AIN DEFENSE PERSPECTIVE » SEPTEMBER 7, 2012
The latest AEW conversion in China was revealed in these Internet photos. They show a heavily modified Y-7 transport.
September 7, 2012, 1:00 PM
Photographs have recently appeared on Chinese Internet sites showing a Xian Y-7 transport aircraft that has been heavily modified to serve as a testbed for a carrier-borne airborne early warning and control (AEW) aircraft. These recent photos follow one that appeared in May 2011, which provided the first grainy visual evidence of development of a “Chinese Hawkeye” by Xian.
China has already developed two types of AEW aircraft for land-based use, the KJ-2000 based on the Il-76 and the KJ-200 based on the Shaanxi Y-8. The Kamov Ka-31 helicopter was acquired for shipboard use, while the Changhe Z-8 (Super Frelon) was also modified to Z-8Y standard with a retractable AEW radar antenna. Both helicopters are seen as interim solutions for the Navy’s first carrier, which has a ski-jump deck configuration that cannot support operations of large fixed-wing AEW aircraft. In early 2005, however, a model of such an aircraft was shown at the 603 Institute at Xian, the design resembling that of the Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye and Yakovlev Yak-44.
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