The Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) is a Chinese state-owned

publicly-traded A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange (li ...

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial, and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astron ...

and

defense Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...

conglomerate headquartered in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. AVIC is overseen by the

State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) is a special commission of the State Council of the People's Republic of China. It was founded in 2003 through the consolidation of various other indus ...

. It is ranked 140th in the ''Fortune'' Global 500 list as of 2021, and has over 100 subsidiaries, 27 listed companies and 500,000 employees across the globe. AVIC is also the sixth largest defense contractor globally as of 2022 and second largest Chinese defense contractor with total revenue of $79 billion (from both defense and non-defense services).

History

Since being established on 1 April 1951 as the Aviation Industry Administration Commission, the aviation industry of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

has been through 12 systemic reforms. In 1994, Avic was among the large industrial

state-owned enterprises of China A state-owned enterprise of the People's Republic of China ( Chinese: 国有企业) is a legal entity that undertakes commercial activities on behalf of an owner government. , the People's Republic of China has more SOEs than any other country, ...

which were selected for a pilot program of restructuring as state holding companies, thereby enabling partial public listings of its subsidiaries' assets. AVIC purchased American aircraft engine manufacturer Continental Motors, Inc. in 2010, aircraft manufacturer Cirrus in 2011, and specialized parts supplier Align Aerospace in 2015. In 2015, AVIC and BHR Partners acquired U.S. automotive supplier Henniges, through a joint venture structure. In 2016,

Aero Engine Corporation of China Aero Engine Corporation of China (AECC) is a Chinese state-owned aerospace manufacturer focused on the design and development of aeroengine and related technology, comprising 46 affiliated companies including engine manufacturers, institutions ...

was formed, capitalized with US$7.5 billion by Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) and Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. (COMAC) in order to consolidate aero-engine and related technologies.

Split and re-merger

China Aviation Industry Corporation was split into two separate entities, China Aviation Industry Corporation I and China Aviation Industry Corporation II in 1999. Both retained civilian and military aircraft production capabilities, along with a number of unrelated business ventures. The split was intended to foster

competitiveness Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, individ ...

in the Chinese aerospace industry. In 2008, AVIC I and AVIC II officially merged back together. The previous separation resulted in split resources and led to redundant projects. The goal of the merger was to eliminate this redundancy and spin off pursuits unrelated to aerospace, such as motorcycle and automobile parts manufacturing.

Espionage allegations

In April 2009, ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' reported that computer spies, allegedly Chinese, "had penetrated the database of the

Joint Strike Fighter program Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is a development and acquisition program intended to replace a wide range of existing Fighter aircraft, fighter, strike fighter, strike, and ground attack aircraft for the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, C ...

and acquired terabytes of secret information about the fighter, possibly compromising its future effectiveness." AVIC allegedly "incorporated the stolen know-how into China's

Chengdu J-20 The Chengdu J-20 (), also known as Mighty Dragon (, NATO reporting name: Fagin), is a twinjet, twin-engine Night fighter, all-weather Stealth aircraft, stealth fighter developed by China's Chengdu Aircraft Corporation for the People's Liberatio ...

and Shenyang FC-31 fighters."

U.S. sanctions

In November 2020,

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

issued an

executive order In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of the ...

prohibiting any American company or individual from owning shares in companies that the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and superv ...

has listed as having links to the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four Military branch, services—People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ground Force, People's ...

, which included AVIC.

Russian invasion of Ukraine

In February 2023, the

Center for Advanced Defense Studies The Center for Advanced Defense Studies is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit research organization based in Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal ...

reported that customs data showed that AVIC shipped parts for

Sukhoi Su-35 The Sukhoi Su-35 (-35; NATO reporting name: Flanker-E/M, occasionally nicknamed "Super Flanker") is the designation for two improved derivatives of the Sukhoi Su-27, Su-27 air-defence fighter. They are single-seat, twinjet, twin-engine, super ...

fighter jets to a subsidiary of sanctioned Russian defense company

Rostec Rostec, formally trading as State Corporation "Rostec", fully the State Corporation for the Promotion of the Development, Manufacture, and Export of High Tech Products "Rostec" and formerly Rostekhnologii, is a Russian State corporation (Russia), ...

following the 2022

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

Myanmar civil war

AVIC has provided weapons and aircraft to the Myanmar junta.

Products

Airliner

Civilian airship

* AVIC AS700 Airship

Fighter aircraft

(*) indicates ''under development'' * J-10 ** Chengdu J-10S (Trainer) ** Chengdu J-10D* (EW) * J-11 ** Shenyang J-11B/BG/BH * J-15 *

J-16 The Shenyang J-16 (; NATO reporting name: Flanker-N) also known as Qianlong is a Chinese all-weather Fourth-generation fighter#4.5 generation, 4.5 generation, tandem-seat, twinjet, twin-engine, multirole combat aircraft, multirole strike fighterB ...

** Shenyang J-16D (EW) *

JF-17 The CAC/PAC JF-17 Thunder (), or FC-1 ''Xiaolong'' (), is a fourth-generation, lightweight, single-engine, multirole combat aircraft developed jointly by the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) and Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) of China. ...

* J-20 ** Chengdu J-20A ** Chengdu J-20S (Tandem seat)* * J-31 * AVIC Baidi B-Type

Fighter bomber aircraft

JH-7 The Xi'an JH-7 ( zh, s=歼轰-7, t=殲轟-7, hp=jiān hōng qī – fighter-bomber; NATO reporting name Flounder), also known as the FBC-1 (Fighter/Bomber China-1) Flying Leopard, is a Chinese tandem two-seat, twin-engine fighter-bomber in ser ...

Trainer aircraft

JL-8 The Hongdu JL-8 (Nanchang JL-8), also known as the Karakorum-8 or K-8 for short, is a two-seat intermediate jet Trainer aircraft, trainer and light attack aircraft designed by Hongdu, China Nanchang Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation and Pakist ...

* JL-9 * L-15

Transport aircraft

* Y-7 * Y-8 * Y-9 * Y-11 * Y-12 * Y-14 *

Y-20 Y20 may refer to: Train stations * Ato Station, in Kure, Hiroshima, Japan * Kasumigaoka Station (Nara), in Ikoma, Nara, Japan * Kitakagaya Station, in Suminoe-ku, Osaka, Japan * New Taipei Industrial Park metro station, in Taipei, Taiwan * Shinto ...

** Xi'an YY-20 (Aerial Refueling) * MA60 * MA600 * MA700

Bomber aircraft

* H-6 * H-20* *

J-XX J-XXConiglio 2006, P.44 J-X,Chang 2002 and XXJ are names applied by Western intelligence agencies to describe programs by the People's Republic of China to develop multiple fifth-generation fighter aircraft. General He Weirong, Chief of Staff ...

AEW&C aircraft

KJ-200 The KJ-200 (Chinese: 空警-200; pinyin: Kōngjǐng Liǎngbǎi; literally: "aerial warning-200") NATO reporting name: Moth or Y-8 Balance Beam system, is an airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) program developed by Shaanxi Aircraft Corpo ...

* KJ-500 * KJ-600* *

KJ-2000 The Shaanxi KJ-2000 (, NATO reporting name: Mainring) is a Chinese second-generation airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft developed by the Shaanxi Aircraft Corporation, and is the first AEW&C system in service to the People's Liber ...

Helicopter

* AC313 * AC332 * Z-8 * Z-9 * Z-9W/G * Z-10 * Z-11 * Z-18 * Z-19 * Z-20 * AVIC Advanced Heavy Lifter* * Z-15 / AC352 / EC175 * HC-120/EC120

Unmanned aerial vehicle

* Pterodactyl I * Soar Dragon * AVIC Cloud Shadow

Electronic-warfare aircraft

* J-16D * Y-8DZ * Y-9G (GX-11)

Maritime-patrol aircraft

* Harbin SH-5 *

Harbin PS-5 The Harbin SH-5 (, where "水轰" is short for ) is a Chinese Maritime patrol aircraft, maritime patrol amphibious aircraft intended for a wide range of duties, including aerial firefighting, anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and Search and rescue, ai ...

* AVIC AG600 *Y-8FQ

Notes

References

External links

* {{authority control Government-owned companies of China Aerospace companies of China Aircraft manufacturers of China Defence companies of the People's Republic of China Manufacturing companies based in Beijing Chinese companies established in 1993 Technology companies established in 1993 Manufacturing companies established in 1993 Chinese brands Companies in the CSI 100 Index 1993 establishments in Shenyang