I'm surprised that such an important helicopter hasn't received star treatment from CCTV yet. Both Y-20 and J-20 had documentaries and exclusive spcials made. But J-20 didn't even receive official acknowledgement from CCTV yet, which is quite interesting.
Z-20 (all variants) thread
- Thread starter delft
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MwRYum
Major
Y'know, fast movers always get the star treatment.
It's among those who know the significance of logistics (where platforms such as Y-20 and Z-20 come in) that pay attention to such.
Maybe also since the Z-20 by all development as an indigenous type has still too much taste of a Blackhawk.
Z-20 has started to get some high-profile CCTV coverage. Its chief designer Deng Jinghui has been profiled and some its critical technologies, for example, de-icing, are also highlighted. Mr. Deng has gotten .
It all follows the familiar pattern of an important weapon platform being gradually introduced to the public. I expect more to come.
coolieno99
Junior Member
Z-20 in Tibet. This is a high-resolution version of a previously shared image.
The Z-20 have anti-icing and de-icing technology built into its rotors. This enable it to operate in very high altitude and very cold environment like Tibetan plateau and Aksai Chin.
CCTV has made several report on the troops equipped with Z20. CCTV do treat Z20 as a star.
Z-20's look far better finished and put together than even the latest newbuilt Blackhawks
plawolf
Lieutenant General
Interesting HMD, looks sleek, but can’t say I’m a fan since the display arm looks to be blocking a fair chunk of the pilot’s peripheral vision.A rare glimpse of Z-20's interior.
While a HMD is normally reserved for attack helicopters to help operate the gun turret, in this instance they probably have it synced to the IRST ball turret instead, and is probably only for the missile armed attack version.
This would provide them with limited shoot and scoot capabilities whereby the helicopter could change course after firing a missile, while the co-pilot/gunner can use the HMD synced IRST turret to provide continuous target illumination so long as the IRST still has LoS on the target.
Arguably they could have done away with that and had more capabilities with a true fire and forget ATGM, but those are a lot more expensive per round.
I think this is a good illustration on the different mentality and calculus between the PLA and many western militaries - western militaries overwhelmingly do not expect to have to fight high intensive, long duration wars against peer or near peer opponents, certainly not to the extent where logistics and massive ramping up of production of weapons and munitions would come into play. For the PLA, that is almost to be expected. As such the PLA pays more attention to logistical, resupply and replacement costs and timescales when making their procurement decisions than most western militaries.
For the first time a clear image of a PLAN Z-20S multi role/utility helicopter - here prototype 6212 - carrying 8 KD-10 ATGMs was posted. As such it shows the same weapon load like the PLA Army Aviation Z-20 seen a few weeks ago. (Image via @黑色多瑙河A from Weibo)
