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orangegardener New Member
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ice berg, Jan 27, 2013
Escorted by a J-15 fighter and numbered â€œ20001,â€ Chinaâ€™s domestically-produced Y-20 transport aircraft successfully completed its maiden flight on Jan. 26 at the Peopleâ€™s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF)â€™s China Flight Test Establishment in Shaâ€™anxi province, remaining airborne for an hour , according to state-run media reports. In an example of selective transparency to boost pride at home and credibility abroad, domestic media were rapidly notified of the Y-20â€™s test flight (see CCTV broadcast here and here) and Chinese military enthusiasts are energetically welcoming the news.
A screenshot taken from the website of Chinese state broadcaster China Central Television shows Chinaâ€™s new military transport carrier, the Y-20, on its maiden test flight.
â€œFirst we heard about the test flight of the J-31 stealth fighter jet, then the landing and takeoff of the J-15 on our aircraft carrier, and now we embrace the birth of the Y-20,â€ the state-run English-language China Daily quoted Qu Renming, a white-collar worker in Beijing, as saying. â€œThe only concern for military fans is when can the Y-20 use our domestically developed engine and enter into service.â€
The Y-20â€™s first flight suggests that China is on the way to joining the U.S., Russia and Ukraine as the fourth nation to independently develop and fly a heavy military transport aircraft. Its development represents a meaningful step toward China being able to develop a more robust ability to project aerial power, both in the form of air transport and aerial refueling. It also offers a large airframe that could eventually provide a foundation for building airborne early warning aircraft and large air tankers capable of supporting long-range strike fighters. Finally, the Y-20 transport could eventually be exported to friendly nations, and perhaps beyond if AVIC can build and sell it for less than the cost of competitors such as the Russian IL-76. The PLAAF currently operates 20 IL-76s, and has reportedly ordered 30 more.
The Y-20 differs clearly from other heavy transport aircraft like Russiaâ€™s Il-76, Americaâ€™s C-5 and C-17, and Europeâ€™s A400M in fuselage shape, wheels and flap actuators. PLA experts quoted in a story appearing on the English-language website of the Peopleâ€™s Daily claim that the Y-20 outperforms Russiaâ€™s Il-76 and say it boasts â€œChinese characteristics in supercritical airfoils, integrated avionics, cabin equipment, composite materials and their processing.â€ The experts say the plane has three aircrew, a 15-meter height and 47-meter fuselage length, a 66-ton maximum load capacity and a maximum takeoff weight of just over 200 tons. Its capacious cargo hold can â€œcarry the vast majority of combat and support vehicles of the Chinese Peopleâ€™s Liberation Army (PLA),â€ including the PLAâ€™s heaviest tank, the 58-ton Type-99A2. It can transport them even to underdeveloped â€œairstripsâ€ thanks to its â€œstrong adaptability to [substandard] take-off and landing fields.â€ This suggests the PLA has carefully noted the ability of the U.S. C-17 to land on rough dirt airstrips and serve forward combat bases in Afghanistan.
Interestingly, two researchers at China Aerodynamics Research and Development Center asserted in 2007 that a â€œlarge transport aircraftâ€ with approximately these specifications would have â€œperformance superior to [that of the] IL-76.â€ Coupled with Xinhuaâ€™s 2008 announcement that one-third of Chinaâ€™s initial 60 billion yuan ($9.6 billion) investment in its state-prioritized large aircraft program would be for military transport aircraft, and a CCTV-7 report that the Y-20 would be unveiled by the end of 2009, this suggests that the Y-20â€™s development was long-planned. Certainly it is a long-term program.
â€œIf everything goes well, the Y-20 will have to undergo a minimum-three-year-long flight test and a minimum-five-year-long comprehensive test period,â€ the PLA experts cited on the Peopleâ€™s Daily website state. â€œTherefore, 2017 is the earliest date by which the PLA Air Force will have home-made large transport aircraft.â€ This would suggest that the 2017-20 period will see the PLA potentially taking simultaneous large-scale deliveries of the Y-20, as well as fighter jets like the J-20, and possibly the J-31, the J-15 and J-16.
The Y-20â€™s capabilities are reportedly close to those of Russiaâ€™s Il-476, with one important exception: The Y-20â€™s Russian D-30KP2 engines lack the thrust and efficiency of the Il-476â€™s PS-90A76 turbofans. In a sign that even Chinaâ€™s aviation Achillesâ€™ heel â€“ engines â€“ is now receiving major resources, China is developing a high-thrust turbofan called the WS-20 to fill this role as part of a major aeroengine resource and technology push. While progress will likely take time, reports suggest China could invest up to 300 billion yuan ($49 billion) in jet engine development by 2035. Acquisition of foreign technology and breakthroughs in recruiting foreign experts could help accelerate Chinaâ€™s jet engine development.
Financial considerations and a belief that Chinese jet engine makers are behind the Russian technical curve will likely motivate Russia to permit transfers of additional jet engines over the next 2-3 years despite the significant risk AVIC will reverse engineer key portions, if not the entire powerplant. Meanwhile, Ukrainian engineers are already readily available, and their Russian counterparts may become increasingly so as Russia moves its aviation contractor headquarters from prime city real estate near aging engineersâ€™ apartments to Zhukovsky Airfield, which lies 45 km from downtown Moscow and is a long commute even under the best of circumstances given the capitalâ€™s congested roads.
The last two years have yielded a growing body of evidence that China is enjoying significant success in simultaneously managing multiple advanced aircraft programs. At present, no other nation canâ€”or doesâ€”allocate so many personnel and financial resources so rapidly toward achieving national strategic goals.
Yet the closer China comes in capability to other advanced aviation powers, the less of a followerâ€™s advantage it will have, raising questions about how much Chinese aerospace expenditures will need to rise in order to have a chance of creating a comprehensive global aerospace power, as opposed to one that makes snazzy airframes, but struggles with critical subsystems such as the engines and electronics. To boot, getting the hardware right is only part of the challenge, since being able to employ it effectively will require millions of man-hours invested in maintenance, training and learning how to integrate platforms with each other to operate in a way that the whole is more powerful than the sum of the parts.
In short, the Y-20 is a point of national pride and a substantial breakthrough for Chinaâ€™s large aircraft programs, but to begin thinking of it as a true military advancement, we need to see a Y-20 undertake a long flight with heavy cargo, then turn around and do the same thing on a return flight. Proof of an aircraftâ€™s reliability and effectiveness lies in real objectives successfully achieved under real world conditions. A long and interesting road lies ahead for the Y-20.
ice berg, Jan 29, 2013
The Y-20â€™s capabilities are reportedly close to those of Russiaâ€™s Il-476, with one important exception: The Y-20â€™s Russian D-30KP2 engines lack the thrust and efficiency of the Il-476â€™s PS-90A76 turbofans. In a sign that even Chinaâ€™s aviation Achillesâ€™ heel â€“ engine
Armand2REP, Jan 29, 2013