Only the engines... without the counter-rotating gear .
In which PRC can reverse-engineer and then redesign to conventional rotation engine.
Chinese Aviation Industry
- Thread starter FriedRiceNSpice
- Start date
In which PRC can reverse-engineer and then redesign to conventional rotation engine.
do you think China still need those engines ?? AEP-500 large turboprop engine is existed.. successfully developed for regional small aircrafts..
Sounds like a lot of work for a turboprop. Where do you see China using this thing?
Y-20 is becoming standard Chinese lifter with most of the other roles filled by the Y-8. One is a jet aircraft and the other uses a smaller turboprop WJ-6 with the followon engine for those being the AEP500.
Excellent
Because:
1. China doesn't need a transporter version of the Tu-95 (namely the Tu-114);
2. Modifying such a complex machinery isn't as easy as it sounds; and
3. China already has the WS-20 for the Y-20 (which is actually counted as a large airlifter and in the same class as the C-17). In fact, high-bypass turbofans are actually better than turboprops for airlifters that are beyond the size of the A400M.
Now it's Y-9, not Y-8 anymore.
And hopefully, the Y-30 to succeed them both starting in the 2030s.
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you know, why i always emphasis on Y-30 project.. this project will single-handedly transform Shaanxi Aircraft Corporation. Y-30 comes in A400M class category aircraft.. they have completed R&D and waiting for PLAAF approval..
maybe at the end of this decade..
Y-9, right! Old force of habit to say Y-8.
Would love to see the Y-30. But in order for it to make sense, we would need a more powerful turboprop than the AEP500 that will power the later Y-9 variants.
So far, I haven't seen any development on that front.
single AEP-500 engine maximum thrust is 5000kw .. and this is the base variant. you can easily build more powerful variants in future.. easy task.
The new engine would have to be significantly more powerful otherwise I think the Chinese military would simply ask for more upgraded Y-9 variants with more advanced AEP500s.
Judging by the numbers of transports/AEW/EW/ASM/etc, Y-8/Y-9 must be among the most versatile design in the world.
The Y-9 and all the things it could do is probably the biggest reason why there doesn't seem to be any urgency with Y-30.
The Y-30 is a four-engine design that is supposed to fit in between Y-9 and Y-20.
But a Y-9 with four upgraded AEP-500s can eat into the same slot of the proposed Y-30.
That's true.
Though, we could be reaching (if not already) the ultimate limits of the Y-9 (considering the Y-9's lineage, which can be traced all the way back to the An-12 from the mid-Cold War). Hence, a much better, more capable and clean-sheet design will eventually be needed.
Important for sure, though may not be as urgent as replacing the Il-76s and expanding the large airlifter fleet in the PLAAF with Y-20s.
Depends.
Though, if (or more like once) the Y-30 becomes an actual thing, it will succeed the Y-9, and not fit in between the Y-9 and Y-20. In principle, we don't expect the Y-30 to be significantly way bigger than the Y-9 to warrant a seperate airlifter category of its own.