SINO SWEARINGEN Aircraft (SSAC) has scheduled US certification of the SJ30-2 light business- jet for March 1998. Plans to certificate the original (SJ30-1) version of the aircraft have been shelved in favour of developing the higher-performance -2, powered by up-rated Williams-Rolls FJ44-2C turbofans (Flight International, 4-10 October, 1995, P18).
The first two aircraft, plus static- and fatigue-test articles, will be built at SSAC's San Antonio, Texas, premises, and will be used in the certification programme. Ground breaking for the final-assembly plant in Martinsburg, West Virginia, is scheduled for the end of March, and the factory is planned for completion in March 1997.
Subcontractors will manufacture the SJ30's wing, fuselage and tail. Taiwan-backed SSAC says that the first suppliers will be announced in March. Compared with the original aircraft, the SJ30-2 offers higher speed and altitude and longer range. SSAC says that the $3.5 million aircraft will cruise at Mach 0.83, with a maximum altitude of 49,000ft (15,000m) and will have a visual-flight-rules range of 5,500km (3,000nm).
Source: Flight International
