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PARIS — Comac resumed a long-dormant Western supplier selection process for its C929 widebody jet, halted for nearly seven years by both the pandemic and Western sanctions against Russia that forced the country from its collaboration with China on the aircraft.
In a muted signing ceremony at the Paris Air Show on June 16, Comac signed a pair of memoranda of understanding with Safran and Crane Aerospace. France’s Safran will provide the nascent widebody’s braking control and tire pressure indication system, oxygen and icing detection systems — though after the public event, the company was initially reluctant to even acknowledge that it would be supplying the Chinese plane maker. U.S-based Crane will supply the jet’s door signal system.
While the work does not represent a major portion of the aircraft, the deals signal that the Chinese aircraft manufacturer is still actively pursuing Western content for the widebody. In the years since Comac’s last Western supplier selection for the C929, rising geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China have cast the commercial aerospace sector into the middle of a mired relationship between the U.S. and China.
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