The Chinese military plane that just crashed could be an electronic intelligence plane.
Signs at the scene show that the plane that crashed in Guizhou province was a Y-8G electronic intelligence aircraft of the Chinese Air Force.
Accident scene in Guizhou province
China's Air Force said yesterday that a military aircraft crashed during a training flight in Suiyang County, Guizhou Province, southwest of the country. Beijing did not disclose the type of aircraft or casualties, but based on traces at the scene, experts said it could be a Y-8G signals and electronic intelligence (SIGINT/ELINT) aircraft, according toAviation Analysis.
The size and shape of the plane that was broken and on fire at the scene were similar to the Y-8G aircraft in service with the Chinese Air Force. The area where the plane crashed was also located near the base of the 20th Special 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 performing jamming, signal reconnaissance and battlefield command tasks. The top of the vertical tail is equipped with an antenna. The Y-8G's fuselage and wing structure is completely new, instead of using the old Y-8 design.
|
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 bought a number of An-12 aircraft from the Soviet Union with a license to assemble them domestically. However, political conflicts later caused Moscow to withdraw all its technical staff, forcing Beijing to disassemble and reverse engineer the An-12 aircraft to produce them itself, giving birth to the Y-8 model in 1972.
The Y-8 transport aircraft has four propeller engines and can carry 20 tons of cargo, equivalent to 96 infantrymen or 82 fully equipped paratroopers. When performing ambulance missions, the aircraft can carry 60 seriously wounded soldiers with stretchers, 20 lightly wounded soldiers and three medical personnel. Its large capacity allows the Y-8 to become the basis for many other Chinese aircraft models, such as anti-submarine, 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.
