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Future Chinese carrier-borne AEW: KJ-600 or KH-600

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Meet KJ-600, the aircraft that could help China's navy rival America's

The airborne early warning and control plane fills a gap in China's arsenal.

By Jeffrey Lin and P.W. Singer 5 hours ago

kj600.jpg

KJ-600
The XAC KJ-600 AEW&C, when deployed on future, catapult equipped Chinese aircraft carriers, will enhance the combat effectiveness of Chinese fighters, and possibly the long-range fire of warships and missiles.
OedoSoldier

China's aircraft carriers are getting plenty of press lately. China's shiny new carrier, Liaoning, visited Hong Kong last week, and the nation launched the Type 001A aircraft carrier in the spring.

There's been less talk, however, of the aircraft on those carriers. In addition to the J-15T fighter's catapult flight testing, China's making strides with its airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) plane for future catapult-equipped aircraft carriers.

AEW&C aircraft like America's E-2 Hawkeye are a essential for a fully capable carrier air wing. They provide the ability to detect incoming threats and manage complex operations. Without them, an air wing will remain comparatively limited in its capability to undertake complex operations. The challenge for China now is that its AEW&C aircraft are too heavy and slow to operate off of ski ramp-equipped carriers. It's one big way China's navy lags behind America's.

That's where the KJ-600 comes in. Built by the Xian Aircraft Corporation, KJ-600 weighs 25-30 tons and is powered by twin-engine FWJ-6C turboprop engines. Importantly, it has a large AESA radar (presumably from the 603 Institute) in a radome on top of the fuselage. Beyond that element, it can be distinguished from other Chinese twin engine turboprop planes by its folding wings and four-rudder airframe tail (similar to that found of the American E-2 Hawkeye).

The KJ-600 likely traces much of its design ancestry back to the JZY-01 testbed AEW&C aircraft, a four-rudder variant of the Y-7 transport aircraft, which was used to test Chinese concepts for a carrier-capable, fixed-wing AEW&C platform.

The KJ-600 will likely have a crew of 5-6—a pilot, a co-pilot, and a handful of personnel to operate the radar and combat control systems. Given current Chinese combat datalinking capabilities and future plans, the KJ-600 will likely be able to guide aircraft as well as help target long-range Chinese missiles and integrate data from multiple platforms into a single stream.

Improvements in signal processing already seen on Chinese ground-based radars like the JY-26 could also potentially allow the KJ-600 to detect stealth aircraft from certain angles and ranges. If meshed into a network, KJ-600 could boost ground-based systems as well.

http://www.popsci.com/kj-600-china-plane#page-3
 
The upgraded J-15B/T could also act as information nodes in conjunction with the KJ-600.
 
The one depicted in the photo is a mock-up of KJ-600.

JZY-01 is the demostrator for KJ-600. From the first look, they are very much similar. A clear photo should show the differences, just wait for the photo of first proto-type doing flight tests.
 


KJ-600b.jpg


Note the difference in the tails. The mock-up also appears slimmer and shorter than JZY-01.
http://chinese-military-aviation.blogspot.nl/p/surveillance-aircraft-ii.html

JZY-01 pics https://theaviationist.com/tag/jzy-01/
jzy-01.jpg


Img377853006.jpg

http://roll.sohu.com/20130603/n377852997.shtml

Hawkeye AEW tail
blog-e-2-hawkeye_mg_5489.jpg


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The tail of the Hawkeye has a more distinct V shape, perhaps the BW blurry pic of JZY-01 simply is a Hawkeye, as the good pic of JZY-01 tail doesn't appear to show a clear V shape tail and neither does the mock-up.

grumman-e-2c-hawkeye-at-the-air-show-of-la-ferte-alais-dy8pjx.jpg

Y7_AEW_zps22ef3067.jpg
 
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The tail of the Hawkeye has a more distinct V shape, perhaps the BW blurry pic of JZY-01 simply is a Hawkeye, as the good pic of JZY-01 tail doesn't appear to show a clear V shape tail and neither does the mock-up.

grumman-e-2c-hawkeye-at-the-air-show-of-la-ferte-alais-dy8pjx.jpg

Y7_AEW_zps22ef3067.jpg

It is !! There's no doubt ! You can even clearly see that strange "dome" on the radome's top-center a few E-2C have.

E-2C.jpg
 
It is !! There's no doubt ! You can even clearly see that strange "dome" on the radome's top-center a few E-2C have.
Also note the outer tail fins: on the JZY-01 the above and below wing portion is about the same size, whereas on the E2, the below wing portion is clearly longer than the above wing portion.
 
Also note the outer tail fins: on the JZY-01 the above and below wing portion is about the same size, whereas on the E2, the below wing portion is clearly longer than the above wing portion.
Everything is speculative now, let's wait for the more information. Making an E-2 sized air frame is not hard, the hard part is whether the electronics can perform to standards.
 
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