China joins forces with Africa for peace unity 2024 drills
China, Mozambique, and Tanzania are conducting military maneuvers in Peace Unity 2024. Their official goal is counter-terrorism, but the exercises have also allowed China to deploy troops and test new equipment.
12:58 PM EDT, August 4, 2024
As part of the exercises, China sent a squadron of ships to Africa, including two Type 071 landing ships and a Type 052D destroyer. The ground component consists of heavy equipment, including armored vehicles and artillery.
Some forces were transported to Africa by air, made possible by using Y-20 strategic transport aircraft – marking their first deployment in Africa. What is known about this equipment?
Y-20 - heavy transport aircraft
The Y-20 is a new Chinese transport aircraft developed to address the lack of modern strategic air transport means. Its goal is to create a machine capable of transporting armored equipment over long distances.
Work on the new aircraft began in 2007, and trials of the prototype model had commenced by 2013.
The Y-20 weighs 110 tons and can carry 73 tons of cargo. It has a wingspan of 164 feet and a length of 154 feet and is powered by four WS-20 engines, which propel it to a maximum speed of Mach 0.75.
An asset of the aircraft is its range—with two Type 15 light tanks on board, the Y-20 can travel nonstop up to 4,600 miles. By reducing the cargo to 18 tons, the range increases to 6,200 miles.
Based on the new aircraft, the Chinese have also developed variants—the Y-20B equipped with Chinese-developed WS-20 engines, the YY-20A and YY-20B flying tankers, and the Y-20 AEW, a new airborne early warning aircraft currently under development.
