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by evnix 482 days ago
I feel, What's more harder are the jet engines on fighter planes. These are usually a decade or two ahead in terms of advancements. The technology here trickles down to commercial jet engines slowly. Things like Metullargy for blades etc are a closely guarded secret. China and India are pouring billions into research just to get theirs close to even the lower end of what GE has to offer.
1 comments

One of the figures in the article [1] adds something to this point: military engines have much shorter lifetimes. So it seems it's not just "trickle down" technology, there's also some redesign for reliability.

A commercial engine can operate for a cumulative 1 year between overhauls, according to that figure, as of 2010. The military ones last 1/10th as long. I can only imagine how much more challenging it is to iterate on designs when you are dealing with problems that take 10 times longer to manifest.

[1]: https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_pr...