PLA AEW&C, SIGINT, EW and MPA thread

[by78]

A nice image of Y-8JZ (Huitong's designation), courtesy of JASDF.

 

[no_name]

The low visibility marking looks nice with the colour of the airplane. The original red and yellow stands out a bit too much.

 

[by78]

A rare image of a KJ-2000 taxiing in the dark for a night exercise.

 

[drowingfish]

Just to chip-in a little.


That AEW&C deal was originally meant to be performed on a couple Il-76s that China purchased from Russia by installing the Israeli EL/W-2090 radar sets and equipment onboard those Il-76s. But after that deal was scuttled by US intervention, those Israeli radar sets and equipment were then sold to India, which culminated in the 3x A-50EIs that are in service with the Indian Air Force right now.

China's aspiration to acquire AEW&C aircrafts definitely suffered a major setback at that time, sure. But it's not like China didn't start their own AEW&C when the deal was still on, either. And look at where China is at right now compared to India.

While India is still stuck with:
1. 3x of the original A-50EIs, and
2. 3x EMB-145-I aircrafts, with
3. Plans to convert 6x A321s purchased from Air India into AEW&C platforms;

China is already steaming far, far ahead with:
1. Around 3-4x KJ-2000s,
2. At least 11x KJ-200s, and
3. At least 50-60x KJ-500s right now, with
4. Plans to procure numerous larger AEW&C platforms i.e. KJ-3000 (either based on Y-20B or C919(-I)) in the coming years.

Just the fact on the numbers alone can tell a lot.

even PAK AF can rival india on AWAC numbers now

 

[Chavez]

There is no indication of up grade ,such as canoe shape esm .

 

[by78]

Twenty years ago today, on the 54th anniversary of the founding of PLAAF, KJ-2000 made its first flight.

 

[Chavez]

The original kj2000 do not even possess link 16 jtids , not until 2013 when link 16 type data link finally enter service

 

[bebops]

Are these AEW&C good at detecting the source of the proofer/jammer such as B21?

 

[Wrought]

Are these AEW&C good at detecting the source of the proofer/jammer such as B21?

You are never going to get a real answer to that question in any public space, and even the militaries themselves are uncertain about how exactly these capabilities will interact in the real world. Nothing is invisible, and nothing needs to be. It's all a question of how visible, at what range, with what precision, scaled against the capabilities and survivability of the platform itself.

It will certainly be more difficult to detect VLO aircraft like the B-21. How difficult? And how much will it matter? Nobody knows.

 

[ACuriousPLAFan]

KJ-500A in flight.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1725101362764271959