PLA AEW&C, SIGINT, EW and MPA thread

[ACuriousPLAFan]

Just a fan-made artistic illustration model of the KJ-3000 from N-years ago, which very roughly matches we we saw so far (if anyone wants a visualization). Posted by @Hurin92 on Twitter.

 

[lipschitz]

So, the PLAAF's AWACS platform is the old Y-9 for quite a long time. Larger AWACS has no news since the KJ2000 until now. Could I draw a conclusion that PLAAF is waiting for the new platform Y20B to be matured for next gen AWACS?

 

[SinoAmericanCW]

Very cool guys does this mean H-20 is still delayed?

Looks like it.

 

[Fatty]

Do you guys think engine production may be a bottleneck for aircraft production in the future? All these new planes are using 2 3 4 of the newest engines.

 

[SinoAmericanCW]

So, the PLAAF's AWACS platform is the old Y-9 for quite a long time. Larger AWACS has no news since the KJ2000 until now. Could I draw a conclusion that PLAAF is waiting for the new platform Y20B to be matured for next gen AWACS?

Y-9 isn't old, the baseline transport version only entered service in 2012!

And yes, I know it's a deep redesign/upgrade of the Y-8, but it's such a thoroughly transformed one as to be effectively a new aircraft.

 

[ACuriousPLAFan]

Do you guys think engine production may be a bottleneck for aircraft production in the future? All these new planes are using 2 3 4 of the newest engines.

Speaking of the J-XDC, J-XDS and H-20:

Instead of production bottleneck, I'd say that by having both J-XDs using the same engines (and hopefully the H-20 in the future as well, but with a non-afterburning variant) massively simplifies and streamlines production efforts, simply from the lack of need to operate and maintain two largely/complete separate sets of production lines and equipment for two entirely different products.

In the meantime, instead of having to deal with multiple engine families, the aircraft manufacturers and the PLAAF+PLANAF will only need to focus on one (or at most, two) engine family. That's a massive boon for China's warfighting capability.

 

[bsdnf]

KJ-3000 completed its first flight. As Ayi said yesterday, Xi'an also did it.

 

[Fatty]

To be honest this isn’t as shocking as the other two planes, but am I fair to say that this demonstrates a level of confidence in the WS-20? Can we say that Chinese aero engines can now be considered world class?

 

[mayato]

Congratulations to the Air Force of the Chinese People's Liberation Army for becoming a new strategic air force.

 

[Deino]

KJ-3000 completed its first flight. As Ayi said yesterday, Xi'an also did it.View attachment 141804View attachment 141805

The second image however looks like a KJ-2000, it is grey and has these two characteristic canoe-shaped landing-gear fairings under the fuselage typical for Il-76