China's transport, tanker & heavy lift aircraft

Yodello said:

The PLA should get this project up and running ASAP. They are really lacking behind in Transpot, Tanker and AWACS. The AN225 would be the perfect platform for the PLA to increase their capabilities in those areas.

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No not really, An-225 is just too circumstantial. Sure it can carry big loads but it also needs a big runaway as well. What China needs currently is a bigger medium lift transport to fill the gap between the Y-9 and the Y-20. One possible candidate would be the An-178 but with better engines and payload capacity. Or the An-70 which can carry 47 tons.
Maybe one or two An-225 would be nice for the occasional outrageous cargoes, but in reality air cargoes rarely goes over 60 tons per pallet at most.

The AN225 was Originally for the Boran program It was designed as a Shuttle carrier. since the End of the Buran it became a massive cargo carrier for rent.

It was not designed for day to day uses. Transpot, Tanker and AWACS This thing is just to big to expensive for that. and the reports only lists 2 units which really fits closer to the mission it ended up filling oversized special needs cargo for hire.
There were also rumors of using it for Air launched space missions much like the Stratolaunch.
Y20 is the better bet for a new Tanker, Transport for the PLAAF. This is only if the PLAAF decides they want a Helicarrier.

The An 225 will be a good addition for logistical support, rather than all the flights of fancy about AWACs and air refuelling. IIRC they had to use one to move a concrete pump from the US to Fukushima for the nuclear incident. Although the eastern half of China is criss crossed with railway lines, waterways and sea lanes, the western portion isn't so well catered for!

An-124 has a huge commercial demand almost non stop

An225? Not so sure

The AN225 other than it's space mission has primarily become a commercial platform. Rented by nations and Companies for logistical use. The reason many nations Bought Boeing C17's was that prior to there buys, many NATO members rented the lone AN225 and AN124's for cargo to operations and crisis. This as you can guess had issues. The Lone AN 225 is the same aircraft that has been flying since 1985. These would be the second and third AN225.

WS-20 engine is coming

Analysis of an article published yesterday by Xi'an Aircraft Industrial Corporation on its Weixin account suggests that the production rate of the Chinese heavy lift aircraft Y-20 will be increased to about 16 per year, compared to 11 in our forecast initial :

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That was about the same production rate at the hight of the C17 program. So now one wonders just how many the PLA is buying and if any will go to export.

davidau said:

not too distant future, CG multiple uses of Y20...

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Indeed now that they increase the production of Y 20 From Henri K
Analysis of an article published yesterday by Xi'an Aircraft Industrial Corporation on its Weixin account suggests that the production rate of the Chinese heavy lift aircraft Y-20 will be increased to about 16 per year, compared to 11 in our forecast initial :

Hendrik_2000 said:

Indeed now that they increase the production of Y 20 From Henri K
Analysis of an article published yesterday by Xi'an Aircraft Industrial Corporation on its Weixin account suggests that the production rate of the Chinese heavy lift aircraft Y-20 will be increased to about 16 per year, compared to 11 in our forecast initial :

Click to expand...

Well that is some good news for the PLAAF as it really needs huge numbers of these airframes for basic transport, AWACS and tanker.