Xian Y-20 Kunpeng
The Xian Y-20 Kunpeng is China's first large domestically developed strategic military transport, broadly comparable in size and role to the American C-17 Globemaster III and Russian Il-76. Its development reduced China's long-standing reliance on Russian-built Il-76 transports for large-scale military airlift, a capability gap that had constrained Chinese long-range power projection for decades. Early production aircraft used Russian-supplied engines while China developed and gradually introduced its own domestically built WS-20 turbofans. It now forms the backbone of China's strategic airlift fleet, supporting everything from military deployments to humanitarian relief and, in a tanker variant, aerial refuelling.
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Did you know?
The Y-20 broke China's dependence on Russian Il-76 transports, initially flying with Russian engines before switching to domestic WS-20 turbofans.
Specifications
| Length | 47 m (154 ft) |
|---|---|
| Wingspan | 45 m (148 ft) |
| Height | 15 m (49 ft) |
| Range | 4,500 NM (8,334 km) |
| Maximum speed | 502 kt (930 km/h) |
| Service ceiling | 43,000 ft (13,106 m) |
| Engines | 4x Soloviev D-30KP-2 or WS-20 |
| Units built | 100 |
Curated by CatchFlights from manufacturer documents, ICAO Doc 8643 and reference works; values are left out where no source could confirm them. Sources are listed on our credits page.
In CatchFlights
In CatchFlights the Xian Y-20 Kunpeng starts as a Legendary catch. The tier is an editorial judgement of how special a sighting of this type is. The more often you catch it, the closer it moves to Common for you. The first catch of a legendary type pays a bonus of its own.
A catch counts for the manufacturer Xian, the Y-20 Kunpeng family and the model in your collection, and the daily Type Rating quiz asks about the types of each family.
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