Bradley Perrett covered China, Japan, South Korea and Australia. He is a Mandarin-speaking Australian.
Before joining Aviation Week in 2006 he was a macroeconomics, politics and aerospace journalist with Reuters. Perrett holds a bachelor’s degree in law from Macquarie University, Sydney. He left Aviation Week in 2020.
BEIJING — Avicopter is looking at outsourcing production to low-cost countries, even though most of its rivals would regard the Chinese rotorcraft company as already well placed to avoid high manufacturing outlays.
China’s Avic Engine is working on two new turboshaft powerplants, one of which is evidently intended for a large rotorcraft that China is negotiating to build with Russia, while the other may be aimed at a domestic regional aircraft.
China’s Avic Electromechanical Systems is negotiating with unidentified foreign companies to jointly supply equipment to the planned MA700 turboprop airliner of sibling company Avic Aircraft. Company VP Lu Weijia says Avic Electromechanical is prepared to work alone on the MA700, if necessary, depending on the nature of the systems. But there are strong advantages in international cooperation, as the company is already discovering in the joint businesses it has set up with Parker Aerospace in the Comac C919 narrowbody airliner program.
