A Look At The World's Military Transport Planes Starting With China's

Xina Y-20

Next Big Future: 3D printing and advanced computer modeling was used to develop China Y-20 military transport aircraft

The Xian Y-20 is China's new large military transport aircraft. The Y-20 is the first cargo aircraft to use 3-D printing technology to speed up its development and to lower its manufacturing cost. Model-based definition (MBD) is also used, and it's the 3rd aircraft to utilize MBD technology in the world, after Boeing 787 (2005) and Airbus A380 (2007). The implementation of MBD greatly shortened the time required, for example, without MBD, installation of wings takes a month or two, but with MBD adopted, the time is drastically shortened to just a few hours, and in general, the design work reduced by 40%, preparation for production reduced by 75%, and manufacturing cycle reduced by 30%. In addition to 3-D printing, Y-20 is also the first aircraft in China adopting associative design technology (ADT) in its development, the second aircraft to do so in the world, after Boeing 787. The adaptation of ADT greatly shortened the development time by at least eight months, and modification of wing design that previously took a week is shortened to half a day

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WNU Editor: The King of all military transport planes is probably this one .... Antonov An-225 Mriya.

Who Quietly Move U.S. Troops And Spies Around The Globe?

The Contract Airlines That Quietly Move U.S. Troops And Spies Around The Globe -- Killer Apps/Foreign Policy

This week's crash of a civilian cargo jet at Bagram airfield in Afghanistan highlights the fact that the U.S. military relies on a private air force to move enormous amounts of supplies and numbers of people around the globe.

The jet that crashed at Bagram (shown above) was a Boeing 747-400 that had been converted from a passenger jet into a freighter for Florida-based National Airlines, one of the many little-known civilian carriers that keep the U.S. military and intelligence agencies supplied around the globe. The plane was said to be transporting five MRAP armored vehicles (which are incredibly heavy) from Afghanistan to Dubai -- a route the airline had been flying for about a month prior to the crash.

Here are just a few more of the many private airlines that serve the U.S. government on a regular basis:

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My Comment: Someone has to do this job.

Will This Be The U.S. Military's Future Means To Ship Materials And Soldiers?

A concept of the airship on the battlefield, where it could be used to transport tanks and soldiers directly onto the front line

Thunderbird 2 Flies Again: The Astonishing Airship Set To Revolutionise Haulage, Tourism... And Warfare -- Daily Mail

* The Aeroscraft can carry three times more than the biggest military cargo planes over thousands of miles
* Heavily backed by the U.S. military, it is now at the prototype stage and is set for its first test flight
* It is capable of vertical take off and landing and doesn't even need a landing strip

A radical new kind of airship funded by the US military is about to make its first test flight - and it looks uncannily like the Thunderbird 2 craft from the classic TV show.

The Aeroscraft airship will carry three times as much as the biggest military cargo planes over thousands of miles, use a third of the fuel, and it doesn't even need a landing strip.

It could also have major implications for cargo haulage, and almost everything now laboriously transported across the planet's surface by boat, train and lorry could within years be carried through the skies, its makers claim.

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My Comment: It's an old concept but with a modern twist. I wish them well.

What Makes A Superpower?

C5 Transport
Photo from Aviation Explorer

Airlift The Key To True Superpower Capability
-- Defense Technology News

(NSI News Source Info) Washington - December 15, 2008: In the world of superpowers, it's military airlift capability that separates the world's two heavy hitters -- the United States and Russia -- from all the wannabe second division powers.

India and China are both building world power military forces with major air forces and navies. Both countries also are working hard on expanding their military industrial sectors. But both are still dependent on the United States, Russia and major European nations for many of their more ambitious systems.

Nowhere is this more true than in the area of heavy military transport aircraft, where both Delhi and Beijing still look to Moscow. When the terror crisis erupted in Mumbai, India's only national anti-terror squad had to use an Ilyushin Il-76 bought from Russia to transport the force from the capital.

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My Comment: Having nuclear missiles, f-22 fighters, ABM systems, and fleets of aircraft carriers helps. Having the right people and the right military culture is a big big big plus also.