China Working On Y-19 Cargo Transport, WJ-10 Turboshaft
Jan 13, 2016 - 11:31AM
Aerospace Daily & Defense Report
Bradley Perrett
BEIJING — China is planning development of a cargo aircraft under the designation Y-19 with a payload of 30 metric tons (66,000 lb.), according to new research that confirms and expands on earlier, unsubstantiated reports.
Studies for a cargo transport with a gross weight of 80 tons are underway, says the country’s large-airplane specialist, Avic Aircraft, elaborating on its statement of two years ago that it was looking at a new freighter heavier than 60 tons. Engine details suggest that this should be the Y-19, which would presumably be developed primarily as a military airlifter, with civil freighting as secondary role, like its Y-8 predecessor.
The WJ-10 engine is under development for the Y-19, according to Galleon (Shanghai) Consulting, a conference organizer and business consultancy that is preparing to jointly host a forum on aerospace propulsion with Avic propulsion subsidiary Avic Engine. Details of the engine are in materials that Galleon has prepared for the May 22-23 conference in Shenyang, probably relying on Avic as a source.
Existence of a WJ-10 engine and a Y-19 aircraft have been reported before, but details have been so scanty that the programs have been considered unconfirmed.
According to Galleon’s research, the turboshaft generates 5,000 kw (7,600 hp), comes from Avic Engine’s facilities at Zhuzhou and was designed by the Air Power Machinery Research Institute in that southern city. That means that the WJ-10 not only exists but is almost certainly a 5,000-kw turboshaft from Zhuzhou that was displayed in the form of a full-scale model at a helicopter show at Tianjin in 2011.
Shaanxi Aircraft, the part of Avic Aircraft responsible for airlifters in this size range, is working on a cargo transport of 80 tons, Deputy General Manager Zou Shuo told Oppland’s China Commercial Aircraft Summit last month. Since four 5,000-kw engines would suit such a gross weight, the Shaanxi aircraft is presumably the Y-19. Zou says pre-development began three years ago, so, contrary to some speculation, “Y-19” is not a typographical mistake referring to the Y-9, which was revealed in 2005 as a radical update of the Y-8, Shaanxi Aircraft’s version of the Antonov An-12.
Full-scale development of the Shaanxi Aircraft airlifter should begin in a few years, certainly within five, says an industry official, adding that jet propulsion is an option. Suitable combinations of Chinese high-bypass turbofans are obvious: two WS-118s, two SF-As or four WS-12Cs. Those engines are also detailed in Galleon’s research. Two years ago, Avic Aircraft Vice President Wang Yongsheng told the annual Oppland conference that the unit was studying a civil jet freighter with a gross weight exceeding 60 tons. Shaanxi Aircraft is part of Avic Aircraft.The Y-9’s engine is the WJ-6C, evidently an improvement of the Y-8’s WJ-6 (originally, the Ivchenko AI-20 from Ukraine).
Another new Chinese engine, the WZ-10 turboshaft of 1,800 kw, is intended for a triple installation in an unnamed helicopter, according to the Galleon conference materials. Conceivably, that could be the AC313, an updated Super Frelon currently powered by Pratt & Whitney PT6B-67Bs. Comparison with the AgustaWestlandAW101 suggests that three WZ-10s could power an helicopter of about 15 tons gross weight. Since the WZ-10 has also been designed by the Air Power Machinery Research Institute, it is probably a Zhuzhou engine displayed at Tianjin in 2011 with a rating of 2,000 kw. The designation will create confusion, because there is also a WZ-10 attack helicopter (WZ representing Chinese characters for “turboshaft” in one case and “armed helicopter” in the other).
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