China's transport, tanker & heavy lift aircraft

kroko said:

Russia still produces them. In fact, Il-476 (improved Il-76) will fly this year.

Y20 isnt exactly around the corner. It still hasnt flew (will it fly this year?), and it will take quite some years before it enters production.

Having said that, i think china should stick with Y20. Its their product, and PLAAF doesnt have such a urgent need for transports.

Click to expand...

Y-20 is due to fly this year, however when that is we dont know

also China is working on a next generation medium lift plane, together these will provide China with a solid cargo plane inventory, they can also use them for platform for AWACS and mid air refuelers

currently they have to use IL76 converts for AWACS, with Y-20 they can make as many AWACS as they need

It will be until ~2020 that Y-20 will come into service in meaningful numbers, even if it flies this year. We all agree the PLA needs a more potent transport fleet, but at the moment they can make do with what they have. An addition of 3 Il-76s will be a welcome addition to the fleet, and PLA must make do with their heavy lift assets best they can around the mid 20s where y-20 and it's potential tanker, KJ derivatives can come into play. Fortunately the tactical transports are not so behind, the indigenous and fairly capable looking Y-9 should come into service within a few years. The only issue is juggling Y-9 with GX production.

currently China has 13 Il-76, lets say all 13 are ready to go, if 1 can carry say 120 paratroopers thats, 13 x 12= 1560 troops, thats like a pretty big infantry battallion , which actually isnt really that bad

considering they also have vast array of other medium cargo planes, Y-7, Y-8 and now Y-9 they can probaby drop much more troops

Russia refusal of further deliverys of IL76, 30!? or whatever it was resulted in speeding up of the Y-20, once again a blessing in disguise

kroko said:

Russia still produces them. In fact, Il-476 (improved Il-76) will fly this year.

Y20 isnt exactly around the corner. It still hasnt flew (will it fly this year?), and it will take quite some years before it enters production.

Having said that, i think china should stick with Y20. Its their product, and PLAAF doesnt have such a urgent need for transports.

Click to expand...

The plan is to fly this year, add two years of normal flight testing assuming no major problems then low rate production. That's 'around the corner' when you consider a new aircraft is an investment of easily over 20years.
With this timeline, Y20 may even get to production before Il-476.
Il-476 will surely cost more than Il-76. Another question is, is it really worth the premium ?

Just buy some C-17

or

I am sure airbus would love to sell some A400Ms.

i.e. said:

Just buy some C-17

or

I am sure airbus would love to sell some A400Ms.

Click to expand...

On the subject of import, China actually prefer *less* technically advanced for logistical reason. China can preform major refit for IL-76, for example, even to the degree of repairing cracked turbine blades -- precisely because it is less advanced. On a state-of-art aircraft, China cannot even manufacture the replacement part, much less repair it.

i don't think they prefer. they just can't get the c-17/a400, so they have to make do with what they are offered which is limited.

What I actually don't understand is, why China never cooperated on the An-70 especially in mind of the Russian Yes-No-maybe ....

Deino

Deino said:

What I actually don't understand is, why China never cooperated on the An-70 especially in mind of the Russian Yes-No-maybe ....

Deino

Click to expand...

China will buy mature, fully developed product, but will not pay for R&D -- China would rather do the R&D itself.

Since there are rumors that Y20 can carry significantly more cargo than IL76, maybe PLAAF's payload requirement simply cannot be met by even an modernized An70?