this explanation was untenable and insisted on independent investigation.
The bodies of the victims were also difficult to handle, when China did not have a large long-distance transport aircraft, only with an American Boeing 747 to transport them back to Beijing on May 13 to the capital airport.
NATO continued to bomb, but this incident turned public opinion and became a turning point in the Kosovo War. The U.S. Congress is also debating the faults of the intelligence system. Twenty-five years later, this incident is still remembered as a diplomatic trauma, reminding everyone how important it is to be accurate.
From the point of view of this incident, the United States at the time in military technology dropped several streets of China, the B-2 type of invisible bomber, can precisely throw ammunition from the sky, China at the time can not defend.
More interestingly, China also lags behind in the aviation industry, originally launched a large passenger aircraft project in 1970, called Transport-10, code number 708 Project. Shanghai aircraft manufacturing plant is responsible, from scratch, but also from a crashed Boeing 707 debris, learn from the experience, turn to engineering to design.
It was officially developed in 1972, the drawings were completed in 1975, and a static test machine was built in 1976 to measure the strength of the wings and fuselage. 136 new standard parts were used, and new materials such as titanium alloys were also tried.
The engine was originally intended to use domestic turbines 8, but failed to do so, and purchased the JT3D-7 turbine from the U.S. Purchase Company, four units in a set, pushing enough for 79 thousand oxen.On September 26, 1980, the F-10 first flew at the Shanghai Airport, flying to a height of 7,000 meters, over 900 kilometers per hour.
After testing until 1984, it took more than 170 hours of flight and took off and landed more than 130 times. It also flew over Beijing, Harbin, Urumqi, Guangzhou, Kunming, Chengdu, Lhasa and other places, and took off and landed seven times at Lhasa Gonggar Airport with a full load to transport materials and adapt to plateau hypoxia and turbulence.
The project had been very hopeful, engineers were working day and night, windhole experiments, vibration tests were all over. but in 1985 it was stopped, mainly because of the economic pressure, the shortage of funds, the national policy shifted to "build rather than buy, buy less than rent", began to cooperate with the U.S. Air Force Company to produce MD-82 aircraft.
The collaboration began in 1985 with the assembly of 35 aircraft, which benefited China’s aviation industry and alleviated the economic crisis, but the Shipping-10 team dispersed, the parts dumped outdoors and the technology interrupted.
This is seen by many as a great setback, American enterprises through cooperation to squeeze out China's autonomous path, and Medo was later acquired by Boeing, and further consolidated the monopoly.
After the 1999 embassy incident, people thought that aviation reliance was too heavy, and the body was returned with a Boeing 747 and hit the pain point.
In 2008, China Commercial Aircraft Corporation was established and launched the C919 project. The aircraft matched Boeing 737 and Airbus A320, a narrow single-channel, with a capacity of 158 to 192 people.
Advanced composite materials are used in the design, accounting for 12% of the body. The wings are aerodynamically optimized and fuel economy. The final assembly was put into production in Shanghai on November 2, 2015, and the first flight took place on May 5, 2017. It took 1 hour and 19 minutes to measure the landing gear and control system.
On September 29, 2022, I obtained the type certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of China, proving that the airworthiness standards were up to standard. On December 9, the first flight was delivered to China Eastern Airlines, and commercial passengers began on May 28, 2023. Flight MU9191 flew from Hongqiao, Shanghai to the capital of Beijing in 2 hours and 25 minutes, carrying more than 130 people.
East Air first received 5 aircraft, then ordered 100 aircraft, each catalogue cost about $9.9 billion. by 2025, East Air operated 8 aircraft, flew more than 7,800 hours, transported 460,000 passengers, opened Shanghai to Chengdu, Xi'an and many other lines.
National Airlines also signed 100 orders, each of which amounted to $1.08 billion. The total orders exceeded 1,000 aircraft, amounting to more than $70 billion, with customers mainly domestic airlines and rental companies.
However, the development of the C919 is not smooth, there are many supply chain problems, the engine is LEAP-1C, is French-American joint venture, the domestic CJ-1000A is still advancing. The goal of delivery in 2025 was 75 units, then dropped to 25 units, because of the production of bottlenecks.
Experts say 25 in 2026 and 45 in 2027, slowly climbing.The production capacity is planned for 2028 to 150 a year, but delays are common due to global supply chains.
Foreign media reported like Reuters that this aircraft broke Boeing's monopoly and had a potential impact on benchmarking against the A320 and 737MAX. Civil aviation commentator Qi Qi said that the order of 300 aircraft is only the starting point and can be expanded after future international certification.
The European Aviation Safety Agency is reviewing and Indonesia has recognized airworthiness. Deputy Chief Designer Zhou Xinmin and other old experts witnessed the delivery. It was passed down from Y-10 without losing the spirit of autonomy. In this way, China's aviation industry has become large-scale.
Foreign media have a lot of opinions on this matter. The BBC said that China wants to challenge Boeing and Airbus, but when the C919 is in service, its opponents already have better models. The Financial Times reported that the C919 has a short range and few seats, but China is pushing to break the monopoly.
Reuters mentioned that the delay could cause Chinese airlines to transfer Boeing, but also acknowledged that it was a signal of the rise of technology.Simple flight website analysis said C919 was a big threat to the Chinese market, but the world was too early.
AeroTime said COMAC is a quiet giant challenging DuPont. The YouTube video discusses the trouble of C919, which shocked everyone in the supply chain, but also admitted that this was the beginning. Expert webinar said that there are global aspirations, but there are many obstacles, such as certification and technology.
From the embassy incident to C919, this thirty-year China Air has washed that shame from dependence to autonomy. Shipping-10 is regrettable, but the C919 picked up, the order broke, and delivered on the go.
Foreign media said that this is only the beginning, after the J-20 these military aircraft also caused the United States a headache, the F-22 F-35 into China to get the amount. during the Biden era, the competition between the United States and China is fierce, Chinese technology is fast, and aviation is typical.
Conclusion:
This story tells everyone that technological autonomy is crucial, the back is beaten, the leading can stand steadily.The order is mainly domestic, but the international potential is great, the challenge of Boeing Airways is not a dream.The supply chain is stable, the production capacity is up, you can see.