China has begun a six-month feasibility study for its planned large commercial aircraft, even though the country and its aircraft industry are already committed to building it. Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China has been established to build the aircraft, which passenger and weight figures suggest would be larger than a standard narrowbody. The feasibility study is likely to tighten that definition, while also reviewing such challenges as technology, after-sales service, the likely production run and project financing.

BEIJING – China says the liquid oxygen-kerosene 120-metric-ton (265,000-pound) thrust engines of its upcoming Long March 5 rocket have passed initial tests, while significant progress has been made on the plant at Tianjin that will build the launcher. State media say the rocket will be 59.5 meters (195 feet) high and the launch weight will be 643 metric tons (1.42 million pounds). The diameter of the Long March 5 has previously been given as 5 meters (16 feet 5 inches), compared with 3.35 meters for the current Long March 3.

A Saab proposal to co-develop a stealth fighter with South Korea is raising the prospect of an Asian-European aircraft emerging to compete with the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning. The South Korean project to build an advanced combat aircraft alternatively offers to fund developments of the Eurofighter Typhoon or to help sustain Boeing’s waning fighter business—but there is also a strong chance that the ambitious program will collapse into yet another F-35 order.