China's air force shows its Y-20B heavy transport fitted to work as an aerial refuelling tanker

China's military has published what appears to be the first official photograph of a Y-20B heavy transport aircraft in People's Liberation Army Air Force colours with aerial refuelling pods under its wings, a sign that a combined tanker and transport version of the aircraft has entered service, the South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday 20 October. The image first appeared in the PLA Daily, the armed forces newspaper, on 14 October.

The picture shows the four-engine aircraft in standard military grey with its rear cargo ramp lowered while a truck carrying equipment waits behind it. The PLA Daily caption said only that an air force unit was carrying out loading training in mid-autumn and did not name the aircraft type. State broadcaster China Media Group and a social media account run by the PLA News Media Centre identified it as a Y-20B on Monday 19 October.

In that state broadcast coverage, Chinese military commentators set out how the Y-20 family is now divided. The Y-20A is used mainly for strategic airlift, the YY-20 is a dedicated tanker, and the Y-20B uses a modular layout so it can handle both cargo and refuelling. Commentator Song Xiaojun said the Y-20B shares its basic airframe with the Y-20A but has a new generation of domestically built WS-20 turbofan engines, which he said give it more thrust, range and payload with lower fuel consumption, enough to carry a Type 99A main battle tank.

Another commentator, Fu Qianshao, told state media that the refuelling pods are detachable. Without them the Y-20B serves as a strategic transport, and with them fitted it can act as a tanker with little else changed. He said the pods sit in the same position under the wing as on the YY-20, a spot already proven in service: far enough inboard to avoid wingtip turbulence disturbing the refuelling hoses, yet far enough outboard to keep two fighters taking fuel at once at a safe distance from each other. For that reason, he said, the conversion needed no major structural changes.

The released photo shows the cargo hold empty, which means the aircraft would draw on its own internal fuel when refuelling others. Fu said the Y-20B carries enough internal fuel to refuel heavy or medium fighters without extra tanks in the hold, leaving that space free for troops or equipment. He argued that building only dedicated tankers would take aircraft away from the transport fleet, whereas a dual-role design would let the air force send a large number of Y-20Bs in one strategic direction to act as temporary tankers during long-range strike missions.

Chinese commentators also floated wider roles. Military analyst Song Zhongping told the Global Times that different mission pods could turn the aircraft into an electronic warfare or airborne early warning platform, or even a bomber, and the newspaper noted that a pilot in a state documentary aired on 5 August had described similar roles. Song Xiaojun suggested the platform might one day carry and release swarms of small drones. These are claims by commentators in Chinese state and state-linked media and have not been independently confirmed.

The Y-20 formally entered service with air force units in July 2016. According to its maker, the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, the family had grown by June this year into the Y-20A, Y-20B and YY-20 and had flown to more than 40 countries and regions. The Morning Post noted that a Chinese commentator had already concluded in an opinion piece on 13 October that the tanker-transport version was operational, citing photographs of the aircraft in air force livery with pods fitted. None of the reports said how many Y-20Bs have been delivered or which units fly them.