Extra! China’s home-grown \"ambitious aircraft\" has successfully achieved stable full-load operation

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From 0 to 1: a historic breakthrough – yet another critical technology that posed a bottleneck has been overcome by Chinese state-owned enterprises! On November 27, 2020, China’s first F-class 50MW heavy-duty gas turbine, developed through 11 years of independent research and development by Dongfang Electric Group, successfully achieved stable full-load operation. It marks our country’s breakthrough in key technologies that were previously a bottleneck, enabling us to produce these technologies independently and replace imports. A difficult and lengthy research journey: In 2009, Dongfang Electric established the Dongfang Turbine G50 Development Center and formed a research team of over 100 members; it invested nearly 2 billion yuan to pursue independent research and development of heavy-duty gas turbines. In 2013, the design of the three core components of the 50MW heavy-duty gas turbine—the compressor, burner, and turbine—as well as its overall structure was completed. In 2016, China’s first test bench for heavy-duty gas turbine compressors with a high pressure ratio and large flow rate, as well as a full-scale burner performance test bench, were built. Since 2018, the development of 50MW heavy-duty gas turbines has accelerated, yielding a series of significant achievements. On May 30, the production of turbine blade blanks was completed, overcoming the challenges associated with manufacturing high-temperature turbine blade blanks ； On December 30, the installation and commissioning of the drive system equipment for the gas turbine test bench were completed, enabling the conditions for full-scale testing. On June 18, 2019, the prototype was successfully fitted with its cylinder cover, completing the entire manufacturing process. On September 27, 2019, the ignition test of the entire prototype was successful on the first attempt, marking a successful start for the overall testing process. On May 12, 2020, the load test at the designed speed was officially commenced. On November 27, under the witness of academicians, experts, **leaders, and customer representatives, the gas turbine achieved stable full-load operation successfully. Gas turbines are strategic equipment in the fields of energy and national defense, and are regarded as the \"pearl on the crown\" of the manufacturing industry. Gas turbine high-temperature components operate at temperatures above the melting point of metals for extended periods, and they are also subject to extremely high stresses as well as corrosive environments, making their design extremely challenging. For decades, the technologies for the design, manufacturing, and testing of high-temperature components in gas turbines have remained absent in China, which has significantly hindered the development of a domestic gas turbine industry ecosystem. Previously, through the approach of \"using the market to acquire technology,\" the localization rate of heavy-duty gas turbines has reached nearly 80%; however, the remaining 20%, including core technologies such as high-temperature components, still relies on imports and remains under tight control by foreign parties. With this success, it has been proven that our country has overcome the key technical barriers, possessing the capability to produce these products independently and replace imports; thus, domestically, 100% domestically produced equipment can be used. Compared to imported gas turbines of equivalent power, the overall manufacturing cost can be significantly reduced, with operating and maintenance costs being cut by nearly half. In addition, localized operation and maintenance can be achieved, **reducing transportation costs and maintenance times; the maintenance cycle can be shortened by over 50%. Over the course of 11 years, Dongfang Electric Group has overcome numerous key technical challenges that posed obstacles to progress, thus paving the way for China to develop its own gas turbine technology. Through practical actions, it has helped create advanced industrial equipment, contributing to the country’s efforts to achieve self-reliance in science and technology.