GE Aviation of the United States and AVIC Systems of China have announced an agreement on forming a new joint venture company to develop and market integrated avionics systems for commercial aircraft customers.  The announcement was made as part of "GE's Clean Technology Week in China" activities.

Jeff Immelt, chairman and CEO of GE and Lin Zuoming, president of AVIC, signed a framework agreement for open architecture avionics. Documentation is being put in place with the goal of launching a new JV company by mid-2010, subject to receiving all required regulatory approvals.

"The new company combines GE and AVIC capabilities to develop commercial integrated systems to meet aviation's growing demands.  We will utilize the best civil aviation technology, manufacturing capabilities, and management practices to create a globally competitive company," said Immelt. The new avionics company, to be headquartered in China, will offer fully integrated, open architecture avionics and services for future commercial aircraft programs. GE will build on its extensive avionics capabilities and its China Technology Center in Shanghai to create a technology center to serve the commercial aviation market.

"AVIC and GE will work together to build on the most advanced open architecture avionics in the world for the commercial aviation industry. The joint team will create a competitive company with a global strategy to benefit China and the United States," said Lin.

The joint venture will create approximately 200 jobs in the U.S., in addition to creating bilateral industrial cooperation with China according to Lorraine Bolsinger, president and CEO for GE's Aviation Systems business.  "Our immediate focus is to jointly bid the best, competitive solutions to compete for the COMAC C919 narrow-body aircraft program. This includes an open architecture Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA) platform," Bolsinger said.