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Move over, Hercules: China’s new Y-30 aims to outmuscle America’s best transport aircraft

China’s new-generation medium-lift transport aircraft will surpass America’s best counterpart, the C-130J “Super Hercules”, in most performance metrics, according to a Chinese military magazine.
The four-engine…

By Samantha Johnson / April 10, 2026

China’s new-generation medium-lift transport aircraft will surpass America’s best counterpart, the C-130J “Super Hercules”, in most performance metrics, according to a Chinese military magazine.

The four-engine turboprop aircraft, frequently referred to as the Y-30 or Y-15, conducted its maiden test flight in December last year. It is developed by Shaanxi Aircraft Industry Corporation, a subsidiary of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC).

The Chinese “new medium-lift transporter”, or “Xin Zhong Yun” in Chinese, can easily outperform the C-130J, the “world’s best tactic transport aircraft in service”, in engine power, payload capacity, structure and material, avionics and flight control software, according to an analysis in the latest issue of Aerospace Knowledge magazine put out by Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, or Beihang University.

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A Lockheed Martin C-130 “Hercules” military lifter played a vital role last week in America’s rescue mission involving a downed pilot in Iran.
A Lockheed Martin C-130 “Hercules” drops military equipment during exercises near Vilnius, Lithuania, on May 16, 2025. The aircraft is considered America’s premier medium-lift transport. Photo: AP
A Lockheed Martin C-130 “Hercules” drops military equipment during exercises near Vilnius, Lithuania, on May 16, 2025. The aircraft is considered America’s premier medium-lift transport. Photo: AP

Developed in the 1990s, the C-130J is the newest and most advanced variant of the C-130 series that launched in the 1950s. It has only a small edge in operational range over the Y-30 and is mature enough to have developed many special mission variants.

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