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Red Hawk rising: how the Z-20 family is plugging China’s chronic defence gaps

Modern technology has put the multi-role utility helicopter ahead of the original Black Hawk, making it an anchor of the PLA’s new air era

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Liu ZhenPublished: 11:00pm, 21 Jun 2026Telling a Harbin Z-20 and a Sikorsky UH-60 “Black Hawk” apart can be challenging – the two helicopters look almost identical and their dimensions are very similar.

The striking resemblance underscores China’s decades-long effort to close the technological gap with the United States and Russia in the important aviation sector of helicopters.

Yet, there are differences: the Z-20 has five main rotor blades compared with the UH-60’s four, and its cabin features two front windows instead of the American model’s three.

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The Z-20 is Beijing’s most advanced military helicopter designed for multiple situational uses, including in the Taiwan Strait.

PLA kicks off military exercises around TaiwanChina entered the scene late. Until 1984, it lacked high-altitude-capable helicopters. That changed when 24 S-70Cs, the Black Hawk’s civilian variant, were imported at the peak of China-US ties.Advertisement

Over the next three and a half decades, China relied solely on this ageing and shrinking fleet for both military and civilian missions in its vast high-altitude territories.

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