Hui Tong puts it between Kh-31 and Kh-41 in terms of size. Mach 2.5 – 3.5, 150 – 300 km depending on flight profile.

So its less than the early speculation of 400 km @ Mach 4, but high time this thing has showed up. Otherwise PLAN ASCM were limited to YJ-62, YJ-83 series.

Interesting that he puts that as the specs. It was heavily circulated that YJ-12 was known as the “4, 4” missile, as in Mach 4 speed and 400 km range… Hmmmmm. I also doubt that J-15 can only carry one when JH-7B can carry two, even though the flanker is a far better strike platform. Interesting that he doesn’t mention J-16 either, I’d imagine J-16/15 should’ve at least be able to carry three.

“　The Y-20 not only outperforms Il-76”

I am not the one flaming.
This chest-beating article on the other hand….

It’s quite rare to get such relatively official specs on such an important plane still under early development.

Don’t take it as an affront to the Il-76. Considering Il-76MD has been the PLA’s only large transport for so many years past, the fact that they’re on the way to develop a successor with greater performance should be worth pointing out (and they do mention the engine deficiency of D-30 vs PS-90)

The phrasing could be better and it’s obviously aimed to instill some level of pride (it’s in the china youth daily for crying out loud. “carries dreams and expectations of millions of chinese people”…), but that doesn’t make the numbers any less valid at this stage.
Although it’s interesting we’re getting this from 2nd Arty rather than say, the air force.

EDIT: Is the purported payload based on current D30 engines or is it the design payload for ‘final’ engines?

That’s the big question isn’t it? I think Y-20 will be hard pressed to haul 66 tons with D30s, unless they significantly sacrifice short take off performance.

The most striking feature is the all moving tail surfaces that are so similar to the Sukhoi layout and functions.

The only similarity between the J-20 and T-50 tails are that they are “all moving”… the shape of the tail, the point where the tail actually rotates (and the front root of the tail which doesn’t rotate!) is completely different. J-20’s all moving tail actually more resembles F-117’s configuration.

Incidentally, T-50’s all moving tail mechanism more resembles YF-23’s… not implying anyone of copying anyone else, of course.

From what I’ve heard YJ-12 is only high supersonic.

As much as his usual drivel is nonsense, he actually does (accidentally, no doubt) hit the nail on the head here. It is hard to tell from such poor quality photographs, but it looks like the fuselage cross section (and therefore cargo hold dimensions) are significantly larger than on the Il-476, perhaps based on the An-70. Similarly, I would be very surprised to learn that they did not put a supercritical wing on it, given how much of a departure from the Il-76 it obviously represents. All in all, that would mean (barring unforeseen design defects) that the obsolete engines are the ONLY thing preventing this aircraft from completely outclassing the Il-476 – and we all know it’s a matter of when, not if, the power plants will change.

The frustrating thing about this (from a Russian perspective) is that putting themselves into this position was wholly unnecessary – a combination of An-70s and An-124s renders the Il-476 completely redundant. Not to mention that Ilyushin would have been perfectly capable of designing a competitive airframe – they deliberately chose not to and will now possibly have to bear the consequences (irrelevance on the export market). A colossal waste of time, money and talent.

Fortunately for the Russians, it will be a while before Y-20 finishes testing, not to mention the new high bypass WS-10, (I doubt the Russians will allow Y-20 to be exported with their engines) as well as the (hopefully) large order of this plane which the PLA places with hXAC probably unable to keep up a high production rate for both internal and external demand.

But in terms of the maximum achievable performance for Y-20 in the most important aspect for transporters (carrying capacity), it appears that it’s fuselage is larger and wider than that of Il-76 and engines for the moment will be the only limitation

:O

Well, that settles is then …probably they were working on 2002 ever since the rumour about it leaving to Yangliang.:)

Well we’ve had pictures of 2002 come out after the rumour it was at yanliang…

Anyway, I’m interested for closer up shots of the nose. There was definitely some work done there, apart from the radome (and yes I am talking about the EODAS )