China's First Heavy Transporter Y-20 Takes Off

[Skull and Bones]

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It may have better aerodynamics than Il-76.

Not denying it, but don't you think if substantial lift was viable then Russians would already have exploited it?

[grond]

4 engine of Il-76 produces a thrust of 171 KN each.

Why do you think the tail wing is that big ? Slower transports make easier targets, but that said the Chinese effort is commendable...

[Skull and Bones]

Why do you think the tail wing is that big ? Slower transports make easier targets, but that said the Chinese effort is commendable...

Easy targets for what? IR seeker or Active radar seeker missile?

As in wartime scenario, they'll operate deep inside their stronghold territory. And IR seeking MANPADS can be fooled easily with flares.

[grond]

Anything , it is easier to hit a truck than a Ferrari...
I am sure it will have countermeasures but still how effective will it be against sustained attack....

[Firemaster]

Not denying it, but don't you think if substantial lift was viable then Russians would already have exploited it?

Il-76 was made in 70s but y20 designers can use modern CFD simulations on their supercomputers.
China might have got an uprated engine IMO.

[Skull and Bones]

Il-76 was made in 70s but y20 designers can use modern CFD simulations on their supercomputers.
China might have got an uprated engine IMO.

As always, engine for Y-20 is in development. While their IL-476 hit the production line earlier last year, it featured few external and avionics development, they could have exploited higher lift modifications if it was viable.

[Firemaster]

As always, engine for Y-20 is in development. While their IL-476 hit the production line earlier last year, it featured few external and avionics development, they could have exploited higher lift modifications if it was viable.

I am not saying that all improvement is due to Aerodynamics but if it is true that it have this much MTOW then Improved aerodynamics must be a significant part of it. An uprated D-30 can't be denied.

[karan2]

You guys got sourced here. :)

China's New Y-20 Heavy Transport Jet Takes First Flight

[G777]

Chinese Invasion Imminent!!!!

Get me the Prime Minister

Oh wait, we wont be invaded first

[MiG-23MLD]

[MiG-23MLD]

China began test flights Saturday for the prototype of its first indigenously-developed heavy transport aircraft, Y-20, a craft similar in size to the Russian IL-76 and somewhat smaller than the U.S. C-17.
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Voice of Russia” said yesterday: According to the photo of Y-20 prototype posted on the Internet, compared with Russian Il-76, there have been great improvements in Y-20.



Vasily Kashin, director of Russian Strategic Analysis and TechnologyCenter, says that obtaining more military transport aircrafts is not only for military purpose, but also required by the continuous increase in China’s global influence.



However, mil.huanqiu.com’s commentary yesterday said, “With 100 Y-20s China may conduct express transport of its forces to Europe and Africa. For example, it will be able to send 5 mechanized divisions to Greece or Sudan in a week or 15 airborne divisions to Japan’s six major cities in three days. However, China shall have 300 Y-20s if it wants to have a strategic transport capacity close to that of the US.”



Obviously, military aid to Iran, airborne attack of Japan and competition with the US are in the mind of Chinese military experts.



Chinese media for a few times quoted Russian media’s analysts as saying “China sees itself in the remote future as a military superpower equal to and even in some areas surpassing the United States.”



“Voice of Russia” points out: China began research and development for heavy military transport aircrafts in the 1990s, but did not make much progress for a long time.



In 2006, the project was included in China’s medium- and long-term science and development plan.



According to Chinese media, when Premier Wen Jiabao visited Xian Aircraft Corporation in May 2008, he stressed the importance of the plan on heavy transport. In addition, Chinese media said that the aircraft had to conduct its maiden flight in 2012.



Antonov Aeronautical Scientific/Technical Complex, the major research and development institute for the transports of Soviet air force, has provided much assistance in the course of the development of Y-20 transport. As a result, Y-20 is much better than Il-76.


However, as it takes time to complete various tests before final commencement of production, China still has to buy some new-type Il-76s. Besides, China has already bought some second-hand Il-76s from Russia and some other members of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Ukrainian Antonov

[MiG-23MLD]

ANTK Antonov said the wishes expressed by the Chinese could be accommodated. By early 2007 it had set up a new VTL (Heavy Transport Aircraft) working group, which was soon given the green light to start developing a heavy transport using the existing designs for the An-77, a turbojet version of the An-70, which had earlier been put on hold. (Officially, however, ANTK Antonov, which is the head company of the Antonov State Enterprise, is merely providing advice and consultation to the team designing the new aircraft.) The take-off weight of the aircraft was increased from 132 tonnes to 187 tonnes, and its maximum payload went up from 47 to 50 tonnes. (The volume of the cargo bay was increased by adding a 2-meter insert in the airframe in front of the center-wing section.) The original An-77 design relied on four CFM56-5A16 bypass turbofan engines; these were replaced by four D-30KP-2 bypass turbofan engines in the Y-20. The aircraft retained its ability to take-off and land using short landing strips, although the take-off length went up to 900m. (The solution for increasing the thrust is the same as the one used in the An-77. It was first introduced in the C-17A Globemaster III and boils down to directing the exhaust jet of the bypass turbofan engine at the high-lift flaps. In the An-70 extra lift is achieved by using the SV-27 propfan, which sits on the D-27 engines shaft, to blow a stream of air at the wing.)

Work on this design, which was initially designated as the Y-XX, continued for three years. It is widely believed that first information about the Y-XX, which by that time had been re-designated as the Y-20, was published on December 23, 2009 by the China Military Aviation portal. The report referred to the Y-20 military transport being developed in China by Xian Aircraft Industrial (Group) Corporation. In actual fact, however, first news about the project appeared on the discussion boards of Russian aerospace news websites almost a year before the article on the China Military Aviation website - namely, in the autumn of 2008. When the new aircraft was declassified in that article, its specifications were still very similar to those of the Il-76, with a maximum take-off weight of 200 tonnes and a maximum payload of 50 tonnes. The prototypes and the first mass-produced aircraft were expected to be fitted with the Russian D-30KP-2 engines. The later versions of the Y-20 were to be equipped with the Chinese clone of that engine, the WS-18, or its WS-118 modification. The first Y-20 prototype was slated to take to the air in 2012.7

But serious changes were made to the Y-20 design in 2010. The reason for that is thought to have been the entry into service with the Chinese army of the Type 99-IIA main battle tank, also known as the Type 99A2. The combat weight of this tank, which has many similarities to Germanys Leopard IIA6, is 58 tonnes.8 That has translated into greater payload requirements for the Y-20, which is still expected to be able to carry even the heaviest tanks now in service with the Chinese Army. As a result the whole project has switched to a different underlying design by ANTK Antonov, the An-170, which is another variation of the An-70. The An-170 is a heavy operational-strategic transport which Antonov worked on in the late 1980s - early 1990s. The project was in competition with the Il-106, a rival design by the Ilyushin Bureau. The Il-106 was announced the winner by the Soviet authorities, but owing to the crisis which ensued after the break-up of the Soviet Union neither aircraft went into production. The An-170 is much larger and heavier than the An-70, with a take-off weight of 230 tonnes and a maximum payload of 60 tonnes. Another difference is the »regular» wing profile of the An-170, whereas the An-70 uses the so-called «supercritical» profile. The latest version of the Y-20 project still relies on the four D-30KP-2 bypass turbofan engines. Naturally, this means that the excellent short take-off and landing specifications of the original design are now out of the question- but there is every reason to believe that these specifications are still fairly good by normal standards.

Development of the Y-20 appears to be nearing completion, although the deadline for the maiden flight of the first prototype may still be pushed back a little. In a press release of May 12, 2011 XAIC confidently promised that the aircraft would take to the air before the XVIII Congress of the Communist Party of China, which is scheduled for later this year. But that press release was later removed from the companys official website.9

The Y-20 project has given a new lease of life to the D-30KP engine, which is made in Rybinsk for the Il-76 aircraft. (The version in production since 1982 is the D-30KP-2, which can maintain its thrust specifications at higher surrounding air temperatures.) Despite its venerable age, the engine, which was launched in 1963, still remains in production thanks to Chinese custom. According to the press service of NPO Saturn, a contract between Rosoboronexport and China for 55 D-30KP-2 engines, to be delivered by 2012, entered into force in April 2009. The first batch was delivered to the customer in November 2009, another thee batches followed in March-October 2010, and the final fifth batch of 11 engines was delivered in March 2011. Although these five batches are sufficient to fit almost all the Il-76 aircraft currently in service in China with new engines, the Chinese have recently placed an even larger order. In late 2011 they signed a contract with NPO Saturn for 184 new D-30KM-2 engines, to be delivered over four years.10 Beijing is not saying what it needs those engines for - but it seems clear that most if not all of them will be installed on the Y-20 transportsChina's Y-20 Heavy Operational-Strategic Transport: A Hybrid Of An-170, An-77 And Il-

[MiG-23MLD]

http://i.imgur.com/wjvuCKp.jpg

[MiG-23MLD]

[G777]

How many of these will be built? Does anyone know?