A Chubby Girl is the belle of the ball!

A star of the Egypt International Airshow at El Alamein is the Xi’an Y-20 Kunpeng, a large Chinese military transport aircraft still rarely seen outside the People’s Republic. Though officially known as the Kunpeng (after a mythical creature from the Taoist classic Zhuangzi that could transform from fish-to-bird), the aircraft is more widely known as the ‘Chubby Girl’, thanks to its ample proportions.

The Y-20 served as a support aircraft for the Ba Yi aerobatic team, but is also displaying at El Alamein in its own right.

The Y-20 project began in July 2007, and was developed using digital model-based design and produced using state-of-the-art tools and techniques, including 3D printing. The type made its first flight on 26 January 2013, and the type entered service on 6 July 2016.

The baseline Y-20A version is powered by Soloviev D-30KP-2 or Chengdu WS-18 engines (these are reverse engineered Chinese copies of the imported D-30KP-2). A YY-20A tanker variant (also known as the Y-20U) entered service in 2022. The Y-20B variant now under development (and perhaps in service in small numbers) is powered by redesigned and uprated WS-20 engines, as is a new YY-20B tanker variant

A Y-20 transported Chinese troops to Tanzania during a cooperative counterterrorism drill last month, and its appearance at El Alamein marks another step in China’s campaign to expand its military influence in the Middle East and Africa. The 10,000-km deployment also demonstrates the PLA Air Force’s long-range mobility and delivery capabilities. The PLA Air Force is undergoing a major strategic transformation and is pursuing greater all-domain operational capabilities and global reach.

The high-profile Chinese presence at the Egypt International Air Show also reflects China’s growing effort to sell arms in the Middle East and North Africa, where a number of nations have started to turn away from their traditional Western suppliers. China is already the largest arms supplier for sub-Saharan Africa (taking a 19% share of the market in 2019-23, narrowly overtaking Russia with 17%).

Egypt reportedly expressed interest in buying 12 exampled of the J-10C fighter in 2022-23, and may be a target market for the Y-20B.