The progress of China’s first shipborne early-warning aircraft – KJ-600 – is attracting attention, with speculation that it will soon make its maiden flight and could be used for China’s second home-made ship – Aircraft Carrier Type 003. The ship’s early warning aircraft, once it appears, will greatly enhance the aircraft carrier’s combat capability.
On July 9, China’s Xi’an Aviation Industry Brake Technology Co., Ltd. official WeChat account unveiled that the company’s design research institute has been established “600 first flight brake system party commando” and “brake system identification party commando”, which means that the development of KJ-600 is proceeding apace.
Images of the JZY-01 shipborne early warning verification aircraft began circulating on the Chinese network as early as around 2012. Western media named the Chinese shipborne AWACS as KJ-600 (or Kongjing-600). In 2017, the Chinese shipborne AWACS model and J-15 model appeared on a “cement aircraft carrier” in Wuhan, Hubei province, and triggered public concern from all walks of life.
It is speculated that KJ-600’s fuselage is relatively short and thick, it is an advanced naval early warning aircraft with a multi-pendant tail, it has a length of about 20-21 meters, a height of about 6 meters, a width of about 9 meters, and an empty weight of about 18 tons and a maximum takeoff weight of about 24 tons. It might adopt two turboprop engines and a new six-blade propeller. KJ-600 may be equipped with an advanced active electronically scanned phased array radar (AESA), which enables it to detect stealth fighters like F-22 and F-35.
As for when KJ-600 will be operational, Chinese military experts have analyzed that KJ-600 is a custom shipboard early warning aircraft designed for China’s next-generation electromagnetic ejection carrier, so the aircraft’s official shipboard time should be linked to the launch time of China’s electromagnetic ejection aircraft carrier. However, due to the difficulty of developing an electromagnetic ejection carrier, it is still unknown when it will be launched, so KJ-600’s onboard still needs patience.
It is worth noting that China is building a second home-made aircraft carrier – Type 003, and the possibility of using electromagnetic ejection is increasing. According to outside analysis, the type 003 aircraft carrier will be equipped with three to four electromagnetic catapults, doubling its aircraft sortie capability and significantly increasing its core combat power; at the same time, the use of electromagnetic catapults will expand the types of aircraft used by the carrier. In addition to ship-based fighters, large ship-based stealth unmanned attack aircraft and fixed-wing early-warning aircraft could be put on the carrier.
The Forbes magazine website also reported that the Type 003 carrier is expected to have a new type of catapult, known as an electromagnetic aircraft ejection system (EMALS). On the Type 003 aircraft carrier, the catapult will replace the ski-jump platform, which means it will be able to launch heavier aircraft. This could include a new fixed-wing early warning aircraft similar to the U.S. Navy’s Hawkeye AWACS. And a new generation of stealth fighters and unmanned combat vehicles (UCAVs) may also be in development.
This means that KJ-600 is likely to be put into use on the type 003 aircraft carrier. Analysts pointed out that early warning aircraft on an aircraft carrier is like “eyes in the sky”, as it can greatly enhance the safety, target search capabilities and long-range operational capability of aircraft carriers.
It is estimated that China’s KJ-600 AWACS has a detection range of several hundred kilometers, and has virtually no blind spots because its high-altitude early warning overcomes the effects of Earth’s curvature.
In this way, the aircraft carrier’s air defense alert circle will expand outward by several hundred kilometers. Some experts have pointed out that once KJ-600 is put into service, the possibility of the PLA carrier’s position being exposed will also be significantly reduced.