lcloo
Major
Y20 is a strategic airlifter, and we would espect to see hundreds of them in future. I think it is more a question of logistic.
China's transport, tanker & heavy lift aircraft - esp. Y-20/YY-20
- Thread starter Totoro
- Start date
Y-20 right now in barely in the class of stragetic airlifters and in fact do not even have any refueling probes installed. I'm referring to C-5/An-124 class true stragetic airlifters with global range.
You are out of your depth. Writing your opinions in a dozen threads as statements of fact is frankly proof that you don't actually know much. The Y-20 is in the middle of smaller strategic airlifters, which is mostly determined by range, not payload. The larger Galaxy sized cargo aircraft are useful only if you need enough range and lift to reach bases (that have long enough runways) on the other side of the planet, which China does not have. In addition, there are no airlifters in the same class as the Y-20 that have refueling ports or probes, so why you expect thatr capability is confusing.
C-17 is slightly larger(Capable of both strategic and tactical missions hence in the same class) and have refueling ports like basically every other USAF aircraft. China is also known to be developing a Galaxy/124 sized aircraft from engine tenders(Shenyang AECC's 250kN engine) and credible PLA watchers(Cute Orca saying China will eventually have a C-5 class transport in a comment). You are the one out of your depth my friend.
Also read my post carefully, I never expected Y-20 to have refueling probes or ports. The person I was quoting was saying just because Y-20 do not have refueling ports this means PLAAF have no chance of adopting flying boom for future large transport and bombers. I was in fact trying to argue that Y-20's mission do not neccesitate refueling hence not having any installed which also does not mean PLAAF is not willing to use flying boom for larger aircraft that will require refueling. Next time read the entire chain before replying.
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My bad on the misunderstanding as I indeed did not read the chain but that project you mentioned has no real purpose and is unconfirmed, and that source has been wrong in the past. Perhaps it could see use in infrastructure building. The Y-20 is however solidly a strategic airlifter. The ability to airlift long range SAM batteries (HQ-22) and heavy armor with intercontinental range is not a tactical capability. The C-17 is a grade higher because of its IFR and higher capacity. The Il-76 is in the same class and is also a strategic airlifter, but with less capacity. The A400 is the one which is debatably in between the category of strategic and tactical airlifters. Don't think there is much room for confusion here.
Depending on who you ask most people are going to say Y-20 is in the same catagory as the C-17 due to their mission of being a hybrid strategic and tactical transport. C-17's larger capacity was partly due to the requirement of carrying a single Abrams MBT with associated equipment, I would assume Y-20 was built for similar requirements except for Type 99A MBTs which is much lighter than the Abrams hence less overall payload was required.
As good as the Y-20B is, it still could not carry some of the larger vehicles like TELs for ICBMs, HQ-9B/29 etc advanced air defense launchers and even some larger radar vehicles. Also niche cases like satellite delivery will require oversized transport aircraft. If PLA wants to be a strategic force and deploy anywhere if required, an transport of this size and range will prove to be useful. Also as far as I know, although there aren't any leaks/news about the transport specifically but the 250kN class turbofan is a confirmed project by Shenyang AECC, such engine is in an odd spot since it is too small for wide body airliners but too big for narrow bodies like C919. Such class of engines were used on aircraft like B757 but these are mostly obselete and replaced by more advanced wide bodies like B787. IMO the only likely use case for this engine would be a C-5/An-124 class transport both used engines in the 225-250kN class. This also has been the consensus of credible PLA watchers like SOYO(who posted the original tender for the engine) and Guancha trio.
there is an urgent requirement of C-5/AN-124 equivalent. not only for PLAAF but for China as well. being the largest manufacturer and exporter of goods you need to transfer many big sized packages around the globe in quick time. look how AN-124 is working.
the reason why AVIC was extremely interested in AN-225. they even signed the agreement with Antonov for 2nd unfinished AN-225. but as we all know that, US intervened and deal collapsed.
AVIC even introduced Y-20F-100 for civilian purpose in 2016. but program put on hold due to unavailability of Engines back then.
apart from CJ-1000/CJ-2000, there are multiple HBR engine programs currently going on. WS-35 made public too.
What? The Y-20 is most definitely classified as a strategic airlifter.
by78
General
Why would you want to carry an ICBM and its TEL on a strategic transport? What for? You do understand what an ICBM is, what purpose it serves, and how FAR and FAST it flies, right? Not a precise analogy, but are you the kind of person who would walk everywhere carrying a bicycle on your back?