China Makes First Export of Y-9 Medium Transport: Why Further Sales Will Likely Follow the Namibia Deal

<p >China’s Shaanxi Aircraft Corporation has completed its first foreign delivery of the Y-9 medium transports, with the Namibian Air Force having officially received two of the turboprop aircraft after a transaction was finalised in early 2023. The Y-9 is a larger derivative of the widely used Y-8 transport with a stretched body and expanded 30 ton cargo capacity, compared to approximately 22 tons for the Y-8. The aircraft is considered to be a broad equivalent to the American C-130J Super Hercules, and has long been expected to provide China with an attractive option to further penetrate global military aviation markets in an area previously dominated by Russia and the United States. The Y-9 has been developed into multiple specialist variants in Chinese service, including the <a href=" target="_blank">KJ-500 airborne early warning and control system</a> (AEW&C) which is currently widely considered the most advanced in the world. It also deploys the Y-9G electronic warfare variant and the Y-9Q anti-submarine warfare aircraft, among others. </p><p ><img src=" title="Namibian Air Force Y-9 Transport"></p><p >Namibia’s relatively small 350 million annual defence budget, and allocation of a relatively small portion of this to procurement, makes the acquisition of the relatively large and highly sophisticated new transports a major development for the armed forces of the southern African state. The country’s air force notably relies heavily on Chinese aircraft, with its only combat jets being a small squadron of seven J-7 fighters supported by an estimated 4-8 JL-8 trainers. The Y-9 is expected to provide a major improvement over the capabilities of the two Soviet An-26 medium transports previously in service. China’s ability to compete in the field has benefitted from the effective elimination of the Soviet Antonov Design Bureau from competition from the 1990s, as the firm was inherited by Ukraine rather than Russia, and struggled to sustain its operations with its supply chains split between the two often hostile Soviet successor states. The Chinese aviation industry is expected to make further breakthroughs with exports of transport aircraft through the marketing of the <a href=" target="_blank">much heavier Y-20</a>, which is currently the largest aircraft of its kind in production anywhere in the world. </p>