Wouldn’t those engines be past their service life at this point. Why would anyone test a valuable prototype with 30 year old engines.
Z-20 (all variants) thread
- Thread starter delft
- Start date
https://www.sinodefenceforum.com/z-20.t6294/page-60#post-481098
Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6C-67 1 700 SHP
so same power than initialy
But after agree with Deino...
Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6C-67 1 700 SHP
so same power than initialy
But after agree with Deino...
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yuxiaochen
Junior Member
Am I seeing 2 different radar noses?Z-20 completed high altitude flight test at 3 airports with altitudes of 1k, 3k, 4k respectively, Photo taken at Xiahe airport (alt: 3189m).
It mean they have respectable engine
Not necessarily. Could be some object or person behind the nose of that helo on the right.
MwRYum
Major
According to the stuff available to the public, the embargo since 1989 just barred further purchase but not the supply of spares to keep the current fleet operational. If not they couldn't have keep the current Blackhawk fleet operational to this day.
It's not likely they'd ground their Blackhawk fleet just to part a few of its engines for the flight test. My take is that either they test flight with other existing but more readily available engine models, or with new engine model that makes the cut. Given the Z-20 has to meet the high-altitude operational requirement, I lean on the latter.
I'd say no.
But why did you not mention the more obvious difference?
The satellite antenna on 636 is extremely smaller than 635.
yuxiaochen
Junior Member
Ah, I didn't notice the difference haha, but the radar nose difference was the first thing I noticed.I'd say no.
But why did you not mention the more obvious difference?
MwRYum
Major
This is quite new and I've yet find moer than one source to vett on this, but if it's true the Z-20 is moving from flight test to service trial soon...
Spare the trouble for our non-Chinese reading members here, the summary of the article is that the Army aviation brigade of the 82nd Army Group, the 1st of army aviation outfit in PLA, is transferring out its assets of Mi-17 and Mi-171 (including the newer Mi-171E even) to other outfits in a ceremony sometime earlier. While there's no confirmation as to what newer assets they will take in, given the "pioneer status" of the outfit, the article is guessing the logical next step is to take in Z-20, pave the way for Z-20 full induction into service.
Spare the trouble for our non-Chinese reading members here, the summary of the article is that the Army aviation brigade of the 82nd Army Group, the 1st of army aviation outfit in PLA, is transferring out its assets of Mi-17 and Mi-171 (including the newer Mi-171E even) to other outfits in a ceremony sometime earlier. While there's no confirmation as to what newer assets they will take in, given the "pioneer status" of the outfit, the article is guessing the logical next step is to take in Z-20, pave the way for Z-20 full induction into service.
In all likelihood, z20 project was initiated by the army, as they felt they needed a new chopper. PLAN may have looked at it but it seems they weren't interested, at least at first. Maybe they think they don't need such a helo quickly and maybe they're waiting for z20 to enter service to assess it better. Or perhaps they were hoping to wait for both z20 and z15 to be ready for production and then make a decision. Either way, it doesn't seem likely we'll see any new medium class naval helo enter service for the next several years.