China's transport, tanker & heavy lift aircraft
- Thread starter Totoro
- Start date
I think it is because the trees in the background are out of focus due to camera/lighting.
To admit it is one, who claims that and I really don't know why an always reliable image-analyst comes to this conclusion.
IMO it is perfectly clear and nothing special to see the Y-20 at Lhasa. Nothing to expect a ps-story.
Deino
Read through his other posts at CDF; he's definitely not "always reliable".
I think he wasn't wearing his glasses when he saw the Y-20 picture.
Hyperwarp
Captain
by78
General
I think this one has a serial...
(3000 x 1679)
Difficult ! he want all new
and not interested by the pod Here's a pretty nifty source. It tracks ALL the il76/78 airframes produced. And it says 33 of them went to PLA, and 4 more are on order. (as much as i could track them)
Out of 33 delivered, 2 are il78, one il76 crashed and one more il76 is not flying anymore.
And 1 airframe (not counted in 33 to PLA) is serving with china civil aviation organization.
That does add credibility to the rumor that upon the initial 14 airframes China ordered, there was additional 10 or so used airframe order sometime in late 90s/early 2000s. And then we had the recent 10 used airframes order, as well as the 3 il78 tankers, bringing to total to at least 37.
That would suggest that there are today 4 il76 airframes in awacs role, 2 more il78 in tanker role (78 variant being one with operational ramp door, so it is dual use as transport) and 25 more operational il76 for transport.
With 3 more il76 transports yet to be delivered, as well as one more il78 tanker to be delivered.
Possibly some of the data is out of date but it still gives the general idea...
Today 3 Il-78 confirmed but mainly in this case the 10 refurbished delivered ?
Meantime yes new delivered
On GE
Wuhan/Paozhuwan in 2016 8 Il-76/78 now 10/2017 our lucky ! 13 birds + 5
Dangyang in 06/2016 10 birds now 13 + 3
+ 8 ... plus some out for test on in missions
Last edited:
asif iqbal
Lieutenant General
33 is close
31 x IL-76 TD/MD
And 3 x IL-78 Midas tankers
Total 34 IL-76/78
As follows
14 original IL-76 and 4 converted to AWACS
3 more ordered IL-76 and 10 more IL-76 MD/TD
Total 31 x IL-76TD/MD and KJ-2000 airframes
Then 3 x IL-78 tankers
31 x IL-76 TD/MD
And 3 x IL-78 Midas tankers
Total 34 IL-76/78
As follows
14 original IL-76 and 4 converted to AWACS
3 more ordered IL-76 and 10 more IL-76 MD/TD
Total 31 x IL-76TD/MD and KJ-2000 airframes
Then 3 x IL-78 tankers