China's transport, tanker & heavy lift aircraft

new photo

Yepp ... Just received a hint from a friend that the flight might be tomorrow.

Some on Chinese forums are saying this was a high-speed taxi test. I guess first flight should take place within a few days.

Amazing pics!

Another milestone in the aviation sector in China, will make front page on all major magazines

Can't wait till it flys and we bet some close up shots of the details, refuelling probe would be great addition

While we all waiting with anticipation the first flight of Y 20 , the news from Moscow said that all 10 refurbished Il-75MD has been delivered to China giving a much needed boost to woefully inadequate long range cargo plane capacity.

So anybody has headcount on the total number of Il76 plane that China own? 30 maybe now. Here is the news

Il-76MD Transport Plane Delivered to China
25 January 2013 | Issue 5054
The Moscow Times

Rosoboronexport and the Ilyushin Aviation Company have shipped the first of 10 used Il-76MD military transport planes ordered by China in 2010, a source in the defense industry told Interfax on Friday.

The sale contract is for planes that have already been in operation in various security organizations and civil airline companies, the source said.

"Before delivery to China, all the planes go through the necessary repairs and updates, and they're also repainted in white and blue," he said.

Rosoboronexport acquired the planes meant for China from overseas operators as well as Russian ones. Two such planes came from the Belarus air force while another three were purchased from the Belarussian airline Transaviaeksport.

The IL-76 is able to carry a payload of 40 tons over a range of 5,000 kilometers in less than six hours.

Read more:
The Moscow Times

Engineer said:

Some on Chinese forums are saying this was a high-speed taxi test. I guess first flight should take place within a few days.

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IMHO this is very significant. While heavy transports are never as sexy nor do they garner as much interest as Mach 2 stealth birds, truth is they are every bit as significant and important in the tactical and strategic initiatives of any country's air force. The fact that China can now produce their own 'heavies' (ok most of it) is another sign of the leaps and bounds made in the field of military aviation. The only archiles heel is in their domestic turbofan development but as we all know the R&D there is going full speed ahead as well and I think it's only a matter of a short time before they become competent and comfortable in the art and science of jet engines development.

While their stages of innovation and development is not at par with the US yet at this point, the fact remains that they are very methodical in their approach and their efforts in ALL fields of military aviation is obvious. I say give them a decade or two at the very most and it's very likely China can truly claim 100% domestic expertise in all the major fields of military aircraft development from materials science to electronics and jet engines ranging from small to big birdies AND the ability to produce them locally in significant numbers.

The ONLY country that can truly claim that today and in the forseeable future is the US. The old Soviet union used to but since the breakup of the USSR they have lacked behind and have never caught up.

China had delivered 14 IL-76MD aircraft Serials B-4030-4043

4 of these were converted to KJ-2000 AWACS serials 30071-30074 that leaves 10 for transport

In 2012, 3 more IL-76MD were delivered

And now we have 10 more delivered

So that is 10+3+10 total 23 IL-76MD for transports and that provides China with a very good transport fleet, enough to drop a entire airborne regiment

Added to that now modern Y-8, Y-9 and soon Y-20 finally China may have solved its transport problems

Is it just me, or do the pictures seem to show the Y-20 with yellow fuselage one moment, and green/blue fuselage (composites?) the next? It's probably just lighting, if there were two Y-20s within such close proximity of each other we'd hear the screaming chatter, and one doesn't just change panels on a plane like that within so many few minutes.

Also, the nose of the plane really does look unique among large transports, from this angle. Doesn't look like C-17/A400M/XC-2, and definitely ain't a An-70 or Il-76 either.

Bltizo said:

Is it just me, or do the pictures seem to show the Y-20 with yellow fuselage one moment, and green/blue fuselage (composites?) the next? It's probably just lighting, if there were two Y-20s within such close proximity of each other we'd hear the screaming chatter, and one doesn't just change panels on a plane like that within so many few minutes.

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Nah, just the angle to the sunlight that's all.

Front view. May make public flight today, many say it has flown before this.