China’s military steps up development of ship-based warplanes to keep up with aircraft carrier advances

Name: Chinese navy practises aerial combat as it prepares its newest aircraft carrier for operations
Uploaded: 2022-07-29T22:00:21.000Z
Duration: 1 min 19 s
Description: Chinese navy practises aerial combat as it prepares its newest aircraft carrier for operations

Recent photo and video evidence shows developments in Chinese early warning aircraft and stealth fighter jets

Currently, Chinese navy aircraft carriers must rely on helicopters for their airborne early warning system

Reading Time:2 minutes

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Social media revealed an image of the Chinese KJ-600 carrier-based early warning aircraft, on a test flight over the northwestern city of Xian. Photo: Weibo

Liu Zhen

Published: 6:00am, 30 Jul 2022Updated: 8:41am, 30 Jul 2022

China has stepped up efforts to develop its next generation of ship-based warplanes for its new aircraft carriers, with recent photos revealing Beijing’s progress in developing early warning aircraft and stealth fighter jets.

A video circulating on Chinese social media this week showed the KJ-600 – China’s first fixed-wing early warning plane capable of operating on the carriers – on a test flight over the northwestern city of Xian, where its manufacturer, Xian Aircraft Industrial Corporation, is based.

The KJ-600 made its first flight in August 2020. And the latest online pictures showed a plane in green and white paint – suggesting it was still a prototype – and on its nose was a protruding pitot tube, which is used to measure airspeed.

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Chinese navy practises aerial combat as it prepares its newest aircraft carrier for operations

The aircraft is believed to have active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars and is, in many ways, aimed at matching the Northrop Grumman E-2D Advanced Hawkeye.

The People’s Liberation Army Air Force is equipped with land-based early warning aircraft KJ-2000 and KJ-500. But currently, Chinese navy aircraft carriers must rely on helicopters for their airborne early warning system.

Once the KJ-600 enters service with much improved range, speed and payload, it could greatly enhance the carrier strike group’s situational awareness.

It could also be key to communication in the battlefield command chain and data link network, and even be used to guide missiles fired from destroyers on from the land in over-the-horizon attacks.

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