Shaanxi Y-8 (Yunshuji-8)

Medium-Lift Transport Aircraft [ 1981 ]

First flying in 1974, the PLA Air Force still makes use of the An-12-based Shaanxi Y-8 turboprop-powered transport.

Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 07/06/2020 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site.

Image from the Chinese Ministry of Defense.

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Because of the one-time close relationship between the Soviet Union and communist China, the latter received all manner of access to Soviet technology in the war of aircraft, armor, warships, and small arms. First-flown in December 1957, the Antonov An-12 (NATO codename of "Cub") quickly proved itself a steady performer and production of the type ultimately yielded 1,248 total examples of which some were operated locally by the Soviets and a plethora sent overseas to customers ranging from Angola and Armenia to Ukraine and the former Yugoslavia. As with other foreign-born military products, Chinese industry recreated the An-12 as a local solution in the "Y-8" by Shaanxi Aircraft Corporation.

The Y-8 is in active service with the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) and had its own first-flight on December 25th, 1974. Developed from the An-12, it retains all of the form-and-function of the original while being more Chinese-centric to suit local requirements. At least 170 of the Chinese form have been produced.

The Y-8 was born from the Sino-Soviet Split of 1956-1966 during which Chinese-Soviet relations worsened. However, the Chinese already had gained access to the An-12 and an assembly license which laid the groundwork for a local solution to be had. The Y-8 was given a revised glazed-over nose assembly and, internally, a roller-based cargo system was installed to facilitate movement of pallets into and out of the cargo bay of the aircraft. The ramp was retained under the raised tail for ease-of-access though early versions featured an inward opening arrangement as opposed to the more common rearward-opening (showcased in later production forms).

The operating crew could number as little as two or as many as five depending on production model. The hold could further seat 90 combat-ready troops or up to 44,100lb of cargo.

Dimensions of the aircraft included a length of 111.6 feet, a wingspan of 124.7 feet, and a height of 36.6 feet. Empty weight was 78,245lb while Maximum Take-Off Weight (MTOW) could reach as high as 134,500lb.

As a reverse-engineered form of the Antonov An-12, the Y-8 copied its general arrangement which included a rounded, streamlined fuselage, shoulder-mounted wing mainplanes, and single-finned tail unit. The flight deck was positioned over and aft of the nose section offering generally good views. The mainplanes were seated high to help clear the spinning propeller blades of the four-engined lay out. The undercarriage remained a tricycle arrangement that was wholly retractable with a twin-wheeled nose leg under the cockpit floor and twin-bogied (four-wheeled) main legs under center mass.

Power was pulled from 4 x Zhuzhou WoJiang-6 (WJ-6) turboprop engines, each developing 4,250 horsepower and driving four-bladed constant-speed propellers. Lacking the know-how to design and develop their own engines, the WJ-6 was simply the Chinese version of the ubiquitous Soviet Ivchenko AI-20 turboprop of the 1950s.

With these engines coupled to the base Y-8 airframe, the aircraft could reach speeds of 410 miles-per-hour, cruise near 340 mph, and range out to 3,500 miles. Its service ceiling was up to 34,100 feet while rate-of-climb reached 2,000 feet-per-minute.

In its prototype form, the Y-8 was evaluated from mid-1972 until its first-flight in December 1974 and tested into 1975. However, quantitative serial production was not reached until 1981 despite official certification being granted to the type. In the mid-1980s, in an attempt by Lockheed to interest the Chinese military in its C-130 "Hercules" four-engined tactical transport, the company inadvertently proved the Y-8 a capable mount all its own through various measures. During the early 2000s, the line of Chinese Y-8 aircraft was modernized with the help of Ukraine-based Antonov - the original producer of the Soviet-era An-12.

In Chinese service with both its Air Force and Navy branches, the Y-8 is used in a myriad of roles covering military and peacetime initiatives. It is used to ferry troops and supplies as well as vehicles while also supporting humanitarian efforts as needed. It has become a proven, versatile platform that rivals Eastern and Western developments while being evolved further to undertake more dedicated over-battlefield roles.

The first production models were designated simply as "Y-8" but featured unpressurized holds which limited their usefulness. The Y-8A was developed as a helicopter transport while Y-8AF was used to cover Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) testing. Y-8B was another unpressurized model used to ferry passengers and goods and Y-8C was improved with a pressurized hold retaining the rear-loading ramp of the B-model.

The Y-8C formed the basis for the Y-8CA modified for the Electronic CounterMeasures (ECM) role. The Y-8D was an export model with "Western-style" avionics fit. The Y-8DZ was used in the electronic SIGnals INTelligence (SIGINT) role and easily identified by its canister-type array just ahead of the tail fin. The Y-8E was modified for the drone-carrying role.

Beyond these early marks, and many other later marks of the series detailed in the Variants Section below, the most notable of the line are the continually evolved variants that include the "KJ-200" and "KJ-500". The former is used in the Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) role, carrying an Active, Electronically-Scanned Array (AESA) system over its fuselage, while the latter is similar in its battlefield function but sports up to three AESA radar systems and additional antennae.

The line is currently (2020) in use with the military forces of Kazakhstan, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tanzania, and Venezuela.©MilitaryFactory.com

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Specifications

Shaanxi Aircraft Company - China
Manufacturer(s)

China; Myanmar; Pakistan; Sri Lanka; Sudan; Tanzania; Venezuela
Operators

1981
Service Year

China
National Origin

Active
Project Status

5
Crew

170
Units

GROUND ATTACK
Ability to conduct aerial bombing of ground targets by way of (but not limited to) guns, bombs, missiles, rockets, and the like.

CLOSE-AIR SUPPORT
Developed to operate in close proximity to active ground elements by way of a broad array of air-to-ground ordnance and munitions options.

SPECIAL-MISSION: AIRBORNE EARLY WARNING
Specially-equipped platform providing over-battlefield Command and Control (C2) capability for allied aerial elements.

SPECIAL-MISSION: ANTI-SUBMARINE WARFARE
Equipped to search, track, and engage enemy underwater elements by way of specialized onboard equipment and weapons.

SPECIAL-MISSION: ANTI-SHIP
Equipped to search, track, and engage enemy surface elements through visual acquisition, radar support, and onboard weaponry.

SPECIAL-MISSION: ELETRONIC WARFARE
Equipped to actively deny adversaries the ElectroMagnetic (EM) spectrum and protect said spectrum for allied forces.

SPECIAL-MISSION: MECICAL EVACUATION
Extraction of wounded combat or civilian elements by way of specialized onboard equipment and available internal volume or external carrying capability.

SPECIAL-MISSION: SEARCH & RESCUE
Ability to locate and extract personnel from areas of potential harm or peril (i.e. downed airmen in the sea).

TRANSPORT
General transport functionality to move supplies/cargo or personnel (including wounded and VIP) over range.

COMMERCIAL AVIATION
Used in roles serving the commercial aviation market, ferrying both passengers and goods over range.

VIP SERVICE
Used in the Very-Important-Person (VIP) passenger transport role, typically with above-average amenities and luxuries as standard.

INTELLIGENCE-SURVEILLANCE-RECONNAISSANCE
Surveil ground targets / target areas to assess environmental threat levels, enemy strength, or enemy movement.

X-PLANE
Aircraft developed for the role of prototyping, technology demonstration, or research / data collection.

111.5 ft
(34.00 meters)
Length

124.7 ft
(38.00 meters)
Width/Span

36.1 ft
(11.00 meters)
Height

78,264 lb
(35,500 kilograms)
Empty Weight

134,482 lb
(61,000 kilograms)
Maximum Take-Off Weight

+56,218 lb
(+25,500 kg)
Weight Difference

4 x Zhuzhou WpJiang-6 (WJ-6) (Ivchenko Ai-20 series) turboprop engines developing 4,250 horsepower each driving four-bladed propeller units.
Propulsion

410 mph
(660 kph | 356 knots)
Max Speed

34,121 ft
(10,400 m | 6 miles)
Ceiling

3,480 miles
(5,600 km | 3,024 nm)
Range

2,000 ft/min
(610 m/min)
Rate-of-Climb

MACH Regime (Sonic)

Sub

Trans

Super

Hyper

HiHyper

ReEntry

♦

None.

Y-8 - Base Series Designation.

Yunshuji-8 - Alternative Designation.

Y-8A - Helicopter transport model.

Y-8AF - Developmental Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) variant.

Y-8B - Cargo-Passenger hauler; unpressurized.

Y-8C - Transport variant; pressurized.

Y-8CA - Electronic CounterMeasures (ECM) variant.

Y-8CB - Electronic CounterMeasures (ECM) variant; sharper nosecone.

Y-8D - Military transport export model with Western avionics fit.

Y-8DZ - Electronic SIGnals INTelligence (SIGINT) variant.

Y-8E - Drone carrier.

Y-8F - Livestock transport variant.

Y-8FQ - Maritime patrol form with boom-mounted Magnetic Anomaly Detector (MAD).

Y-8F-100 - Modernzed variant with uprated engines and cockpit systems.

Y-8F-200 - Lengthened fuselage by 7.9 feet.

Y-8F-300 - Civilian marketplace passenger hauler with Western avionics fit; unpressurized.

Y-8F-400 - Based in the F-300 with pressurization.

Y-8F-600 - Civilian marketplace passenger hauler; Pratt & Whitney turboprop engines; digital cockpit design; increased hauling to 25 tons.

Y-8GX1 - Electronic Warfare (EW) variant.

Y-8GX3 - Airborne Command Post (ACP) variant from Y-8F-200 series.

Y-8GX4 - ELectronic INTelligence (ELINT) variant.

Y-8GX7 - PSYOPS (PSYchological OPerationS) variant.

Y-8G - Proposed aerial tanker.

Y-8H - Aerial surveyor aircraft.

Y-8J - Airborne Early-Warning & Control (AWACS) variant with British search radar housed in oversized nose radome.

Y-8J - AEW variant.

Y-8JB - ELINT model form.

Y-8K - Passenger airliner seating 121 persons.

Y-8Q - Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) variant.

Y-8T - ACP / Battlefield Surveillance platform variant.

Y-8U - Development aerial tanker model.

Y-8W - AWACS platform.

Y-8X - Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) variant.

Y-8EW - Electronic Warfare (EW) variant.

KJ-200 - Dedicated AWACS variant.

KJ-500 - Enhanced AWACS variant.

ZDK-03 - Pakistan Air Force export AWACS model.

ZDK-06 - Export AWACS variant featuring AESA and Pulse Doppler radar systems.

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Images

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2 / 4

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