Airmen assigned to a brigade with the PLA airborne troops queue to board a Y-20 transport aircraft during a parachute training exercise on February 17, 2022. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Liu Bingbing)

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force's Y-20 strategic transport aircraft is in a constant process of hardware and software upgrades, with primary-level troops making innovations by applying 3D printing technologies, a pilot has revealed.

Chen Jinlan, who can pilot both the Y-9 tactical transport aircraft and the Y-20 strategic transport aircraft, made the remarks at a group discussion at China's two sessions 2025, the PLA Daily reported on Tuesday. Having an accumulated a flight time of over 8,000 hours, she is also a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature.

The Y-20's hardware structures and software facilities have been continuously iterating and upgrading, and in addition to efforts by scientists and technical workers, primary-level troops have also been devoted to innovative activities, such as forming a software development team and a 3D printing interest group, Chen said, according to the report. 

As a vital part of rapid response capabilities, strategic delivery capability is a key parameter in measuring a country's national defense strength, Chen said, noting that large military transport aircraft are core pieces of equipment to achieve long-distance strategic and fast deployment of troops, according to the report. 

Fu Qianshao, a Chinese military affairs expert, hailed the significance of the troops' innovative involvement in the continuous upgrades of aircraft. He told the Global Times on Tuesday that it is the troops who actually fly the aircraft that know best about how to improve the machine.

Minor upgrades could include improvements to avionics, flight control systems and ergonomics, which could be done by the troops, while bigger upgrades could include the switch to new and more powerful engines, which would need coordinated work by the aircraft developers, Fu said.

The Y-20 is designed with an open architecture, so that new hardware and software can be quickly integrated and boost the aircraft's comprehensive capabilities, Fu said, noting that 3D printing is an innovative method to shorten development time and improve the aircraft.

The development of the Y-20 is a miniature of the PLA's efforts in promoting the application of technological innovations, the PLA Daily quoted military lawmakers and political advisors at the two sessions as saying, adding that it is high time to develop new quality productive forces and boost new quality combat capabilities.

Zhu Yuemeng, an NPC deputy from the PLA Navy, highlighted China's aircraft carrier development, which has achieved a leap in development of from having none to three, from refitting a foreign carrier to building carriers domestically from scratch, and from a ski-jump model to a catapult-launch model. Zhu said that the high-quality development of China's national defense and military has entered a fast lane, according to the PLA Daily report.

Lü Yuncheng, another deputy from the military, is quoted by the PLA Daily as saying that future warfare could be beyond imagination, with unmanned and intelligent technologies reshaping the rules of engagement, and that battles will be waged across multi-dimensional domains.

Multiple national lawmakers and political advisors noted that the characteristics of informatization, intellectualization and unmanned technology in future warfare are becoming increasingly evident, with the role of science and technology in the construction of combat capabilities becoming ever more prominent, so the Chinese military needs to enhance combat readiness with the courage to innovate with determination, the boldness to be a trailblazer, and the vigor to surge forward with vitality, the PLA Daily reported.