The People’s Liberation Army Aviation has accepted into service the first Y-9 medium-range transport aircraft produced by Shaanxi Aircraft Company.

Together with the Naval Aviation, the PLA LH also operates a small batch of light utility aircraft (Y5 and Y-7).  Now they are getting a nice Y-9 upgrade to enhance their long-range delivery capacity.

The Shaanxi Y-9 is a medium-sized, medium-range transport aircraft.  It was developed as an improved version of the Shaanxi Y-8F with greater payload and range. The Y-8F is based on Soviet Antonov An-12.

In its tactical transport variant, the Y-9 has a payload of 25,000 Kg a range of 5,700 km (3,700 nm) and a ceiling of 10,400 m (34,120 ft). Originally known as the Y-8X project, the development of Y-9 began in 2001 to produce a C-130J class transport to replace the older Y-8. The first flight occured at the end of 2010.