Both sides are striving for independence in military matters, Russia to maintain theirs and China to gain it. As others have pointed out this rather limits the potential scope, more so for some decisions taken on the Russian side over the past 10 or 20 years.
For example, airframe-wise the clean-sheet Y-20 is a much better stab at a modern medium jet transport than the re-engined Il-76 but is hamstrung by its outdated engines. A joint design with Russia contributing PS-90A engines (which are much more competitive and would take a lot of pressure out of the WS-20 schedule), support in airframe design such as a more advanced flap system and a MAWS/DIRCM suite would have been a good deal for both sides. From Russia’s point of view buying Ukraine out of the An-70 and An-124 in a similar manner to how they now cut Uzbekistan out of Il-76 production could have been even better, but would probably have been very difficult to achieve diplomatically.
For the tanker role the CR929 is a prospect, but a rather distant one. It won’t fly until 2025ish at the earliest with civilian EIS in 2027 or later, a tanker conversion programme is complicated by the carbon fibre wings and Western equipment that is not scheduled to be replaced until later. It is difficult to envisage such a tanker becoming available in numbers before 15 years from now, so both sides need another solution to bridge this considerable gap and the Il-96 fits the bill perfectly. As wilhelm notes, while it is not competitive as an airliner (never was, like the MD-11 which has comparable capabilities), neither is the 767 nowadays and it still makes a decent refueling platform. In fact, such a tanker might already be a reality but for the stupid decision-making on the Il-76 explained above – compared to the An-70, the Il-76 looked so bad that it took commonality with tanker and AEW fleet to make a half-decent argument for it, leaving Russia with inferior solutions for all tasks.
The situation is similar for AWACS, but Russia having failed to adopt the Il-96 in the mid-2000s for the same reasons why it did not become the basis for a tanker, it is now too big really. A good AEW system can be hosted on a smaller, cheaper narrow-body today and still deliver good endurance, making the Tu-214 the prime candidate (apparently migrating the A-100 to that platform from the Il-76 is under consideration). With the C919 and MS-21 similar issues to the CR929 arise, and a MPA is subject to the same size considerations as AEW.
Outside aerospace, I think a somewhat shortened derivative (say, 37000t?) of the PLAN’s new Type 901 replenishment ship would be a good fit for the Russian Northern & Pacific Fleets (for the Baltic and Black, that new 14000t oiler Russia recently built is probably adequate).
Oh, and as far as JSR is concerned: Ignore List, Deino! Trust me, it helps.
you’re the most normal reply so far as Deino and JSR are on the same side.
so from all the intelligent replies here
joint Communist force would benefit the most from:
Y-20 but with Russian engines
AWACS based on MS-21 using a balance beam
MPA based on MS-21
larger tanker and AWACS based on C919 whenever it arises
until then Il-96M
J-31 for carrier ops on both sides, but needs new Russian engines
New Russian Shpurm Carrier for both
Chinese catapult on Shpurm Carrier
joint project for An-24 replacement
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