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 burned 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 fuselage and wing structure is completely new, instead of using the old Y-8 design.
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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 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 its engineering team, forcing Beijing to disassemble and reverse engineer the An-12 aircraft to produce them itself, resulting in 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 an ambulance mission, it can carry 60 seriously wounded soldiers with stretchers, 20 lightly wounded soldiers and three medical personnel. Its large payload 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 occurred on June 7, 2017, when a Myanmar Air Force Y-8F-200 crashed, killing all 122 people on board. In June 2006, a Chinese Air Force KJ-200 airborne early warning aircraft, developed on the Y-8 airframe, crashed in Anhui Province, killing all 40 people on board.
