New Chinese Y-20 Cargo Plane Can Transport T99 tanks for Amphibious Assault

Video Above: China’s Growing Nuclear Arsenal

By Kris Osborn – President & Editor-In-Chief, Warrior Maven

The People’s Liberation Army Air Force is showcasing its now delivered new Y-20 Cargo plane, a C-17-like transport plane reportedly engineered to support large-vehicle, personnel and weapons transport in support of an amphibious attack.

Y-20 Cargo Plane

With the arrival of the Y-20, The People’s Liberation Army will soon be able to airlift full-scale Chinese Main Battle Tanks on board an upgraded Y-20 cargo plane, an aircraft now being outfitted with a first-of-its-kind domestically built engine.

A new WS-20 equipped Y-20 would, according to the Chinese-government backed Global Times newspaper, be able to operate with much more thrust and fuel as well as be able to take off and land on shorter runways. An increased ability to operate in more austere circumstances certainly increases the tactical scenarios in which a Y-20 could help deploy troops, equipment, supplies, weapons and even large platforms such as tanks.

The new plane can reportedly air-transport China’s T99 main-battle tank, a possibility which greatly exacerbates current threats to Taiwan. The aircraft is emerging at a European Airshow in Austria called Airpower22, as reported in the Chinese government-backed Global Times newspaper.

An ability to transport a Type T99 main battle tank would be massively significant to any kind of ground war effort, especially since the U.S. Army M1Abrams tanks need to deploy overseas by boat. Air deployment of a massive tank exponentially decreases deployment attack timelines and would enable a heavy mechanized force to strike on a vastly different timetable.