China's transport, tanker & heavy lift aircraft

Hendrik_2000

Lieutenant General
Yup they need to double up on the production of Y 20 and open another production line. Strategic airlifter is important
Chubby Girl’s’ sister to boost China’s military capability
A refueling version of the Y-20 cargo plane will extend the reach of PLAAF aircraft and pierce the Pacific's Second Island Chain to threaten US allies
By ASIA TIMES STAFF DECEMBER 14, 2017 6:20 PM (UTC+8
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China is looking to increase its air tanker fleet after its fighter jets, bombers and surveillance aircraft conducted an “island encirclement patrol” of Taiwan earlier this week.

As the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) extends exercises in the Western Pacific, refueling will become a problem for its strike aircraft.

The People’s Daily has already confirmed that the PLA’s Northern Theater Command will organize war-games to prepare pilots for more aerial refueling missions. But to do this, China will need to increase its air tanker fleet.

Yin Zhuo, a PLA Rear Admiral-turned military commentator, told the state broadcaster CCTV that a squadron of H-6K Badger bombers were capable of piercing the Second Island Chain after aerial refueling.

He was referring to the strategic containment line in the Pacific, which runs along the Ogasawara Islands and Volcano Islands of Japan, as well as the Mariana Islands, a United States territory.

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An Y-20 at an airshow. Photo: PLAAF
Yin’s comments triggered speculation that the air tanker fleet could get an enhanced version of the new Y-20, which was brought into service as a cargo plane in 2013, and is known as “Chubby Girl”.

Reworked as a refueling workforce, it would take over from the 12 1950s-era H-6U tankers, which are too small to support long-distance air combat.

“Assuming air superiority within the first island chain and farther east of Taiwan, the combination of Y-20 aerial refueling and the H-6K bombers’ long-range missiles, puts the United States and partner forces operating outside the Second Island Chain, such as Alaska and Hawaii, at risk,” The National Interest magazine, which covers international affairs, reported, citing David Barr, a career intelligence officer with the US Navy’s Pacific Fleet.

Developed by the state-owned Aviation Industry Corp of China, the Y-20 has a bulky fuselage, hence the “Chubby Girl” nickname, a shoulder wing and heavy-duty retractable landing gear,

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The Y-20’s colossal fuselage dwarfs an airport car. Photo: PLAAF
The aircraft’s maximum takeoff weight is 242 tons and has four D-30KP-2 engines. The tanker version being developed would carry 110 tons of fuel, enough to refuel 20 J-10 fighters, according to Yin.

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The PLAAF’s H-6K bomber above the Taiwan Strait. Photo: PLAAF
In addition, the PLAAF has been conducting exercises with its upgraded H-6K bomber, including aerial refueling.
 

Daniel707

Junior Member
Registered Member
cirr from pakdef inferred 3 new Y20

y-20-jpg.442288

Yes, Xinfengcao in his blog also confirm there is 3 Y-20s in XAC Flight Test Station.

Love this one, China's Strategic Airlifter Fleet is growing day by day with Production of Xian Y-20 in recent months.

I wonder why China can keep Produce Xian Y-20, I thought their D-30KP engine in their inventory is very limited, especially because D-30KP is also used for their Xian H-6 Bomber fleet.

How can we Differentiate and Confirm that China's Xian Y-20 is using D-30KP and not WS-18 Engine? just like some members in here insist.

Just curious
 

Hendrik_2000

Lieutenant General
Henri K speculation on the production rate of Y-20 is between 9 to 11 in 2018.Knowing Chinese transport fleet consists of 30 IL 76. An Addition of 20 Y-20 will significantly enhance the strategic transport an almost 60% increase
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Will the production of the Y-20 accelerate in 2018?
Since the delivery of the first two heavy military transport aircraft Y-20 to the Chinese Air Force (PLAAF) in June last year, which had made the state media headlines, no more official information was packaged and communicated openly on the continuation of the program.

In return and as always with the military programs in China, we have useful elements that appear from time to time on the different media randomly and especially fragmented.

So many questions still remain open today - How many hours of flying did the pilots of the 4th Aviation Division, where the Y-20s are assigned, so far? What is the number of aircraft that have been delivered to the Chinese Air Force, and the rate of production adopted by Xi'an Aircraft Industrial Corporation (XAC)?

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Automatic riveting on Y-20 panels

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Assembling the sections of a Y-20

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A Y-20 on the final assembly line at XAC

According to an article on the Weixin account of the 4th Aviation Division in August this year, we learn that this PLAAF transport unit has already accumulated "a few hundred hours of flight" since June 2016. four hours per flight cycle and taking the low limit to 300 flight hours in total (the word "a few" in Chinese means that it is greater than or equal to three), that is to say that the Y-20, or
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, have already made at least 75 take-offs and landings.

What we do not know, however, is how many planes the pilots have trained.

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Le 12ème régiment de la 4ème division va accélérer la réception des nouveaux Y-20A après "quelques centaines d'heure de vol" déjà effectués.



As for the question about how many Y-20s have been delivered and put into service so far, we only know that a new aircraft registered 05, or 11055, made its semi-public appearance since August 7, where
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. It is, according to its registration, the 5th service aircraft while another aircraft registered 03 had already been exposed in early June in a day open doors of the Chinese Air Force.

The various reports and articles also revealed the presence of other devices still in a state of construction, or at least not operational:
Y-20 Prod Rate.png

It is very difficult to draw any valid conclusion from this simple table, but we can still rely on it to get a general idea and an order of magnitude.

In the file "
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" released in October last year, we have established a working hypothesis to try to know the production rate of Y-20, based in particular on the details the new acquisition contract for Russian engines, which will largely feed the Y-20s. It was estimated that the subsidiary of the AVIC group would be able to get out between two and three aircraft per quarter, starting in Q2 2017.

Knowing that 10 new D-30KP-2 engines should have been delivered in Q1 2017 by Russia and used in Q2, then 11 delivered in Q2 to be mounted in Q3 and so on, it should make sense to see four new Y -20, whatever their states, during the second half of 2017.

And that's what it seems to be the case if one believes in the latest XAC publication on his Weixin account in early December, where at least three Y-20s, including one still in anti-corrosion green paint the factory, were photographed at the same time on the tarmac of Xi'an.

Of course, other tangible elements are expected to test the validity of our hypothesis on the production rate of Y-20. But if the forecast model is correct, Xi'an should have enough engines to assemble at least 11 devices running 2018, against 9 average still according to our estimate.
 
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Figaro

Senior Member
Registered Member
I think North Korea uses them as a bomber too :D!
I'm actually surprised that North Korea has any sort of transport capability, let alone a medium transport like the IL-76. I wonder when Russia sold them this ... reminds me of their Mig 29s. Guess we've underestimated them ... ;)

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