A new military transport aircraft has been sighted in the skies above China, one that appears to be at least partially inspired by the Airbus Defence & Space A400M.
Images of the new airlifter in flight began circulating on Chinese social media channels on 16 December, with the design believed to be the AVIC Y-30.
Few details have been officially confirmed about the new four-engined platform, which appears to fall in between the Shaanxi Y-9 tactical transport and the heavy-lift Xian Y-20 strategic airlifter in size.
Development of the Y-30 has been teased as far back as 2014, when a model of the new transport was displayed at the Zhuhai air show pavilion of the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China.
The People’s Daily, which is the official newspaper of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, at the time described the Y-30 as a “a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft”.
A future operational designation for the new type of “Y-15” has been suggested by some China watchers, in reference to the Y-30’s position in between the existing Y-9 and Y-20 platforms.
Although only poor quality photos of the new type have so far emerged, several design features are apparent, including a T-shaped tail, winglets and an overwing supporting four turboprop engines.
That wing notably lacks the sweep of the A400M. As for the engines, on-line speculation suggests they are a new powerplant, possibly designated WJ-10. The engine is understood to be closely related to the AEP500, the domestic powerplant developed for the MA700 twin-turboprop airliner.
Enhanced images of the Y-30 flight generated by running the low-quality footage through AI software show a rear-facing cargo ramp and side-mounted troop doors in the rear fuselage, which could be used to rapidly drop paratroopers. However, the accuracy of those images is questionable at best.
Beijing has not yet made formal acknowledgement of the Y-30 flight, which comes admid a blitz of year-end developments in Chinese aerospace.
In the past week, China has logged first flights for multiple new designs, including the Jetank/Jiutian multi-role uncrewed aerial vehicle and the tailless CH-7 uncrewed long-range reconnaissance jet.
China made an even larger splash at the conclusion of 2024, when authorities revealed the existence of two experimental crewed tactical jets, since dubbed the J-36 and J-50/J-XDS.
The US Air Force has described the two tailless designs as sixth-generation air superiority fighters.
