Are these the first pictures of China’s new military transport plane taking to the skies?

China’s newest transport aircraft has conducted its maiden flight, images circulating on social media suggested, as the People’s Liberation Army moves to update its tactical transport fleet.

Photographs and videos circulating online on Tuesday showed a four-engine turboprop aircraft. The most detailed images showed it had six-blade propellers, a T-tail, a blended winglet configuration and possibly an aerial refuelling probe positioned above the cockpit – a structure found on the Airbus A400M.

A model of the new medium-lift transport, developed by the Shaanxi Aircraft Corporation, first went on display at the 2014 Zhuhai Airshow with the provisional designation of Y-30.

However, some of the latest pictures show a fuselage number reading 15001, which might be a sign that the plane will end up being designated at the Y-15 instead. Other prototype warplanes, such as the J-20 and J-35, had the numbers 2001 and 350003 respectively.

Previous reports about the project have said the aircraft used synthetic materials making it far lighter than exisiting planes.

According to the developer, a subsidiary of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, the aircraft has a maximum payload capacity of over 20 tonnes and can carry more than 110 personnel. It has a cruise speed of more than 600km/h (370mph), a range of over 3,000km with a full payload and a maximum flight time of more than 12 hours.

South China Morning Post