PLA AEW&C, SIGINT, EW and MPA thread

[F=XX Corsair]

So what's the jury on this new Y-9 special mission aircraft? The preliminary consensus online suggest it's an EW platform with secondary ELINT/SIGINT role a la Y-9LG, but equipped with a larger top mounted dome and additional antennas.








The side by side pics on twitter shows that the plane merges multiple antennas from different Y-9 special mission aircraft. with the most prominent being Y-9G (tail, chin?, and cheeks?) and KJ-500 (top dome and rear side looking antennas) it's also possible that the front side looking antennas and the chin mounted antenna aren't the ones mounted in Y-9G but KJ-700, while the nose radome matches the one in Y-9FQ ASW variant. the dome array might be inverted to give better side coverage when flying in a holding pattern and the rear array being omitted to mitigate interference with friendly assets..

Some plausible roles are that it could be an improved EW like Y-9LG but with dual band EW arrays (top dome + cheeks), the dome array might be inverted to give better side coverage when flying in a holding pattern and the rear array being omitted to mitigate EM interference with friendly assets...

Or it could be that the top mounted radar is dual role that can perform both AEW & EW from the same arrays like the ECRS MK2 / APG-85 / APG-82(V)X? If so and with SAR (nose and chin), ESM (rear SLAR), EW (cheek SLAR), MFR (top dome) arrays and an EO/IR turret the aircraft could be a true multirole special mission aircraft that can shift its mission profile on the fly.

 

[Gloire_bb]

Why not simply point the side with the highest gain toward it(the most threatening direction)—earlier on, so that you can detect it as early as possible?

There are multiple patterns AEW/AWACS can be used, but broadly, 360 picture more often than not is more desirable for air defense purposes (either carrier, or in-depth); or barrier patrol, where the frontal axis is profoundly secondary.

 

[Confusionism]

There are multiple patterns AEW/AWACS can be used, but broadly, 360 picture more often than not is more desirable for air defense purposes (either carrier, or in-depth); or barrier patrol, where the frontal axis is profoundly secondary.

But this does not prove that the backward direction has become more critical.
Essentially, the fact that fixed-wing aircraft can only fly forward along their axis gives the direction directly ahead a higher priority.

 

[Gloire_bb]

But this does not prove that the backward direction has become more critical.
Essentially, the fact that fixed-wing aircraft can only fly forward along their axis gives the direction directly ahead a higher priority.

As I said earlier in this thread, my best assumption is that electronically cutting up a sector of the 3rd array may be simpler than solving tail interferences/reflections.

 

[Confusionism]

As I said earlier in this thread, my best assumption is that electronically cutting up a sector of the 3rd array may be simpler than solving tail interferences/reflections.

No, this theory merely explains how to avoid interference from the tail, but it has nothing to do with the fact that arrays always have greater gain at 90°.

 

[Deino]

Apparently it's called KJ-20

Sorry, me again ... but "apparently" based on whom?