Recently, China’s “Shipborne Weapons and Naval Knowledge” magazine publicly displayed an artist’s impression of a new type of naval land-based early warning aircraft. The aircraft in the picture resembles what foreign media refer to as the “KJ-700” aircraft. So, what is special about this aircraft?
Foreign media believe that the “KJ-700” aircraft is equipped with the world’s first multi-sensor integrated airborne early warning platform, which includes a conformal dual-band phased array radar, a large active phased array radar, and a large airborne infrared early warning system. This represents a revolutionary advancement in global airborne stealth detection technology.
In fact, using large optical systems or infrared detectors to monitor and detect aerial targets is not a novel concept from China. In the late 1990s, the U.S. Air Force’s RC-135S “Cobra Ball” reconnaissance aircraft was already using a series of large airborne optical reconnaissance devices. For instance, the right wing and the two right engine nacelles of the RC-135S “Cobra Ball” reconnaissance aircraft were painted black. A row of four large round windows was arranged from the cockpit rear to the leading edge of the wing on the right side of the fuselage. These windows were for the three large active sensor systems of the “Cobra Ball” reconnaissance aircraft.
The first window near the nose was for the Medium Wave Infrared Array (MIRA) system, the second and third windows for the Real-Time Optical Surveillance System (RTOS), which uses 13 capture/tracking sensors to record various visible light images. The last window was for the Large Aperture Tracking System (LATS), an optical telescope with a focal length of over 30 centimeters, capable of detecting aerial targets with high resolution.
From the images released by “Shipborne Weapons and Naval Knowledge” magazine, it can be seen that the new type of naval land-based early warning aircraft has a large “optical telescope” turret mounted on the nose. This structure is similar to the laser turret of the U.S. Air Force’s YAL-1A airborne laser anti-missile demonstrator.
“Shipborne Weapons and Naval Knowledge” believes that this nearly 1-meter diameter ultra-large airborne “optical telescope” is actually an airborne long-range infrared early warning and detection system. Its main function is to use the ultra-large infrared sensor to detect stealth fighters, stealth bombers, stealth drones, and stealth cruise missiles hundreds of kilometers away.
It is well known that airborne infrared early warning and detection systems are specialized equipment used for autonomous detection, positioning, and tracking of infrared targets. Friends with early warning aircraft at home know that traditional phased array early warning radars still dominate modern warfare. The new naval land-based early warning aircraft is also equipped with a certain type of long-range early warning radar system and a new type of dual-mode dual-band digital array active phased array radar. However, although radar stealth detection technology is continuously developing, new-generation all-aspect stealth combat aircraft such as the RQ-180 and B-21 are still difficult to be effectively monitored by a single early warning radar. The detection capability of early warning radars against these new-generation stealth aircraft remains weak and cannot provide effective early warning.
At the same time, active phased array radars use active detection modes, emitting high-power radio waves to detect targets. In today’s constantly evolving electronic warfare technology, conventional early warning radars are easily attacked by enemy ultra-long-range anti-radiation weapons. The U.S. military’s recently unveiled AIM-174B ultra-long-range air-to-air missile is said to have an effective range of up to 400 kilometers against large targets such as early warning aircraft, posing a significant threat to Chinese early warning aircraft.
Therefore, it is indeed necessary to build a passive detection long-range infrared early warning and detection system to compensate for the blind spots of radar early warning, while avoiding its inherent weaknesses. This allows the integration of airborne radar, dual-band radar, and electro-optical early warning systems into a unified early warning system. In fact, for major powers, there are no technical difficulties in establishing this system. Large-aperture infrared imaging systems have already been successfully applied in certain infrared early warning satellite constellations. Handling large optical sensors with a diameter of about 1 meter is well within reach.
