Chinese authorities on Monday unveiled a plan to keep the country's machinery industry growing steadily in 2025-2026.
China expects the industry's operating revenue to reach 10 trillion yuan (about 1.4 trillion U.S. dollars) from 2025 to 2026, according to the plan jointly issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and five other government departments.
The growth target would translate into an average annual increase of over 3.5 percent in operating revenue.
The plan mainly focuses on 14 aspects, including major technological transformation of manufacturing, large-scale equipment renewal projects, digital transformation and upgrading actions, technological breakthrough in industrial mother-machines, robots, and intelligent inspection equipment, as well as the research and development of general-purpose large models and large models for the machinery industry.
Efforts will be made to foster a number of specialty industrial clusters of competitive small and medium-sized enterprises and industrial clusters with international competitiveness, implement tax preferential policies well and strengthen financial support for equipment enterprises.
China unveils plan to promote stable growth of machinery industry
A 7.5-tonne unmanned cargo aircraft powered by AEP100, China's independently developed megawatt-class hydrogen-fueled turboprop engine, successfully completed its maiden flight on Saturday at an airport in Zhuzhou, central China's Hunan Province.
This marks the world's first test flight of a megawatt-class hydrogen-fueled turboprop engine.
Experts from the Aero Engine Corporation of China (AECC) noted that the successful maiden flight highlights that China has now established a complete technological chain in hydrogen-fueled aviation engines, covering everything from core components to full engine integration. They added that this achievement lays the foundation for the industrial application of hydrogen energy in aviation.
As green hydrogen production costs fall, hydrogen aviation engines will show growing economic and energy security advantages, experts said. Hydrogen-fueled aero engine technology is expected to debut in low-altitude economy fields such as unmanned air freight and island logistics before gradually expanding to regional and mainline aircraft.
This technology will drive coordinated upgrades across industrial clusters, including upstream green hydrogen production, midstream storage, transportation and refueling infrastructure, and downstream high-end equipment and new materials. Ultimately, it will propel the green, low-carbon, and high-quality development of China's aviation industry, experts added.
Megawatt hydrogen turboprop engine completes maiden flight in central China
