page_title: CRAIC CR929
section_title: Preliminary design
hierarchical_section_title: CRAIC CR929 / Development / Preliminary design
caption_attribution_description: English: Paris Air Show 2017, Comac C929 mockup, clean background
context_page_description: The CRAIC CR929, formerly known as Comac C929, is a planned long-range 250-to-320-seat wide-body twinjet airliner family to be developed by CRAIC, a joint-venture between Chinese Comac and Russian United Aircraft Corporation, to challenge the Airbus and Boeing duopoly.
context_section_description: Suppliers should be selected by 2018 to mid 2019.
  A request for proposal for the propulsion system, including the engine and nacelle, have been issued on 21 December 2017, to be answered by 30 May 2018.
  On May 15 at a Shanghai conference on aeroengines, the design grew to a 63.25 m (207.5 ft) length, 45 cm (18 in) shorter than the A330-900 but still with nine-abreast economy seating, requiring 78,000 lbf (347 kN) of thrust.
  GE produces the 76,100 lbf (339 kN) GEnx-1B76, and Rolls-Royce the 78,129 lbf (347.54 kN) Trent 1000 TEN.
  CRAIC received seven proposals by the 30 May deadline.
  The responding engine manufacturers appears to be Chinese AECC, General Electric, Rolls-Royce and Russian UEC, the three others were for related systems.
  The general layout and principal geometry was approved on 6 June: the wing span and shape, fuselage length, nose and tail dimensions, fins sizing and form, location of engines, landing gear and doors.
  Within the same Gate 3, which should be completed by mid-2019, are experimental aerodynamics research, structural materials selection and technical analysis of supplied systems and equipment.
  Comac plans to start construction in 2021, conduct the first flight in 2023 and make the first delivery in 2025, two years earlier than planned in November 2016.
  It should be over 50% composite, maintain C919 cockpit commonality and have more electric systems including the environmental control, thrust reversal, braking and flight controls with gusts alleviation.
  The eight-year schedule could be delayed by multinational management and is shorter than the Sukhoi Superjet 100 which took 11 years or the Comac ARJ21 in 13 years, as the Irkut MC-21 will have in 2020 or the C919 in 2021.
  For three years from 2018, UAC plans to invest ₽7.25 billion ($115.6 million) for the CR929.
  On 31 July 2018 was issued a request for proposals for the undercarriage, expecting a response from Europe, China or Russia by the end of November 2018.
  Germany's Liebherr makes the C919 landing gear, Safran Landing Systems (formerly Messier-Bugatti-Dowty) supplies the A330 and A350 gear, Russian Hydromash builds the MC-21's, and Avic could bid, though less experienced.
  The US-China trade war did not prevent bidding from UTC Aerospace Systems, which did not seek the contract and Canadian Héroux-Devtek has not received the RFP.Leonardo-Finmeccanica was negotiating to set up a joint venture with Comac and the Chinese Kangde group before the end of October 2018, to produce the fuselage central section in Zhangjiagang for $10 billion until 2040.
  Leonardo confirmed the joint venture on 26 October.
  In November 2018, a mockup of the forward cabin was unveiled at the Zhuhai Airshow China.
  CRAIC requested technical and after sales support clarifications from four providers down from seven bids in May: Rolls-Royce, General Electric, UEC and AECC, to be closed by the first quarter of 2019.
  UAC forecasts 8,000 airplanes worth $2.4 trillion over 20 years, with 20% of the demand from Russia and China, and out of a thousand aircraft, the CR929 may catch half of the sales: 250 in China, 50 in Russia plus from Southeast Asian countries.
  The program cost is estimated at $13–15 billion by UAC and $20 billion by Comac for a break-even within fifteen years.
  The vendor selection and draft design should be completed by the end of 2019.
  By December 2018, Comac produced the first composite forward fuselage prototype, a 15 by 6 m (49 by 20 ft) structure, towards joint definition in the second half of 2019.
  By early 2019, Concept design was targeted for the end of 2019/early 2020, before the definition phase.
  Definition freeze is aimed for the first half of 2022, first flight for 2025 and certification for 2027.
  By spring 2019, progress was slowed by multinational cooperation challenges and engine selection was expected for September or October.
  High-speed wind tunnel testing was completed by December 2019 at the Moscow Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute, using a 1:39 scale model of the fuselage and wing.
  By July 2020, Irkut's chief disclosed that the first deliver
caption: 2017 mockup
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