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GE Venture Will Share Jet Technology With China

Posted by Soulskill on from the send-them-the-tsa-while-you're-at-it dept.

vbraga writes "This week, during the visit of Chinese president Hu Jintao to the United States, GE plans to sign a joint-venture agreement in commercial aviation that shows the tricky risk-and-reward calculations American corporations must increasingly make in their pursuit of lucrative markets in China. GE, in partnership with a state-owned Chinese company, will be sharing its most sophisticated airplane electronics (NYT reg. required, reg.-free alternative here), including some of the same technology used in Boeing's new state-of-the-art 787 Dreamliner."

6 of 266 comments (clear)

  1. Repeating history by magarity · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it... see: software piracy, high speed trains, stealth fighters, aircraft carriers. Up next: commercial aircraft!

    1. Re:Repeating history by Grishnakh · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Those Chinese companies may be able to make and improve these commercial airliners, making them cheaper than anyone else, but they won't have the drop on the next new thing, which most global companies are looking for and are investing in.

      Next new thing? What's that going to be? Hypersonic aircraft or teleporters or something? Be realistic: there IS no next new thing, not for 50-100 years at least. Commercial jet airliners have been with us since the 50s now, and haven't changed significantly in that time. The only things that have changed are 1) engines are a little more efficient and quieter, but not by orders of magnitude, 2) planes are flown slower now to save fuel and keep prices low, 3) seats are packed together so that only toddlers are comfortable in them, and 4) "air rage" is now common whereas it never happened back then.

      There's been some other minor improvements of course: much better avionics (which isn't something that GE does to my knowledge), electronic engine controls (which GE does do), etc.

      But the idea that Americans or other Westerners are going to come up with huge new advances to always stay ahead of the Chinese is simply ridiculous. For instance, look at the article subject: this is about GE, which doesn't make planes, but jet engines and associated controls. Jet engines haven't changed much in 50 years, just small steady improvements. Most of the advances in jet turbines were in their early days, not any time recently; they're a mature technology, and current advances are only eking out fractions of a percent in improvement, much like automobile engines.

      GE is basically giving away their secrets here, and pretty soon there won't be a reason to buy a GE jet engine, because you'll be able to get one just like it made in China for less.

      What's worse, China's society heavily values science and engineers. America's does not. Very few people go into engineering any more, except for software engineering. When was the last time you met an aerospace engineer? Way back in the early 90s when I was in college, we joked that AEs would never find a job, because it was a pretty dead industry. Very few engineering majors went into the AE school. ME (which a lot of jet engine engineers probably have) is a little better, but still not great. Go into any major engineering school, and look at the students: most of them are Chinese and Indian, and these days, they go back to their home country when they finish their degree.

      America's days as a technology power (except maybe for web development) are almost over.

  2. Yep by ShakaUVM · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yep. This is how the Chinese have been doing their technology transfer without needing to pay billions in R&D themselves.

    They go to a company and tell them that they'd like to build some nuclear reactors or high speed trains or something. The deal they make always goes like:
    1) We'll buy the first two nuclear plants.
    2) The next two you build using our people.
    3) The ones thereafter you give us the plans to build, and we'll do it all ourselves, and pay you a royalty.

    Now China has the plans to the AP1000, one of the most modern nuclear plants being built today, as well as a trained workforce in building it, all without having to do any of the R&D work themselves, or pay much more than just the cost of a couple plants (which they get to use anyway).

    It's a very clever idea, and companies are all falling over themselves to give away their best technologies to China, since they're so eager for short-term profits, they don't realize they're shooting themselves in the foot, long term.

    1. Re:Yep by seifried · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Which is what Americans used to say about Japan after WWII (they just imitate stuff, they can't innovate!). The Chinese are moving up the food chain of manufacturing/R+D/etc. as we speak, pretending otherwise may make you feel better, but it won't alter reality.

  3. Turnabout? by jklappenbach · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Perhaps we might start demanding that every Chinese company wanting access to American markets must locate offices here, staff them with US workers, and share their technology in turn. We did that with the Japanese...

  4. You can see where this is going... by Jeremi · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them." -- Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

    --


    I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.