Boban Inamorato :
The idea that jet engines are so complex that only certain countries can build them is largely a myth. In reality, several countries and companies successfully manufacture advanced jet engines — GE and Pratt & Whitney in the US, Rolls-Royce in the UK, Safran in France, and increasingly Russia’s Aviadvigatel and China’s AECC.
The real barriers are mostly economic and practical, not technological mysteries:
Cost is the biggest factor. Developing a new commercial jet engine from scratch costs billions of dollars and takes decades. If reliable engines are already available on the market, it simply doesn’t make financial sense to reinvent the wheel.
Certification is another huge hurdle. Getting an engine certified by aviation authorities (like the FAA or EASA) is an enormously long and expensive process, regardless of whether you can build it.
Market timing matters too. By the time a new entrant builds and certifies an engine, the established players have already captured the market, achieved economies of scale, and are selling at prices a newcomer can’t compete with.
China is actually a good real-world example of this dynamic — they can build jet engines (the WS-15 for their fighter jets, for instance), but for commercial aviation they still largely rely on CFM and GE engines, simply because it’s more practical and cost-effective.
2026-04-04 01:46:24