Xi'an Y-20 'Kunpeng' | Status Spring 2026 Author Andreas Rupprecht Size A4, 300dpi resolution pdf Volume 51 pages with 45 colour photos, eight tables, three graphs and one interactive, physical map ISBN 978-1-95039-418-0 Retail price upon request Order details Click here Release date February 2024, updated March 2026

• Executive summary

With the prototype performing its maiden flight in January 2013 and introduction into active PLAAF service by mid-2016, the XAC Y-20A now equips two transport regiments, while the YY-20A tanker version currently forms a third regiment. A PLAAF regiment also gained its first example of the improved Y-20B variant in 2024.

Serial production began in late 2015 and as of mid-2025, even conservative estimates assume that around 99 Y-20As, of both transport and tanker variants, have been delivered and are operational. Furthermore, close to two dozen Y-20Bs were already in service or are awaiting delivery.

The Y-20 has become the standard strategic airlift asset of the PLAAF and has dramatically changed the structure and capabilities of the service’s transport fleet, which for long time relied on around 30 imported Il-76MD/TD transports and only three IL-78 tankers (Reporting names Candid and Midas, respectively). 

Within less than a decade, the PLAAF's strategic transport fleet has almost tripled, resulting in an enormous increase in terms of both the quantity and quality of its transport capabilities. This will have a clear impact on any future mission planning in the Far East. In parallel with series production, testing of more advanced variants like the KJ-3000 AEW&C is also taking place.


Contents
• The programme
• The time line of events
• Variants and production
• Data and components
• Mission and role
• PLAAF Y-20 units
• Conclusions