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China’s military
ChinaMilitary

How a Chinese aerospace giant rethought aircraft design to create the Y-20 transporter

  • Avic pooled the minds of its many subsidiaries to develop the country’s biggest plane of its kind
  • The results could feed into the next generation of early-warning aircraft, analysts say

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Avic drew on several wings of its organisation to develop the Y-20. Photo: CCTV
Minnie Chan
A Chinese defence conglomerate took a new tack to create the country’s biggest military transport plane, opting to pool design and production input from various subsidiaries rather than relying on just one, according to state media.
Aerospace juggernaut Aviation Industry Corporation of China (Avic) enlisted several of its subsidiaries to design and develop the Y-20 transporter more than a decade ago, with Xian Aircraft Industry Corporation (XAIC) taking the lead in the project, state broadcaster CCTV reported last week.

In the past, design, development and production of aircraft in China had been assigned to one entity.

“[All of the aircraft companies] of the country were mobilised to complete the Y-20 project,” Han Xianli, former office director of Avic’s heavy transport aircraft, told CCTV.

“The project was developed under a joint cooperation system to bring together all the key technologies in our country’s aviation industry.”

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The Y-20 made its maiden flight in 2013 and was handed over to the People’s Liberation Army in 2016, eight years after the project was launched. That compares with the 14-year development time for the American C-17 air freighter and 11 years for the Russian Il-76, according to CCTV.

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