China's transport, tanker & heavy lift aircraft - esp. Y-20/YY-20

SeriousPLANLover said:

Thanks so to sum up we can conclude it is MRTT from the fact that it has refueling formation lines while not having refueling pods currently installed.

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I wouldn't phrase it like that.

The problem is that you are entering this topic ("Y-20Bs are MRTTs?") part way through, so you are asking the question of "how can we conclude Y-20B is a MRTT based on that picture".


Instead, the best way to approach it is to accept that there's been a few years of past context, to the point that we no longer "need" evidence to support the idea that Y-20Bs are all MRTTs.
The null hypothesis is that Y-20Bs are all MRTTs as standard.


What one could say, is "that picture of the Y-20B you are talking about does not contradict or challenge the existing accepted consensus that all Y-20Bs are MRTTs".