Franchise registrations in Saudi Arabia surge 866% over 3 years    Lulu Saudi Arabia celebrates its 15th anniversary with the grand launch of 'Super Fest 2024'    Cristiano Ronaldo's double powers Al Nassr to 3-1 win over Al Gharafa in AFC Champions League    Culture minister tours Saudi pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka    Al Ahli edges Al Ain 2-1, bolsters perfect start in AFC Champions League Elite    Saud Abdulhamid makes history as first Saudi player in Serie A    Saudi Cabinet to hold special budget session on Tuesday    King Salman orders extension of Citizen's Account Program and additional support for a full year    Al-Falih: 1,238 foreign investors obtain premium residency in Saudi Arabia    Several dead as Storm Bert wreaks havoc across Britain    Irish PM apologizes for walking away from care worker    Most decorated Australian Olympian McKeon retires    Adele doesn't know when she'll perform again after tearful Vegas goodbye    'Pregnant' for 15 months: Inside the 'miracle' pregnancy scam    Hezbollah fires rocket barrages into Israel after deadly Beirut strikes    Ukraine losing ground in Russia's Kursk region, says military source    Do cigarettes belong in a museum?    Saudi Arabia to host 28th Annual World Investment Conference in Riyadh    Riyadh Emir inaugurates International Conference on Conjoined Twins in Riyadh    Katy Perry v Katie Perry: Singer wins right to use name in Australia    Order vs. Morality: Lessons from New York's 1977 Blackout    India puts blockbuster Pakistani film on hold    The Vikings and the Islamic world    Filipino pilgrim's incredible evolution from an enemy of Islam to its staunch advocate    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Chinese military plane boosts global reach
Published in The Saudi Gazette on 29 - 01 - 2013

BEIJING — China's new heavy-lift transport aircraft and a successful missile interception test are key steps in expanding the strength and reach of its armed forces, analysts and state media said Monday.
The Y-20, China's biggest home-produced military transport jet to date, took to the skies for its maiden flight on Saturday in the northwest of the country, just months after Beijing's first aircraft carrier entered service.
Pictures showed the bulky green plane — an aircraft that will enable China to project military power across vast distances — soaring into a clear blue sky.
The state-run Global Times hailed the flight of the plane numbered 20001 as a “significant milestone”, saying China needed the aircraft to “enhance its global power projection”.
It will allow China's military to end its dependence on the Russian-made Il-76, a mainstay of humanitarian and disaster relief around the world, the paper quoted a military expert as saying.
The Y-20 has a maximum payload of 66 tonnes, which it can carry as far as 4,400 kilometers (2,700 miles), the China Daily said, and with 55 tonnes on board it could fly from western China to Cairo.
It is big enough to hold the heaviest tank used by China's army, the paper added, quoting a military expert as saying that “the heavy air freighters will ensure that we are able to safeguard our interests overseas”.
“With them, we can transport our people or large equipment to farther destinations,” said Liang Fang, professor of strategy at the PLA (People's Liberation Army) National Defense University.
The test flight was a “big step” for China's air force, said Andrei Chang, editor-in-chief of the Canadian-based Kanwa Defense Review, but added that the Y-20 was technologically inferior to other military transport planes.
True figures for the Y-20's maximum load and flying range were likely to be lower than those cited in state media, he added, due to the plane's reliance on a “very old” Russian-designed engine.
“(The engine's) oil consumption is very bad, it wastes a lot of fuel,” he said, pointing out that because of noise some developed countries have banned aircraft using it from landing, threatening its potential appearance at European air shows.
The Y-20 was likely to take at least another five years to enter operational service, he added, and its design appeared to incorporate features from the world's most advanced military cargo plane, the US-made Boeing C-17 Globemaster.
But Chang said that the C-17 was a “much better plane”, one of the reasons being that it apparently uses a much higher proportion of lightweight composite materials, which China struggles to produce.
The US Air Force says on its website that it has more than 200 C-17s in its inventory.
Also at the weekend, China announced a successful land-based missile interception test following an earlier one in 2010, the official news agency Xinhua reported.
“The test has reached the preset goal,” it quoted a defense ministry official as saying, without giving detailed information. “The test is defensive in nature and targets no other country.”
In a commentary Monday on the launch, Xinhua said the test, together with “a string of other military equipment progress” including the aircraft carrier and the heavy-lift plane, demonstrated China's “fast-growing ability to defend its own national security and deter any possible threats”.
But it added that the advances were purely defensive, denying any “ill-grounded ‘China threat theory'.”
China more than doubled its publicly declared military spending from 2006 to 2012, roughly in line with economic growth, but rattling its neighbors in Asia. It insists its army expenditure is not aimed at any other country.
China is currently locked in a bitter dispute over the sovereignty of the Tokyo-controlled Senkaku islands, which Beijing calls the Diaoyus, in the East China Sea. As a result, China expressed concern on Monday after Japan unveiled plans to boost the number of its military personnel. — Agencies


Clic here to read the story from its source.