i dont really follow space/satellites. But how far have they come to now? Can they see through cloud layers?
PLA AEW&C, SIGINT, EW and MPA thread
- Thread starter Sczepan
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The ASW mission requires more endurance. Effective ASW requires keeping the pressure on 7/24 on distant waters. AEW only needs to be on air during an air operation. If AEW is on the air for defensive purposes it stays near the airfield.
High resolution SAR satellite can see all but the most extreme weather condition clearly.
From the way I see it, the most plausible conflict is in the westpac where Chinese AEWC will need to lotter near to stay relevant to the war effort which definitely requires range and endurance as well. I doubt China will resort to being defensive around the mainland unless something very wrong has happened.
If the range and endurance are very important then turboprops beat turbofans for similar sized aircraft. The Y-30 will likely beat the C-919 in these two. I expect it to spawn ASW variants. For AEW the C-919 would be preferable because of other reasons. But that likely won't happen. The C-919 has foreign parts and China is seemingly keeping the project strictly civilian.
Exactly. The Y-9 is a pretty good platform combining loiter time, cost of operation and power.
And that's why China has built well over 60 (KJ-500/200) and in mass production mode going forward where we could end up with well over 100. Most air forces literally only a handful of AEW. Only the USAF operates anywhere close to the numbers that China does. But the US had built the majority of theirs 30 years ago (last E-3 built in 1990s) while China had basically caught in the span of the last decade.
Obviously, you can always update and get better with the platform and thus some discussion with the Y-30 in the PLAAF and the USAF needing to retire and, initially, wanted update to the E-7 (based on the 737.)
But the serious plan by the DOD to now switch over to the E-2 signifies how good China decision was to use the Y-8/Y-9. It is mainly a cost issue but includes an operational one as well. Not only is a commercial jet based aircraft more expensive to build and more expensive to operate but it requires a long runway too.
The KJ-500 would have major advantages over the E-2 in range, loiter, radome size and power. There would always be need for high capacity/high speed/high altitude jet AEW like the KJ-2000/3000. But it is good to have the ubiquitous availability of the KJ-500/700 that very few (or maybe practically no other) air forces can afford.
Just a slight correction.
The majority of the AEW&C fleet of the US are actually carrier-based E-2s operated by the USN. In fact, only a handful of E-3s (21x in mid-2024) are being operated by the USAF, and until the E-7 arrives (which its fate is currently in a toss-up) - That's pretty much it.
So, China's actually the country with the largest fleet of land-based AEW&C aircrafts in the world, and most of them (KJ-500 and KJ-700) are in the similar category as the Boeing 737-800-based E-7.
Different band, it's just a very different system in its design purpose.
For (likely) lower band multi statics and overall stealth detection.
Up to debate to which degree they can work by themselves, especially against small LO targets overland.
Which is rapidly turning from "a" concern to "the" concern.
I'd personally consider US measure short-sighted, and explainable only by budget realities.
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A Y-9LG seen afar.
