PLA AEW&C, SIGINT, EW and MPA thread
- Thread starter Sczepan
- Start date
The sausage factory, October 26 this year ...
I see four AWACs in this photo alone! How many AWACs does PLAAF currently field?
At least 8 are confirmed by serial numbers and I think a similar number for the PLAN.
Eight in production or eight in service?
by78
General
Y-9JZ High New 8, serial number 9221 (previously seen).
Note the green trailer in the foreground, which has one line of large red characters and two lines of small red characters on it. The large characters say "large aircraft tools and equipment cabin". The first line of small characters says "Made by Chinese People's Liberation Army no. 4328 Factory". I can't make out the last two characters of the second line, but the rest say something along the lines of "PLANAF Department of Technical Support..."
(1920 x 1382)
Note the green trailer in the foreground, which has one line of large red characters and two lines of small red characters on it. The large characters say "large aircraft tools and equipment cabin". The first line of small characters says "Made by Chinese People's Liberation Army no. 4328 Factory". I can't make out the last two characters of the second line, but the rest say something along the lines of "PLANAF Department of Technical Support..."
(1920 x 1382)
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Hendrik_2000
Lieutenant General
It is definitely 8 in service for PLAAF and 8 for the Navy Add 4 more so total is at least 20 which make sense But they still along way to cover all the Chinese territory
asif iqbal
Lieutenant General
None of these have refuelling probe
8 KJ500 for plaaf and another 8 for planaf? or were you talking about something else?
If you talked about KJ500, what source stated there are at least 16 in service?
I remember asking him that three months ago as well. I think he said that serials 30071 to 30078 for the air force had been identified except for 30076, but it can be safely assumed that 30076 is also in service, making 8 for the PLAAF. For the PLANAF at least 4 serials have been confirmed, and that was a while ago as well, more likely now 6-8 in service.
Considering the pace of KJ-500 production that we can ID (alongside the overall pace of Y-9 airframe family aircraft) from satellite images every few months, I wouldn't be surprised if there was approaching a total of 20 KJ-500s in service in the overall PLA by now.
it's not that crazy tbh, considering the first 4 or so KJ-500s entered service between the PLAAF and PLANAF in the second half of 2014 or early 2015, you only need an annual production rate of 4-6 airframes for the PLA as a whole to get to ~20 airframes by late 2018.