Copy & Fail Again: China’s Latest Heavy Helicopter Becomes a Joke, With a Loss Rate Feared Over 50%

On March 21st, several photos allegedly depicting test flights of a heavy-duty armed helicopter in China caused a sensation on both domestic and international online platforms. However, specific details and performance parameters of this helicopter are currently being strictly guarded.
Reportedly weighing up to 10 tons at takeoff, this armed helicopter's side profile bears close resemblance to the U.S. Black Hawk helicopter and China's Z-20 rather than the U.S. AH-64 Apache. Many speculate that this helicopter is a derivative model based on the Z-20, dubbing it the "Z-21."
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[davehue]

Why does Chinese military equipment look like other countries?? Knockoffs

[asdisskagen]

Honestly, China copying Western tech for their military equipment doesn't bother me much. That's because: 1) Western countries are already intimately familiar with the capabilities, 2) copying someone else's tech means that their engineers lack sufficient understanding to build their own tech, 3) using external designs means that there will almost certainly be critical aspects missed, resulting in downgraded performance of the copy. I hope China keeps copying, and that corruption continues to play a role in their using inferior materials.

[LondonWater]

We’ve all seen how Chinas “attempted thefts” are essentially Temu🤣🤣🤣✌️

[astralclub]

Ride or fight in a Tofu Dreg helicopter? No thanks, Emperor Xi!

[stephenevelyn]

Let them build them... the Ukraine vs Russia fight is showing how vulnerable these are to manpads.

[tukkajumala]

The pilots of those Temu copters are so brave.

[lance]

Imagine their commercial planes their trying to scam on the world 🇨🇳

[HKim]

That's why the Soviets were very formidable. They had their own design / engineering creativity unlike the Chinese.

[summer]

The best job to have in China is to become a designer. You just copy or imitate the West and give it another name. This guys have no shame.

[napleswolverine]

No wonder the Chinese like American technology it works!!! The only thing they haven’t copied from anyone is how to make a copy that works🤡

[Ratankumar-pdqr]

US will always be ahead because of R&D.

[mah]

The only real thing they are good at copying others. They literally suck at everything else.

[kit]

Apache radar is on top of rotor not because of RCS. Idea is to visually hide the helicopter by hovering behind trees, exposing only the radar to detect enemy tanks, then pop up to shoot missiles.

[MarkLandrebe-efyd]

China is too cheap for their own R&D, or just lack effective innovation !

[glum]

They copied our helicopters so well, but have no idea why or how certain parts work. But they copy very well, and gained lots of face!

[honestpetvideos]

here in India, netizens complain why our indigenous developed weapons take time to be inducted, the answer is yes it does take up much time which is bad but then the weapons inducted are heavy rugged and tested in all conditions and 5x times more reliable than these "inspired" chinese ones.

[robertcross]

China's version of R&D, receive and duplicate.

[FTributo]

Reminds me of Xiomi's shameless, cheap copy of the Porsche Taycan.

[noapologizes]

China would do better just buying a civilian Bell helicopter, fit it with armament, and paint it green. I have never seen a country so content on making something look like their competitors, yet under the hood are old washing machine parts. But I must say, Chinese Laundries do a good job of cleaning clothes.

[davidbeattie]

It is obvious that at this stage the CCP lacks the ability to innovate technologically and must slavishly copy that of its betters. Eventually they will learn, although the communist system does not excel at encouraging innovation and creativity. China also lacks the deep manufacturing process experience required to build high tech military systems. They will live with lower reliability and much higher maintenance expense for some years to come. At present China is far more interested in presenting the appearance of a capable military as a tool for its bluff and negotiate strategies.