【Military Second Area】Author: Lele

On July 29, the U.S. "Army Recognition" website published an article stating that AVIC delivered the second batch of three Y-8F-200W transport aircraft to Kazakhstan, meaning that this $304 million order is now left with only two more to be delivered. Meanwhile, the Russian "Top War" website commented on this - "China is further pushing Russia out of the Central Asian market."

▲The "06" Y-8F-200W captured by outsiders

In 2014, Kazakhstan reorganized its former internal security forces into the National Guard (also known as the National Guard), and also took over the responsibilities of the former Ministry of Emergency Situations. As an inland country with a land area of 2.72 million square kilometers, Kazakhstan has always had a need for rapid air rescue. However, the Ilyushin Il-76, An-12, and An-72 aircraft that were inherited from the Soviet Union became old, most of them were grounded or crashed, and the remaining few had very low operational rates. Therefore, the newly established National Guard quickly put the procurement of transport platforms on the agenda. In September 2018, Kazakhstan announced that it had received the "01" Y-8F-200W delivered by China, deployed in a new base at Astana Airport.

▲Satellite image of Astana Airport, two Y-8F-200W can be seen on the right side

It would seem that the relatively outdated Y-8F-200W model should have been quickly delivered, but actually, until seven years later today, the "06" Y-8F-200W was finally delivered to the user. The reason is that Kazakhstan proposed new requirements. The Y-8F designation is one of the three branches of the Y-8 series, and also the only civilian model. Originally, after the maturity of the Y-9, a more advanced civilian version should have replaced the Y-8F. However, due to an accident at that time, the development of the civilian version of the Y-9 was very slow. In addition, its overall design is novel and the price is relatively high, while the classic layout of the Y-8F series has shown excellent adaptability in many harsh and primitive environments, with high cost-effectiveness, making it the best-selling transport platform in China's current exports.

▲In fact, there are still many old Y-8 platforms being used in China

The Y-8F-200W purchased by Kazakhstan was derived from the version exported to Myanmar earlier, modified mainly according to the buyer's needs for rescue missions. After receiving the "01" aircraft, in December 2018, the Kazakh National Guard completed independent flight tests in icy conditions based on their long-term experience operating the An-12, and gave a high evaluation of the plane's operability - a mid-sized transport aircraft priced at just $38 million, which can operate at almost all airports in the region, with a maximum load capacity of 23 tons, is indeed a good value for money.

▲The cost-effectiveness of the Y-8F-200W is indeed very high

However, in recent years, Kazakhstan has also come into contact with many European equipment, and has raised new opinions on the avionics layout of the Y-8F-200W, which led to several years of design modifications and payment of fees, so the delivery speed was far below expectations. With the arrival of six Y-8F-200W aircraft, the main position of Russian aviation equipment has already shifted to Chinese transport aircraft. More importantly, over the years, the Kazakh army has purchased various Chinese equipment such as SH-1 artillery trucks, AR-2 rocket launchers, Rainbow/Yilong drones, forming a considerable Chinese combat system, which also means that many Russian weapons have been forced to withdraw.

▲The overall evaluation of the Y-8F-200W by Kazakhstan is also quite good

If we look at the entire Central Asia, the trend of Chinese equipment replacing Russian weapons is even more obvious - even in the Russian traditional advantage areas, the ground-to-air missile, where there is a deep historical origin, the Chinese HQ-12, HQ-17, and HQ-9 have already silently occupied a large market share, while the S-400 has not yet appeared on this land. In addition, it is basically certain that Uzbekistan has purchased Chinese fighter jets, but it is unclear whether it is the J-10CE or the FC-1. In the global arms market, several major countries have their own stable buyers, for example, American weapons are basically popular in Japan and Israel; French equipment is also very popular in some European countries and North Africa. It is only in recent years that China has reached the level with Pakistan, and now has further advanced, the quantitative change in Central Asia will soon bring about a qualitative change.

▲Russian equipment is indeed not very popular in Central Asia

By the way, it should be mentioned that medium transport aircraft like the Y-8F have a huge global demand. Similar specifications of the U.S. C-130 have long been sold around the world, and are still continuously exported. In recent years, China has only used the relatively unsophisticated Y-8F platform to compete for the low-end market, without bringing out a truly advanced medium transport platform, which is a pity.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7532808200295547419/

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