Digging a little deeper I found on a Chinese tech website (https://www.shulou.com/a565991) a very recent article heralding the immanent certification of a new independently Chinese designed diesel aircraft engine:
"Wuhu! The first domestic general-purpose aircraft equipped with domestic AEC2.0L aero-engine, CA42, successfully tested flight."
"...February 18, Wuhu, Anhui announced that the AEC2.0L piston engine, the first domestic civil aircraft piston engine to carry out airworthiness certification in the China Civil Aviation Airworthiness Certification Center, has successfully verified its compression ignition capability and high-altitude start-up ability, thus completing various established capability verification projects for airworthiness certification.
According to reports, China's first general-purpose aircraft equipped with domestic AEC2.0L aero-engine, CA42, successfully completed its test flight on February 16.
It is worth mentioning that the Chinese-made AEC2.0L aero-engine was carried in the domestic civil navigable aircraft CA42 independently designed and manufactured by China Electric Power Wuhu Diamond aircraft Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Such a "double domestic" match is the first time in the domestic civil aviation industry.
In order to ensure the sufficient safety and reliability of the engine in flight, the flight test is divided into several height points, which has the characteristics of long preparation period, many limiting factors, difficult operation and so on. The purpose of this paper is to verify the compression ignition ability and restart ability of the AEC2.0L engine in the air, and fully prove that the domestic civil aviation piston engine can meet the needs of modern civil aviation.
"this engine is developed independently by Chinese enterprises, and its comprehensive performance is comparable to the international first-class level, and it has also broken the foreign monopoly in one fell swoop!" Hou Xiaoyu, deputy director of the system approval room of China Civil Aviation Airworthiness Accreditation Center, said.
Jiao Yanbin, deputy general manager of Wuhu Diamond Aeroengine Co., Ltd., said that the engine has solved a series of "sticking neck" problems of software and hardware key technology. this is also a "summary test" of domestic civil aviation piston engines from conception to drawing data to finished products, which fully proves that domestic civil aviation piston engines can fully meet the needs of modern navigation."
The only picture I could find came from (https://m.youuav.com/sell/detail/202308/10/33434.html) and clearly shows a similarity to an Austro design.
"The AEC2.0L aviation piston engine has obtained the type certificate (TC certificate) in accordance with CCAR-33. The engine has high rated power and strong power; High reliability, TBO is not less than 2000 hours; Superior performance and adaptability. It is China's first aviation piston engine independently developed and completed the whole process of airworthiness, which can provide a strong "Chinese heart" for domestic and foreign general aviation aircraft."
In the past I've heard a little about Diamond's Chinese ownership supposably associated with private enterprise company 'Wanfeng Auto Holding Group Co. Ltd'.
However, digging a little deeper on "Wuhu Diamond Aeroengine Co.', I cannot find any mention of Wanfeng, instead it appears to be a subsidiary of an umbrella company 'CETC Diamond Aircraft R&D Institute', along with two other subsidiaries, 'CETC Wuhu Diamond Aircraft Manufacture Co., Ltd', and 'CETC Special Mission Aircraft Systems Engineering Co., Ltd'.
CETC here (short for China Electronics Technology Corporation) is listed as "As one of China’ s top state-own large enterprise groups", so is clearly CCP owned and controlled. There appears no mention of the WanFeng Group with any of the Diamond China connected businesses.
