One of the most important aircraft available to the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) and People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is the "Y-8". This turboprop-powered aircraft is based in the Soviet-era Antonov An-12 "Cub" (detailed elsewhere on this site) and is used to cover a myriad of over-battlefield requirements including maritime patrol, MEDEVAC, and general transport of troops and materials. The Y-8 has also been evolved into a submarine-hunter through a new model first appearing in 2012.
This version of the Y-8 military transport retains all of the form-and-function of the original save for a few noticeable add-ons suited for the Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) role. This includes a powerful air-to-surface radar unit housed in a "blister" fairing at the chin position, a side-looking Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) unit, and a Magnetic Anomaly Detector (MAD) tube emerging from the extreme aft-end of the fuselage. Along the dorsal and ventral fuselage spines are found a series of inline antenna protrusions for various sensors.
The aircraft is supported through the usual flight crew as well as mission specialists to man the various onboard stations.
Power to the airframe is served through four turboprop engines mounted in underslung nacelles at the shoulder-mounted wing mainplanes. These drive advanced, scimitar-style propeller blades. Performance is assumed to be very similar to the base Y-8 transport.
The aircraft is charged with sorties beyond that of ASW work including monitoring of strategic water areas, target acquisition, and general over-water patrolling. It is operated from land bases and sports a conventional wheeled undercarriage that is wholly retractable.
(OPERATORS list includes past, present, and future operators when applicable)
✓Special-Mission: Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW)
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.
✓Intelligence-Surveillance-Reconnaissance (ISR), Scout
Surveil ground targets / target areas to assess environmental threat levels, enemy strength, or enemy movement.
Length
121.0 ft (36.88 m)
Width/Span
124.7 ft (38.00 m)
Height
36.1 ft (11.00 m)
Empty Wgt
78,264 lb (35,500 kg)
MTOW
143,300 lb (65,000 kg)
Wgt Diff
+65,036 lb (+29,500 kg)
(Showcased structural values pertain to the base Shaanxi Y-8 ASW production variant)
Installed:
4 x Zhuzhou WpJiang-6 (WJ-6) (Ivchenko Ai-20 series) turboprop engines developing 4,250 horsepower each driving six-bladed propeller units.
None. Mission-specific equipment for the Anti-Submarine Role (ASW) in the way of sensors, radars, and detectors.
Y-8 ASW - Base Series Designation; model of 2012.
Ribbon graphics not necessarily indicative of actual historical campaign ribbons. Ribbons are clickable to their respective aerial campaigns / operations / aviation periods.
Images Gallery
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Image from the Chinese Ministry of Defense; Public Release.
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Image from the Chinese Ministry of Defense; Public Release.
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Image from the Chinese Ministry of Defense; Public Release.
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