China's transport, tanker & heavy lift aircraft
- Thread starter Totoro
- Start date
lcloo
Major
Imagine 10 years ago PLAAF had only 20 plus IL-76 air frames, and with some of these air frames converted to be used as KJ-2000 and flying testbeds.
PLAAF's huge strategic air lift expansion and capability to move rapidly troop transfer from one regional theatre to another theatre thousands of km away is a great game changer. 10 years is a short time for such dramatic change. Instead of weeks, one day or two would be sufficient to move a full brigade of troop and equipment from coastal China to Tibet.
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There have also been hints from our good old friend on Weibo that the annual production rate of the Y-20 has likely reached 30+ units by now, if not in recent years.
In the meantime, depending on whether the claimed/rumored new common platform aircraft will become a reality + How fast can the Sino-C-5 join PLAAF service in considerable numbers in the coming years, the Y-20's production rate could vary, going forward.
In the meantime, depending on whether the claimed/rumored new common platform aircraft will become a reality + How fast can the Sino-C-5 join PLAAF service in considerable numbers in the coming years, the Y-20's production rate could vary, going forward.
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Liekly, even if per my list we have confirmed "only" 116 ...
12th AR / 4th TD: 25 Y-20A, 3 YY-20A, 10 Y-20B = 38
37th AR / 13th TD: 20 Y-20A, 13 Y-20B = 33
38th AR / 13th TD: 38 YY-20A
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55 Y-20A, 38 YY-20A, 23 Y-20B (as of late May 2026) = 116 individual aircraft
these are confirmed Y-20s.. but what could be the total number if we add unseen aircrafts. ? because you said i have seen many Y-20Bs but can't post the pic.
Well, the ones shown in that image I am not allowed to post are already included in that list; what i however did not list are about 20 additional Y-20B at XAC, that were not yet delivered in January since several of them are likely the more recently confirmed ones. The point is, there are surely a few not yet confirmed by serial number and as such the list could be likely (changes to above in bold):
12th AR / 4th TD: 25 Y-20A, 3 YY-20A, 17 Y-20B = 45
37th AR / 13th TD: 20 Y-20A, 20 Y-20B = 40
38th AR / 13th TD: 38-42 (maybe 45) YY-20A
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55 Y-20A, about 40-45 YY-20A, 37 Y-20B (as of late May 2026) = 132-137 individual aircraft
But again, that's just my conservative guess!
I know, however especially the YY-20A list is strange, has still (after years) some strange missing number or even blocks of numbers and overall unlikely has the full complement of 50 aircraft.
A KJ-500 getting refueled by a YY-20 while flying overhead.