danielchin
Junior Member
new photo from weibo, couldn't see any marking.
China's transport, tanker & heavy lift aircraft
- Thread starter Totoro
- Start date
danielchin
Junior Member
Sina military forum claimed it's the first with WS-20s, but couldn't confirm it by photo. another forum 9IFLY said it is the #7 prototype (including the static test one).
SinoSoldier
Colonel
They don't look like WS-20s.
danielchin
Junior Member
agree, but can't rule out the possibility it had one WS-20 on the other side.
Just goes to show how important it is to have control of one's own production line for an aircraft, instead of buying them abroad and having to be put into a queue with other nations.
The Y-9 platform will be one of the most important aircraft for the Chinese military in the early 21st century, as an AEW&C, ASW MPA, SIGINT aircraft, EW aircraft, and of course as a tactical transporter.
Hopefully Shaanxi can ramp up production rate, and that the Air Force has enough demand to press them for it. I'm not sure how many Y-9s they can build per year, but it probably isn't enough, not when the Air Force probably has a demand for hundreds of Y-9 transporters and likely dozens of airframes for KJ-500s+SIGINT+EW uses... and the Navy likely having requirements for a hundred or more airframes for Y-8Q and its own SIGINT planes.
Any idea why? Its odd that since the Y-20 is so close to production and service that both the chief designer and the engineer resign.