In March 2007, China officially announced that it had begun to vigorously develop the field of large aircraft, showing the world its ambition.
However, Western countries are not optimistic about China's move. They believe that China started late, and it will take a long time to achieve success in the field of aircraft building.
However, the truth was unexpected. At 1 p.m. on January 26, 2013, China successfully completed the first flight test of the Y-20, just seven years later.
How did China achieve this in just seven years? Replacing fighter jets has become a tradition in the global aircraft industry. The American F-22 is called the "Raptor", and the F-35 is called the "Lightning".
Chinese fighter jets are usually named after "Dragon", for example, the strongest flanker J-16 is called "Hidden Dragon", while the J-20 is called "Weilong", which is full of domineering.
The Y-20 is China's first 200-ton large military transport aircraft, and the R&D personnel have given it an ancient name - "Kunpeng".
The word "Kunpeng" is used in ancient mythology to describe a huge bird. Standing under the wing of the Y-20 and looking up, it seems to be looking up at the sky.
On January 29, 2024, the Chinese Air Force Bayi Air Show Team was invited to participate in the 2nd Saudi International Defense Exhibition held in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.
China sent seven J-10C fighters and one tanker. The planes managed to cross 5190Over a distance of 3 kilometers, refueling was carried out only by tankers, traversing the airspace of Pakistan and Iran before finally arriving in the Saudi capital.
The carrying capacity and flight range of the Y-20 are impressive, and it is indeed worthy of the name "Kunpeng".
However, it is interesting to note that, despite its majesty abroad, at home, the Y-20 is known as the "fat girl". At first, the title was just a nickname for scientific researchers, but as military photojournalists reported, the title gradually spread.
Military photojournalists photographed the Y-20 as an image with a big head and a big belly, and this "cuteness of contrast" attracted people's attention.
However, the "chubby girl" is not just cute, in fact, its carrying capacity is something that even the United States is afraid of. According to reports, in the years since the Y-20 was introduced, it has taken over almost all emergency disaster response missions and international humanitarian assistance missions, demonstrating its superior carrying capacity.
The carrying capacity of the Y-20 is indeed amazing, but how strong is it exactly? It may not be intuitive to simply list the data, but it is better to illustrate it with practical examples.
On April 9, 2022, six Y-20s completed their first transcontinental flight and arrived in Belgrade, Serbia, and the Serbs did not know the exact contents of the shipment.
The next day, six more Y-20 aircraft arrived in Serbia. This has aroused the concern of the United States, who claim that China's delivery to Serbia is undermining the peace between Serbia and Kosovo.
Despite the blame, this does not hide the excellent performance of the Y-20. According to Agence France-Presse, the average number of large transport planes on the Ukrainian border is only 14 per day, while China sent 12 in two days.
The Y-20 has a maximum take-off weight of 220 tons and a maximum load capacity of 66 tons, which means that it can carry a large number of personnel and equipment.
The Y-20 has a powerful powertrain and is equipped with four turbofan engines. In order to further improve performance, Chinese experts improved the turbofan-18 engine and eventually developed the turbofan-20 engine.
In 2020, the turbofan-20 was officially equipped on the Y-20, which greatly improved the performance of the Y-20.
The development of China's transport aircraft has gone through years of hard work, and this achievement demonstrates the strength of China's independent research and development.
In order to catch up with the level of advanced countries, Chinese experts have made a lot of efforts. They have adopted advanced technologies such as associative design technology, full 3D design, and digital modeling, which have greatly improved work efficiency.
Through unremitting efforts, China has successfully developed the Y-20 in a shorter time than other countries, and it has also demonstrated China's strong strength in the field of aviation.