They need some for testing and training. I don't see a lot more than two per carrier. I don't see that plase used a lot from land based airfields with KJ-500 who have probably better range and capabilities... How many KJ-600 do they need ?
KJ-600 carrierborne AEWC thread
- Thread starter Blitzo
- Start date
How many do a carrier need for 24 h AEW - arround the clock?
us carriers carries 4-6. Maybe they will also use them in some bases in scs?
I would expect Chinese carriers to be operating to the East of Taiwan, say 1000km from mainland China.
So 4 are probably required for continuous surveillance of the local area.
But I could see them carrying more.
Surveillance is more important that the number of fighters, given:
1. an airwing of 40? aircraft on the carrier
2. the distances to Guam (approx 2000km) or Japan (approx 1000km). That limits the numbers of fighter aircraft in the area
The 003 carrier displaces in the region of 85000tonnes. That is roughly twice the Charles de Gaulle.
So a better comparison of the 003 is with the Kitty Hawk conventional carrier, which was also a CATOBAR carrier and had a similar displacement.
IIRC, carrier air wings on the last Kitty Hawk carrier had 4 Hawkeyes like carrier air wings in the US today
Intrepid
Major
With two aircraft, it should be possible that one aircraft always flies CAP while the other is refueling on the aircraft carrier. A third aircraft would serve as a reserve in case one of the other two aircraft needs maintenance.
It's a case of how far from mainland China the carrier will operate... if they can switch aircraft from some on the mainland most of the time, I thing it's possible to carry 2 or 3 without capacity problems.
Italy thought much the same at the start of WWII. Italy believed Italy herself to be all the unsinkable aircraft carrier Italian navy would ever need.