Aircraft
China Confirms Y-20 Heavy Airlifter Program
This distant photo of China’s new airlifter, top, brings confirmation that the program has advanced to the hardware stage. AIN featured a CAD/CAM drawing, bottom, of the design in 2008. (Top photo: Chinese Internet)
This distant photo of China’s new airlifter, top, brings confirmation that the program has advanced to the hardware stage. AIN featured a CAD/CAM drawing, bottom, of the design in 2008. (Top photo: Chinese Internet)

China’s Ministry of National Defense has formally acknowledged development of the Y-20 military airlifter, four days after images of a prototype appeared on a Chinese Internet forum devoted to military matters. The aircraft was shown undergoing taxi tests at an airfield in Northwestern China, supposedly affiliated with the developer, Xian Aircraft Industry Group of the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (Avic), according to Chinese reports. Also at the site was a J-20 fighter jet prototype.