The recently crashed Chinese military aircraft may have been an electronic intelligence plane.
Evidence from the crash site indicates that the aircraft involved in the incident in Guizhou province was a Y-8G electronic intelligence aircraft of the Chinese Air Force.
The scene of the accident in Guizhou province.
The Chinese Air Force announced yesterday that a military aircraft crashed during a training flight in Suiyang County, Guizhou Province, in southwestern China. Beijing did not specify the type of aircraft or casualties, but based on evidence at the crash site, experts believe it may have been a Y-8G electronic intelligence/signaling (SIGINT/ELINT) aircraft.child issues.
The size and shape of the wrecked and burning aircraft at the scene are similar to the Y-8G aircraft in service with the Chinese Air Force. The crash site is also near the base of the 20th Special Forces Air Division, the unit that operates the Y-8G squadron.
The Y-8G is a modernized variant of the Y-8F-200 transport aircraft, part of the Y-8GX3 project developed by Shaanxi Aircraft Corporation. The aircraft is equipped with a series of sensor clusters behind the cockpit, specializing in jamming, signal reconnaissance, and battlefield command. An antenna is mounted on the tip of the vertical tail fin. The Y-8G's fuselage and wing structure are entirely new, replacing the design of the older Y-8.
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Y-8G electronic warfare and signals intelligence aircraft. Photo:Sina. |
The Y-8 itself is an unauthorized copy of the Soviet An-12 transport aircraft. In the 1960s, China purchased several An-12 aircraft from the Soviet Union along with a license to assemble them domestically. However, subsequent political conflicts led Moscow to withdraw its technical staff, forcing Beijing to disassemble and reverse-copy the An-12 aircraft to produce the Y-8 domestically in 1972.
The Y-8 transport aircraft has four propeller engines and is capable of carrying 20 tons of cargo, equivalent to 96 fully equipped infantry soldiers or 82 paratroopers. When performing medical evacuation missions, the aircraft can carry 60 seriously wounded soldiers on stretchers, 20 lightly wounded soldiers, and three medical personnel. This large payload capacity allows the Y-8 to become the platform for many other Chinese aircraft models, such as anti-submarine warfare, reconnaissance, and early warning aircraft.
The most serious accident involving the Y-8 series occurred on June 7, 2017, when a Myanmar Air Force Y-8F-200 crashed, killing 122 people on board. In June 2006, a Chinese Air Force KJ-200 early warning aircraft, developed on the Y-8 airframe, also crashed in Anhui province, killing 40 people on board.
