COMAC heads visited Transnusa recently. C909 seems to be doing quite well in its initial service there.
Chinese Aviation Industry
- Thread starter FriedRiceNSpice
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COMAC heads visited Transnusa recently. C909 seems to be doing quite well in its initial service there.
Full story in the posted link
Photos taken on June 11, 2025 shows the first mass-produced AG600 aircraft at AVIC General Huanan Aircraft Industry Co., Ltd. in Zhuhai, south China's Guangdong Province. China's domestically developed AG600 "Kunlong" amphibious aircraft has officially entered mass production after receiving the production certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of China on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Deng Hua)
The production certificate confirms the applicant's quality system meets airworthiness regulations and ensures consistent production that adheres to design standards, said an expert from the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), the aircraft developer and the country's leading aircraft manufacturer.
Slightly larger than mainstream single-aisle airliners, the AG600 measures 38.9 meters in length, 11.7 meters in height and 38.8 meters in wingspan, according to AVIC data.
The aircraft's maximum takeoff weight is 60 tonnes, with a maximum practical range of 4,500 kilometers. Notably, it can carry up to 12 tonnes of water for fire-fighting missions.
"The AG600 is a plane that can swim and a ship that can fly," Huang Lingcai, chief designer of the AG600 series, told Xinhua in a previous interview.
The aircraft features a unique configuration consisting of an integrated aircraft-shaped upper body and a ship-bottom-shaped lower body. On each side of its huge wing, there is a float over 4 meters long to prevent the aircraft from overturning when it taxis on the water surface to ensure safety.
The AG600's development involved hundreds of supporting units and tens of thousands of components, showcasing China's comprehensive capabilities in collaborative design and manufacturing, supply chain management and process consistency control for large special-purpose aircraft.
This photo taken on June 11, 2025 shows the first mass-produced AG600 aircraft at AVIC General Huanan Aircraft Industry Co., Ltd. in Zhuhai, south China's Guangdong Province. (Xinhua/Deng Hua)
Photos taken on June 11, 2025 shows the final assembly line for AG600 aircraft at AVIC General Huanan Aircraft Industry Co., Ltd. in Zhuhai, south China's Guangdong Province.(Xinhua/Deng Hua)
Photos taken on June 11, 2025 shows the first mass-produced AG600 aircraft at AVIC General Huanan Aircraft Industry Co., Ltd. in Zhuhai, south China's Guangdong Province. (Xinhua/Deng Hua)
Photos taken on June 11, 2025 shows the first mass-produced AG600 aircraft at AVIC General Huanan Aircraft Industry Co., Ltd. in Zhuhai, south China's Guangdong Province. China's domestically developed AG600 "Kunlong" amphibious aircraft has officially entered mass production after receiving the production certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of China on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Deng Hua)
The production certificate confirms the applicant's quality system meets airworthiness regulations and ensures consistent production that adheres to design standards, said an expert from the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), the aircraft developer and the country's leading aircraft manufacturer.
Slightly larger than mainstream single-aisle airliners, the AG600 measures 38.9 meters in length, 11.7 meters in height and 38.8 meters in wingspan, according to AVIC data.
The aircraft's maximum takeoff weight is 60 tonnes, with a maximum practical range of 4,500 kilometers. Notably, it can carry up to 12 tonnes of water for fire-fighting missions.
"The AG600 is a plane that can swim and a ship that can fly," Huang Lingcai, chief designer of the AG600 series, told Xinhua in a previous interview.
The aircraft features a unique configuration consisting of an integrated aircraft-shaped upper body and a ship-bottom-shaped lower body. On each side of its huge wing, there is a float over 4 meters long to prevent the aircraft from overturning when it taxis on the water surface to ensure safety.
The AG600's development involved hundreds of supporting units and tens of thousands of components, showcasing China's comprehensive capabilities in collaborative design and manufacturing, supply chain management and process consistency control for large special-purpose aircraft.
This photo taken on June 11, 2025 shows the first mass-produced AG600 aircraft at AVIC General Huanan Aircraft Industry Co., Ltd. in Zhuhai, south China's Guangdong Province. (Xinhua/Deng Hua)
Photos taken on June 11, 2025 shows the final assembly line for AG600 aircraft at AVIC General Huanan Aircraft Industry Co., Ltd. in Zhuhai, south China's Guangdong Province.(Xinhua/Deng Hua)
Photos taken on June 11, 2025 shows the first mass-produced AG600 aircraft at AVIC General Huanan Aircraft Industry Co., Ltd. in Zhuhai, south China's Guangdong Province. (Xinhua/Deng Hua)
S
I do wonder if those new RORO pier ships will have modular docks to accomodate loading and unloading from seaplanes as well as other sea vessels. No doubt the wings would necessetate some special designs to avoid damage, but some kind of a retractable or temporary floating pier would be easy enough to deploy as needed.
Exactly, yes. I don't know how better to describe them. I was just speculating that the rollout of the large seaplane may be correlated with the other, as part of a rapid maritime logistics system.
lcloo
Major
AG-600M is not suitable for this type of military operation. It is not designed for such amphibious warfare use. Then you should also consider the following-
Firstly, this aircraft doesn't have a cargo door or a ramp, also it's cabin is not as wide as other transport aircraft like Y9, thus it will be crumblesome to load and unload war materials while at sea.
Secondly AG-600M is too large and this make it an easy target. It can be spotted at long distance.
Thirdly, the wind and wave condition at the sea that close to the beach might not be favourable. They might as well land the aircraft at the nearest captured airfield.
There are many other better ways to send personnel and war material by air to the beach front or beyond. Heavy helicopter is one of them.
These type of landing or bridging barge/jetty is designed for heavy equipment (radar trucks, mobile SAM launchers, bridge layer etc) and motor vehicles/heavy trucks/armour vehicles etc to land on the beach from large landing ship or transport ships.
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by78
General
Some updates on the AC332 project:
– On April 17, AC332 successfully completed autorotation landing test.
– On May 7, inflight engine restart tests were completed.
– On May 15, AC332 successfully passed additional static load testing with a max take-off weight requirement of four tons. Previously, the airframe was tested according to the then max take-off weight requirement of 3.85 tons. The requirement was subsequent revised upward to four tons, which necessitated additional testing.
Some newly released old images from AC332's development, including static load test, landing skids test, and main rotor test.
