China Confirms Y-20 Heavy Airlifter Program
AIN Defense Perspective » January 4, 2013
This distant photo of China’s new airlifter, top, brings confirmation that the program has advanced to the hardware stage. AIN featured a CAD/CAM drawing, bottom, of the design in 2008. (Top photo: Chinese Internet)
January 4, 2013, 10:40 AM
China’s Ministry of National Defense has formally acknowledged development of the Y-20 military airlifter, four days after images of a prototype appeared on a Chinese Internet forum devoted to military matters. The aircraft was shown undergoing taxi tests at an airfield in Northwestern China, supposedly affiliated with the developer, Xian Aircraft Industry Group of the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (Avic), according to Chinese reports. Also at the site was a J-20 fighter jet prototype.
Two Y-20 prototypes have been produced to date, one for flight-testing and the other for static tests. The Y-20 is a four-engine turbofan designed as a strategic airlifter and is controversially similar in configuration to the Boeing C-17. In February 2008, Greg Chung, an American citizen of Chinese origin who had worked for Boeing in southern California as a stress analyst, was charged with passing aerospace trade secrets, including those involving the C-17 program, to China. That same month, AIN published a CAD/CAM drawing of the Y-20 design, taken from a video promoting Avic, that Western analysts had previously overlooked. In 2010 Chung was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Two Y-20 prototypes have been produced to date, one for flight-testing and the other for static tests. The Y-20 is a four-engine turbofan designed as a strategic airlifter and is controversially similar in configuration to the Boeing C-17. In February 2008, Greg Chung, an American citizen of Chinese origin who had worked for Boeing in southern California as a stress analyst, was charged with passing aerospace trade secrets, including those involving the C-17 program, to China. That same month, AIN published a CAD/CAM drawing of the Y-20 design, taken from a video promoting Avic, that Western analysts had previously overlooked. In 2010 Chung was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
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