Wow, they have headrests with what looks like adjustable sides on their pallet seats. Fancy.
China's transport, tanker & heavy lift aircraft - esp. Y-20/YY-20
- Thread starter Totoro
- Start date
Wow, they have headrests with what looks like adjustable sides on their pallet seats. Fancy.
Who are the older persons in civilian clothing? Journalists?This year's new cadets being flown to various Air Force education institutions.
They're parents. The quote says, "If my child wasn't in the Air Force Aviation University, I might have never had a chance to fly in a Y-20."
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Would it be smart for PLAAF to consider a successor to Y-7? Y-7 is rather outdated with no known upgrades and to my knowledge has been out of production for decades and based on an even older soviet design. Or is Y-7 no longer relavent and should be replaced by next generation medium airlifter along with the Y-8/9 fleet?
Y-7 developed into MA-60/MA-600.. now MA-700 coming to replace all these older aircrafts but for civilian purpose.
Y-30 is the replacement of Y-8/Y-9 family.
Is there any plans for Y-7 replacement in the PLA? IMO, these aircraft are getting old and from what I can find PLA across all branches still operates a decent amount of Y-7s.
nope. Budget is tight. there are already too many projects going on.
I think the Y-7 is the transport equivalent of the J-7. Because of its size which restricts range and utility, its role is being phased out. There had not been any new development from the Y-7 during the explosion of aircraft types in the past decade. Whatever roles it had before were mostly given to the Y-8 and then Y-9.
There are over 200 Y-8s plus the pulse lines for the Y-9. The KJ-500 AEW alone is approaching 80. All the myriad special mission types are given to the Y-9. There was a MA-60 MPA but it was never adopted. I think MA-700 is the last of the venerable line. The engine embargo didn't help but it seems no one was really counting on it anyways.
The next turboprop would be the Y-30. But looking at the success of the Y-9 series, I don't think the PLAAF is in a hurry.
Off topic but the small transport slot above the Y-12 and eating into whatever role is left for Y-7 could be filled by the KJ-600 platform and its COD variant. That would allow short field supply plus special missions near frontlines. KJ-600 and COD could well be adopted from the Navy for land use.