Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), the country’s dominant military and commercial aviation contractor, is hopeful the government will back a multi-billion dollar plan to build a high-performance engine, its chief said on Friday.

China has failed to build a reliable, high-performance jet engine to end its dependence on Russian and Western makers for equipping its military and commercial aircraft.

“We see it as a major bottleneck preventing us from catching up with international players. So we hope to get all kind of support,” AVIC chairman Lin Zuoming, told Reuters on the sidelines of the ruling Communist Party’s congress in Beijing.

“I hope the Chinese government will support us. The engine proposal is under study.”

China is evaluating a 100 billion yuan ($16 billion) plan to galvanize a disjointed and under-funded engine research effort, aviation industry officials say.

AVIC, a Beijing-based giant, with more than 400,000 employees and 200 subsidiaries including 20 listed companies, has already set aside about 10 billion yuan of its own funds for jet engine development over the next three years.

It has been lobbying hard for extra money, officials familiar with the details say.

China’s arms and military equipment industry as a whole has suffered from bans on sales from the United States and Europe imposed after the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown on protests.