PLA AEW&C, SIGINT, EW and MPA thread
- Thread starter Sczepan
- Start date
TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
funny... very funny.
Other then Airshows you rarely fly that close with another Aircraft. Especially since you as a pilot from another military have no idea what the intended course of the other aircraft is and if it has to maneuver so you give each other a wide berth 300 meters is the norm for fighters. but this is two larger aircraft. so you generally give each other a little more space.
It's also weird as P3 Orions have an electronic warfare variant, the EP3 they have equipment meant to analyze signals and signatures. the KJ200 is a AEW bird that broadcasts signals and emissions. A bit like telling the us what you can scan.
Also there is no reason why the KJ200 couldn't see the P3 and know it was there I mean It's an Awacs and the P3 is not a stealth platform. there is no logic to it.
Other then Airshows you rarely fly that close with another Aircraft. Especially since you as a pilot from another military have no idea what the intended course of the other aircraft is and if it has to maneuver so you give each other a wide berth 300 meters is the norm for fighters. but this is two larger aircraft. so you generally give each other a little more space.
It's also weird as P3 Orions have an electronic warfare variant, the EP3 they have equipment meant to analyze signals and signatures. the KJ200 is a AEW bird that broadcasts signals and emissions. A bit like telling the us what you can scan.
Also there is no reason why the KJ200 couldn't see the P3 and know it was there I mean It's an Awacs and the P3 is not a stealth platform. there is no logic to it.
vesicles
Colonel
Don't blame the KJ200 only. Both are surveillance planes capable of detecting each other hundreds of miles away. Neither changed course to mitigate the potential danger. The weirdness goes both ways since the EP3 can see the KJ200 a long way away too. They didnt alter their course either.
To me, it is obvious that this was a "marking the territory" kind of thing. The PLAAF was sending a signal to the USAF plane: this is our turf... get out! And the USAF plane was saying: NO! We are staying! And then they started a stare contest and wanted to see who would blink first. Well, I guess no one did...
I kind of doubt the KJ-200 would have been emitting in this instance. If they wanted to use an AEW&C to monitor the area, they have a big whopping radar for a reason. More likely in this case it was being sent there as a more general patrol exercise.
I wouldn't be surprised if both aircraft were only running passive sensors (P-3 and KJ-200 both have ELINT suites) and happened to stumble on each other in the same area of patrol that both were allocated with.
TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
Actually this was a P3C of the USN but could have easily been a EP3. Noramly you do intercepts by vectoring fighters, It's more intimidating. and for a KJ200 that would be it's job controlling fighters if a KJ200 wanted to make a point of trying to get rid of the P3C the only weapon it has is to ram which is well suicidal I mean they are both roughly the same weight, Width,height, and even wing span. This was bizarre.
Well the insinuation here is that the encounter was not an intercept but a happenstance encounter where both sides didn't know where the other was until they saw the other because both had active sensors off, and both sides were merely conducting basic patrol duties in a similar area.
Trust me, it would be far more alarming for the US if it had been a couple of Chinese fighters loitering over Scarborough and intercepting a P-3, than coming across a KJ-200 and only within 300m of each other.
Quickie
Colonel
I tend to agree with Vesicles. If the KJ200 was monitoring the surroundings, it should know where the P3 is. The P3 would know it was being scan but both choose to continue in their original directions. Outside of visual range though, it would be the KJ200 that would know the actual approaching distance between the two.
asif iqbal
Lieutenant General
Asif! That's a KJ-500, with the circular array. KJ-200s are in your second post, with the 'balancing beam' array.