As the number of domestically produced Y-20 transport aircraft has begun to take advantage, China is also using the Y-20 strategic transport aircraft in a large number of transport operations, which is a route test for the Y-20 pilots on the one hand, and a demonstration of the Y-20 transport aircraft on the other hand. According to the information obtained by the War Research Institute, when the PLA soldiers went to Moscow, the capital of Russia, to participate in international military competitions recently, they had already used a Y-20 strategic transport plane, in addition, in the mission of returning the remains of the volunteers, the Y-20 was repeatedly escorted back to Shenyang by the J-20 stealth fighter plane, but in the recent information reported by the media, it was pointed out that when China was transporting rice to Cuba, China did not use the Y-20 strategic transport plane, but used the American-made cargo plane. As a country far away in the Americas, if China uses the Y-20 strategic transport aircraft to transport rice to Cuba, it must be a very good opportunity to showcase, but today's Y-20 transport aircraft does not have this strength.
According to media reports, the emergency food aid provided by China to Cuba arrived in Havana, Cuba by air, and the first batch of supplies included 68 tons of rice, and it is planned to complete the delivery of six batches of 408 tons of rice this month. Judging from the weight of the rice transported this time, it has reached a full 68 tons, which has exceeded the maximum carrying capacity of the Y-20 strategic transport aircraft at this stage. Since the vast majority of the Y-20 transport aircraft still use the Russian-made D30 turbofan engine, the carrying strength of the Y-20 strategic transport aircraft is not much higher than that of the Russian-made Il-76 transport aircraft, and only after the replacement of the domestic turbofan 20 engine will there be a significant improvement, and catch up with and surpass the American-made C-17 strategic transport aircraft.
The design of the Y-20 transport aircraft for the central wing box also means that the Y-20 transport aircraft can complete the loading of more cargo and the carrying of larger cargo sizes, but the engine is still a hard wound for the Y-20 transport aircraft at this stage, but the domestic turbofan 20 version of the Y-20 transport aircraft has shown signs that a large number of test flights have been carried out and began to serve in the Air Force Aviation Corps, but the turbofan 20 version of the Y-20 transport aircraft has not yet been publicly demonstrated. Compared with the American-made Boeing 747 freighter, today's Y-20 transport aircraft still has some insufficient carrying capacity, of course, when transporting some special cargo, due to the size of the cargo hold of the Y-20 aircraft, the Y-20 aircraft still has advantages.
The number of Russian strategic transport aircraft is already declining, and the existing Il-76 transport aircraft are getting worse and worse. Russia has recently restarted a Soviet-era An-124 transport aircraft, although its carrying capacity is much larger than that of the Y-20 transport aircraft, but since its birth, this aircraft has been in flight service for a considerable period of time, and at the same time has been mothballed in the aircraft cemetery for 25 years, and its condition has deteriorated very seriously. Now Russia wants to restore the airworthiness of this aircraft, and the war research institute believes that this may also cause trouble for a period of time in the future.
Now Russia in the field of strategic transport aircraft is a headache, but Russia is not willing to bow to China, the war research believes that I am afraid that Russia is not bowing to China is also the right choice, after all, the current strength of the Y-20 strategic transport aircraft still needs to be improved, although it is a new transport aircraft, and has a more obvious late-mover advantage, but the current stage of the Y-20 transport aircraft still has a lot of performance worth improving. Text/Iris