China's transport, tanker & heavy lift aircraft

Where I got this they were calling it ugly. Since when has there been a pretty transport and not necessarily in a negative way?

Originally Posted by Franklin

The problem for the PLAAF goes beyond just airlift. It has a serious lack of AWACS, Sub hunters, EW platforms, strategic bombers, refueling planes and spy planes. In other words anything bigger than a fighter jet. While the PLAAF have been building up her modern fighter fleet and space capabilities at a brisk pace but in these support area's China is still lacking. This is the result of China's inability to build wide bodied planes. And a deal with Russia to buy IL-76 fell through because the Russians unilaterally jacked up the price of the planes after the negotiations where over. They did the same thing to India, the suspicion is that Russia wanted to move some of the production facilities for the IL-76 that are located in Uzbekistan to Russia and they wanted China and India to help pay for it by jacking up the price of these planes. Of course China and India refused and India went for the US made Globemaster. If the Y-9 that is comparable to the C-130 Hercules can go into production in significant numbers in the next few years, that will help to alleviate a lot of the pressure's for the PLAAF on this front. But the godsend for most of the PLAAF's problems on this front will still have to be the Y-20 and that is not going to be coming in years. And even when it's going to be produced it's still going to have to use Russian engines for a long time to come.

It's actually 3 class of airplanes that china lacks the fundamentals to built.

1.Strategic airlifters.
2.narrow body civil airliners
3. wide body civil airliners.

1) is the backbone of strategic airlift power projection. the requirement is now being badly filled by those old Il-76s.
2) is the basis for ASW MPAs and electronic warfare platform. (AWACS, Airborne ground target radar (Riviet Joint, JSTAR, Sentry) ) those requirement are being filled right now with Y-8 but it is clearly not the optimal solution.
3) is basis for tankers and the larger electronic platforms. the hard end of the offensive airpower.

1) is being solved by the supposed Y-20.
2) is in short term supplied by Y-8/9 and Y-20/IL-476 buys, in long term C919 (737 class)
3) is supplied by IL-76 and Y-20 in the mid term. and in long rerm C929, (767 class)

Looks like a Chinese IL-76, down to the wing, wing fairing to the upper portion of the fuselage, T-tail and choice of intermediate bypass engines.... disappointing really.

Originally Posted by duskylim

Looks like a Chinese IL-76, down to the wing, wing fairing to the upper portion of the fuselage, T-tail and choice of intermediate bypass engines.... disappointing really.

It's closer to a C-17 than IL-76.

Originally Posted by hmmwv

It's closer to a C-17 than IL-76.

Agree! Someone need to get their eyes check.

I hope this aircraft can also be used as a aerial refueling aircraft

aerial refueling is a very important part of modern airforces and not only for fighter aircraft but also for transports and AWACS

for example Pakistans IL-78 Midas tankers can hold 90,000 litres of transferrable aviation fuel, with their 3 UPAZ-1M Sakhalin refueling pods they are able to refuel 3 aircraft simultanously, a JF17 holds around 3,000 litres of fuel maybe 5,000 with external fuel tanks

this means a single IL-78 tanker can refuel more than a entire sqaudron of JF17s in a single go, I think the IL-78 has a flow rate of around 3,000-4,000 litres per minute during aerial refueling so in under 3 minutes 3 aircraft can be replenished and can carry on patroling the air or performing CAP missions

with 4 of such aircraft in operation with Pakistan Airforce 4 sqaudrons of JF17 then has double the flying time, which is equal to 8 sqaudrons so we can see the great advantage of having aerial refueling tankers

having the capability to carry out extended patrols during high tensions requires having eyes in the sky, meaning AWACS need to be on patrol, for them aerial fueling is also a pre-request, it extends the time they can keep eyes on the enemy

Y-9

R&D docs from 603th institute at Xian on Y-20. I see 5,5m for wide fuselage (so loadable cabin width of 4-4,5m??), 19m for long rear section

according to kanwa, Russia so far refuse to release PS-90 LB-Tf engine.instead will offer older D-30KP.

When will be the Y-20 first flight? Last I heard, sometime last month, Hui Tong's website saying it was being prepared for its first flight.

according to a russian press,2 prototype been produced,first flight likely around december or late november.

Originally Posted by hardware

according to kanwa, Russia so far refuse to release PS-90 LB-Tf engine.instead will offer older D-30KP.

Originally Posted by hardware

according to a russian press,2 prototype been produced,first flight likely around december or late november.

Any china based source backs this claims? How reliable are they?

Originally Posted by kroko

Any china based source backs this claims? How reliable are they?

Huitong's been mentioning two prototypes were under construction for the last few months as well.

No idea about engines.