On 3 April, in order to alleviate the food shortage in Cuba, the Chinese Government provided Cuba with a batch of aid materials to meet Cuba's urgent needs.
Due to the urgency of the situation, we did not send the supplies by sea, but arrived in Havana by air.
The Boeing-747 flight of Air China carried out this transport mission, and some people questioned why we did not use the Y-20 that we already served.
Air China's Boeing 747
The Y-20, codenamed Kunpeng, is a new generation of military large transport aircraft researched and manufactured by China, which successfully made its maiden flight on January 26, 2013.
As a large multi-purpose transport aircraft, the Y-20 is a huge breakthrough in the field of military transport aircraft for the mainland, which can carry out long-distance air transportation tasks of various materials and personnel under complex meteorological conditions.
In particular, compared with the Russian-made Il-76 currently in service in the Air Force, the Y-20 has been greatly improved in terms of engines and electronic equipment, and has the advantages of large load capacity and excellent take-off and landing performance on short runways.
Y-20
Since its entry into service, the Y-20 has carried out a large number of external transportation work.
The most recent foreign operation was on March 31, when our army went to Moscow to participate in the 2024 "March on the Sayan Ridge" snow combat exercise, an international military competition hosted by Russia.
In this exercise, all the equipment and personnel of our army were transported to Russia by the Y-20, and the performance was very good.
However, the Y-20 did not participate in this operation in support of Cuba for two main reasons.
First, the nature of the current support to Cuba is international assistance, and it is not suitable for transportation by military aircraft. And the cargo transported is only some food and supplies, and civilian airliners are fully competent.
Second, Cuba is too far away from China.
Cuba is located in the Western Hemisphere, and the distance between Cuba and the mainland in a straight line is more than 13,000 kilometers, far exceeding the maximum range of the Y-20 (the maximum range of the Y-20 is about 8,000 kilometers).
If the Dispatch-20 is on a mission, it needs to land and refuel halfway.
However, the procedures for military planes to enter other countries are very complicated, and various kinds of coordination are required, which is very inconvenient and delays time.
In comparison, the Boeing-747 has a maximum range of 13,000-14,000 kilometers and can reach Cuba directly if well prepared.
Even for the sake of insurance, if you have to land in a third country for refueling during the flight, it is easier to report and coordinate the identity of the civil flight.
Therefore, in this operation to support Cuba, our side still chose a civilian airliner to carry out the mission.