Brief Analysis of China's Straight-20 Helicopter

On the morning of December 23, 2013, the prototype of the domestic-made new type universal helicopter Zhi-20 successfully made its first flight at an airport in Northeast China.

Due to well-known reasons, China cannot purchase more Black Hawks, but the demand for rapid maneuvering on the plateau has existed for a long time. Since then, China has switched to Russia to introduce a large number of improved versions of the Mi-17 series. The upgrade of the Mi-17 can also meet the demand for high altitude air transport on the premise of sacrificing heavy loads, but the positioning of Mi-17 is slightly heavier than Black Hawk. Belonging to the class of transport aircraft, the requirements for landing and landing sites are more stringent than those of the team-level Black Hawk, and they cannot be loaded into the medium-sized transport aircraft like the Black Hawk, greatly weakening its strategic mobility and application range. The lack of capacity between 9 and 17 has also become an important impetus for China to develop a replacement of the same type as Black Hawk.

In early September 2013, some netizens had photographed a new type of helicopter dismantling the state of transport on the highway. Its profile resembles that of the US-made Black Hawk helicopter. This is considered to be a straight 20 prototype. According to the official information disclosure, Zhi 20 was established in 2010 and is scheduled to fly for the first time in 2014 and will be put into use in 2017. In the future, the Straight 20 may also be like the US Army's Black Hawk. The improved Straight 20 is entirely likely to spawn an enormous family that can be applied to each service.

The L-20 General Tactical Helicopter is similar to the Chinese-made "Black Hawk" S-70C-2 helicopter imported from China. However, unlike the Black Hawk, the Straight-20 main rotor adopts a five-bladed structure and has better controllability. Maneuverability; In addition, straight-20 at the junction of the fuselage and the tail boom, there is a clear transitional structure, guessing that the cabin's transport performance has been optimized.

After Zhi-20 service, in cooperation with domestic large-scale transport aircraft transport-20, China's army forces can be quickly sent to hot spots and form a mobile assault capability. If the future Chinese navy can equip large amphibian assault ships -20 and other models will be able to better deal with such risks as island conflicts.

In the future, it may be "uphill to the sea," and the aircraft carrier will perform such tasks as vigilance and reconnaissance.

Zhi-20 successfully made its first flight, indicating that it will become the main force of China's future general-purpose helicopter equipment. It will “plug in wings” for the Chinese Army and may develop into a carrier-based model.

At the beginning of its formation, the Chinese Army Aviation Corps only used transport helicopters. Later, it introduced a small amount of "small antelope" armed helicopters, and then the Zhi-9 series also equipped troops. However, the combat model has long stayed in support of ground operations, and it has yet to become an implementation of the air. The main force of the assault. Although the service of the Zhi-10, Zhi-19, helicopters greatly reversed the lack of reconnaissance and attack helicopters in China’s aviation equipment, the Lunar Forces have always lacked a 10-ton general-purpose tactical helicopter to carry out surprise transport, airlift and logistical support. task.

The straight-20 main rotor adopts a five-bladed structure and has better controllability and mobility. In addition, there is a clear transitional structure between the vertical and the mid-airframe at the connection between the fuselage and the tail boom. The analysis suggests that it may have been optimized for the transportation performance of the nacelle.

When talking about whether the Zhi-20 will become a carrier-based aircraft, Du Wenlong said that this helicopter has good versatility and the tonnage of 10 tons is just right. The development direction for it is "uphill, sea, and serialization." "Uphill" is the ability of the plateau to fly, and helicopters cannot go up in general. It must have strong power and very good aerodynamic shape to be able to maneuver troops and equipment in a plateau area of ​​more than 3,000 meters. The so-called "sea" refers to the future as the Navy's destroyers, frigates, including the Liaoning ship, can also choose this helicopter as a ship-borne helicopter, if on the destroyer, it can carry out patrols, anti-submarine, anti-ship, and can also carry out rescue. On aircraft carriers, it can perform tasks such as alerting, reconnaissance, and replenishment. In the future, we may be able to see "Haizu-20" at sea.