A Y-20 large transport aircraft attached to an aviation division under the PLA Western Theater Command flies at a predetermined altitude during a flight training mission on January 4, 2021. (eng.chianmil.com.cn/Photo by Liu Shu)

A fleet of six Y-20 cargo planes of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force was reportedly spotted in Serbia on Saturday, with observers saying on Sunday that it could be the largest overseas operation by the Chinese domestically developed large transport plane yet, displaying the country's strategic transport capabilities.

Citing commercial flight trackers, US news website thedrive.com reported on Saturday that the six Y-20 aircraft were first spotted heading west in Turkish airspace late Friday night, and later local residents took photos of the Y-20s, which allegedly landed in Nikola Tesla Airport in Belgrade, Serbia. The aircraft later flew over the Bosphorus Strait in Turkey again on their way back to China.

China has not made an official announcement about the mission as of press time, but the Global Times learned that the Y-20s indeed have carried out such a flight.

A whopping six Y-20 large transport aircraft could mark an unprecedented overseas operation, Chinese military observers said.

It is a new record that an overseas mission features six Y-20s, and it is also very rare to see so many Y-20s being deployed at the same time, Fu Qianshao, a Chinese military aviation expert, told the Global Times on Sunday.

The mission reflects a significant improvement in the PLA Air Force's long-range strategic transport capabilities, as well as the large transport aircraft's logistics support and maintenance capabilities in intercontinental flights, Fu said.

It is more difficult to organize a large fleet featuring six Y-20s compared with only one or two of the aircraft, Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Sunday.

China has used the Y-20 for several missions to Europe in the past. For example, the PLA used a Y-20 to carry 105 members of the PLA honor guard to join the Russian Victory Day parade held in Moscow in June 2020.


Unlike just flying to Russia, it would need the Y-20s to fly through several other countries in order to reach Serbia from China, so China must have had much coordination and communication with these countries and gained their authorization in order to realize the flight, Song said.

The mission of the Y-20s to Serbia remains unknown, with thedrive.com speculating that the aircraft could be delivering the FK-3, the export version of the Chinese HQ-22 surface-to-air missile system, to Serbia.

Analysts told the Global Times that the cargo must be large and heavy to require as many as six Y-20s.