A life-size model of CR929 is exhibited at the 12th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai, South China's Guangdong Province, on November 6. Photo: VCG

The development of the Chinese-Russian wide-body CR929 passenger aircraft is going well, and the plane could spawn several variants for special missions in the future, media reports said on Wednesday.

The CR929 twinjet airliner is making good progress, said Chen Yingchun, chief designer on the project, at an aerospace industry summit in East China’s Zhejiang Province on Wednesday, news website chinanews.com reported on the same day.

The CR929 will initially use engines domestically developed by China, but after that there could be special mission variants, the Global Times learned.

It is not an uncommon practice for aircraft developers, including those in the US, to modify large passenger aircraft into special mission aircraft for purposes like aerial early warning, aerial refueling, reconnaissance and electronic warfare, military observers said.

Global Times