China's transport, tanker & heavy lift aircraft

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ACuriousPLAFan

Lieutenant General
Registered Member
Tomboy said:
Strange nacelle, does not match either AEP400/WJ-10 nor WJ-6.
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sunnymaxi said:
can't match with WJ-6 or AEP400 but have we ever seen WJ-10 engine/nacelle before these pics ? nope. so this is most likely WJ-10 nacelle.
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@Oneninety on Weibo affirmed that the engines on the Y-15 are actually WJ-10s with 6x propellers per engine.

y15usingwj10.png

Also, if I remembered correctly, SOYO on Weibo did mention that the AEP380(?), AEP400, AEP500, and WJ-10 are separate (individual) turboprop engine projects.

Hence, I think the turboprop engines used on the resurrected MA700 that took flight some time ago is most likely to be AEP380(?) or AEP400.
 
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00CuriousObserver

00CuriousObserver

Senior Member
Registered Member
Some lightly higher quality photos + a new one + a video. All posted by @DavidWangPLA

Discretion for AI is advised

zJmLjrL.png

BRn8Dhv.png

HR5HOEm.png

ZardEa5.png

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2060639884101161055
 
Blitzo

Blitzo

General
Staff member
Super Moderator
Registered Member
I'd also add that the current paint scheme (a low vis grey) is somewhat consistent with the Y-9 colours used, so it wouldn't be a huge surprise if the eventual in service colour is similar to this current appearance given they are both tactical transporters at the end of the day.
 
A

ACuriousPLAFan

Lieutenant General
Registered Member
ACuriousPLAFan said:
In addition, those small pod-like structures at the bottom of the engine cowlings certainly aren't air intakes, given how far they are from the forward edge.
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Correction - The small pod-like structures on the WJ-10 cowlings are most likely to be auxiliary air intake ports. This feature is also visible on the turboprop engine cowlings of the A400M and C-130.

img-1780169657737cc7542a755e5f2b8f7a262e63d5f6645062c98e792a92fd6dda3b8daa8f62cd0.jpg
 
Tomboy

Tomboy

Captain
Registered Member
ACuriousPLAFan said:
Correction - The small pod-like structures on the WJ-10 cowlings are most likely to be auxiliary air intake ports. This feature is also visible on the turboprop engine cowlings of the A400M and C-130.

View attachment 175813
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Those are just heat exchanger intakes to cool gearbox oil, MA700's nacelles just integrated the main intake and heat exchanger intake into a single external opening while Y-15's has a separate opening.
 
Maikeru

Maikeru

Colonel
Registered Member
This article claims early/prototype Y-15s are equipped with AEP400 engines (or military equivalent) which will be upgraded to AEP500 once that engine is mature enough. AEP400 is still a big improvement over WJ-6, 4200kW vs 3800kW, 900kg vs 1200kg and better fuel consumption:

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Tomboy

Tomboy

Captain
Registered Member
Maikeru said:
This article claims early/prototype Y-15s are equipped with AEP400 engines (or military equivalent) which will be upgraded to AEP500 once that engine is mature enough. AEP400 is still a big improvement over WJ-6, 4200kW vs 3800kW, 900kg vs 1200kg and better fuel consumption:

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Click to expand...
This post goes against everything we know so far. AEP series are very probable going to stay civilian only while WJ-10 has a power rating of only 3800-4000kWish. AEP500 is also likely dead or in limbo given that there isn't any actual projects that could use it.
 
00CuriousObserver

00CuriousObserver

Senior Member
Registered Member
The very first sentence about the number 15 on the fuselage is already quite a flag.

They probably got that from the Chinese Wiki, which sources a 网易 article with an AI photo.
 
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