Nvm...
PLA AEW&C, SIGINT, EW and MPA thread
- Thread starter Sczepan
- Start date
Stupid question?
Is the radar still for surveillance or have they integrated a jamming capability to it? (Since it is AESA)
A much-awaited continuation from the C919.Since @Deino posted this on Twitter, I'd like to share it here too.
View attachment 107368
American counterparts for reference, according to variant:
01 - ASW maritime patrol aircraft - Boeing P-8 Poseidon
02 - ELINT and EW aircraft - Boeing RC-135
03 - AEW&C aircraft - Boeing E-7 Wedgetail
04 - Executive transport aircraft - Boeing C-32
All 4 PLA variants based on the C919 are definitely viable (since this is how most of the world does these kinds of platforms anyway), but we may have to wait until the late-2020s at the earliest to see them being realized, since there are still tons of stuff onboard the C919 that needs to be fully indigenized.
In the meantime, now we wait for the C929 to enter service in the 2030s at the earliest (very late, unfortunately)... So that China can have her own counterparts to the Boeing VC-25 presidental transport aircraft and the Boeing E-4 Nightwatch strategic C&C aircraft...
Hypothetical yet viable thought - What if China manages to fully indigenise the COMAC C929, and adapt the widebody jetliner for PLAAF usage?
CGI by @Astrosiren_深空海妖 on Weibo.
Foreign counterparts for reference, according to variant:
01 - EW and ECM aircraft - Kawasaki RC-2
02 - Advanced airborne command post aircraft - Boeing E-4B
03 - Aerial tanker - Airbus A330 MRTT
04 - Executive transport aircraft - Boeing VC-25B
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2, 3 and 4 make sense. A widebody airliner airframe is of course very appropriate for being developed into separate variants for roles like a high end national airborne command post, tanker, and executive/presidential transport.
1 as depicted is a bit much.
They seem to have crammed in the roles of AEW&C, EW/ECM, GMTI/SAR all onto the same airframe (despite the rather innocuous description in Chinese), which while not impossible when using modern technology for a widebody, is a bit ridiculous, and those roles are probably better separated and delegated to narrow body civilian airliner platforms (i.e.: C919 sized) if they want a manned, jet powered aircraft fulfilling those individual roles.
Thanks a lot for the explanation!
So 01 is basically a "what-if" depiction of the Chinese-equivalent of the Northrop Grumman E-10 MC2A...
?
There are no major benefits to a C919 based tanker. The airframe is too small to be an effective tanker.
No one is suggesting that C919 should be adopted as a tanker, but rather that C929 would be appropriate for it given it is a much larger aircraft.
As far as 04 is concerned, is it wise to place that large a contingent of Senior or Executive leadership on one aircraft?
Nevermind; I see its an Air Force 1 equivalent.
btw, I don't think I saw this getting posted
We have remote sensing version of MA60 here. Just a test platform right now, but a lot of sensors here
combines P L & VHF radar captured 4.6 TB of data on 7 trips. Also carries that huge SAR fairing, 3D Lidar & powerful camera.