A gas turbine mainly for power drive and electricity generation is a strategic equipment related to national defense construction and energy field. Its development involves the limits of pneumatic, heat transfer, combustion, structure, strength, materials, control, precision manufacturing and other technologies, so it is known as the "pearl on the crown" of manufacturing industry. At present, most heavy-duty gas turbines rely mainly on imports and technologies that can be transferred are mainly limited in low value-added parts such as cold end parts manufacturing and whole machine assembly, however, the core technologies of gas turbine design, hot parts manufacturing and control system are strictly blocked. As a result, the low profit of domestic gas turbine manufacturing industry and high equipment investment and operation and maintenance costs of gas turbine users have seriously restricted the healthy development of gas turbine industry and natural gas power generation industry in China. In this regard, this paper mainly introduces the development process, the parameters and technical characteristics, as well as the key design, tests and manufacturing technologies of the first F-class 50 MW heavy-duty gas turbine in China, completed by the Dongfang Turbine Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Dongfang Electric) after more than ten years of development and summarizes the experience in design, manufacture and test of the heavy-duty gas turbines. It is concluded that through the test verification of compressors, combustors, turbines and other key components, and the whole machine, Dongfang Electric has established the whole-process research and development capability of F-class heavy-duty gas turbines, filling the gap in the domestic F-class gas turbine technology system, which not only lays a solid foundation for cultivating China's independent large-scale gas turbine industry, but provides a strong guarantee for the development of natural gas power generation industry.