A 7.5-metric ton unmanned cargo aircraft powered by the AEP100, China's independently developed megawatt-class hydrogen-fueled turboprop engine, successfully completed its maiden flight on Saturday at an airport in Zhuzhou, Hunan province, marking the world's first test flight of a megawatt-class hydrogen-fueled aviation turboprop engine.

Throughout the flight, the engine remained in good condition. The aircraft flew for 16 minutes, covering 36 kilometers at a speed of 220 km/hour and at an altitude of 300 meters. After completing its scheduled flight tasks, it returned safely, marking a successful maiden flight, according to the Aero Engine Corporation of China, the developer.

According to experts from AECC, the successful maiden flight represents a significant leap from technological development to engineering application of domestically developed megawatt-class hydrogen-fueled aviation engines. The technology is also expected to drive coordinated upgrades across the industrial chain, including upstream green hydrogen production, midstream storage and refueling infrastructure, and downstream high-end equipment and new materials clusters, promoting the green, low-carbon and high-quality development of the country's aviation industry.

This indicates that China has established a complete technical chain, from core components to full system integration, in the field of hydrogen-fueled aviation engines, verifying the engineering reliability of integrating hydrogen-powered systems with flight platforms. This lays a foundation for the future industrial application of hydrogen energy in aviation and marks an important step in China's transition from technological exploration to engineering practice in green aviation power, the experts said.

They added that as the cost of green hydrogen production continues to decline, the economic and energy security advantages of hydrogen-powered aviation will gradually become more apparent. The technology is expected to be initially applied in low-altitude sectors such as unmanned cargo transport and island logistics, before gradually expanding to regional and eventually trunk passenger aircraft.

cuijia@chinadaily.com.cn