The World’s Largest Military Plane in Production is China’s Y-20

A New Dawn for Chinese Aviation — “11052” is China’s second operation Y-20 heavy transport aircraft. Capable of carrying 66 tons and flying nearly 8,000 km, the Y-20’s massive airframe means that it can also be a heavy aerial refueling tanker, and airborne early warning and control radar plane.

 

On June 15th 2016, the first operational Y-20 heavy transport aircraft entered service into the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). China has now joined the United States and Russia as the only countries which can design and built its own strategic transport aircraft. It’s built by the Xian Aircraft Corporation, and apparently has been assigned the call sign “Roc”, after the giant mythical bird. In fact, of planes still in production, the 200 ton Y-20 is the world’s largest, as it’s larger than the Russian Il-76 and the American C-17A Globemaster ended production in 2015.