News Story: China Modernizes Bomber Fleet, Looks to Future With H-20

A Chinese H-6 Bomber (File Photo)

Though it has not received media attention equal to its fighter counterparts, the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) bomber fleet is steadily being modernized, and plans call for a next generation stealthy, multi-role bomber.

The Xian Aircraft Corporation (XAC) H-6K bomber proved its capabilities during the Aviadarts 2017 competition held earlier this month in China, edging out the Russian Tu-22M3/M3M Backfire in the bomber category. Chinese analysts credit the win to newer navigation systems and targeting radar, as well as rigorous aircrew training.

The PLAAF has also reportedly introduced a new imaging infrared (IIR) or optical seeker variant of the K/AKD-20/CJ-20 “Long Sword” cruise missile, which is the primary air-launched cruise missile of the H-6K. The CJ-20 is guided by an integrated GPS/inertial navigation system and terrain contour matching (TERCOM). The new seekers will ensure a higher survivability against electronic countermeasures and greater target accuracy at the terminal stage.

Enhancements to the H-6K continue; in late August, an amateur photo of a “green” H-6 with in-flight refueling probe surfaced on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter. This could be the alleged H-6N that reportedly flew for the first time in December. Many believe the H-6N could host the air-launched DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile. The reworked airframe could have been modified and strengthened to accommodate the 11-meter missile and better shielded against radiation.

Read the full story at AINonline

News Story: Latest Chinese Airpower To Debut at Zhuhai Airshow

KJ-500 AEW&C Aircraft

by Mike Yeo

China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) will be showcasing a number of new platforms at the 11th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, which will be held next week at Zhuhai airbase near Guangdong. They include Chengdu J-10B multirole fighter, the Xi’an H-6K bomber and the Shaanxi KJ-500 Airborne Early Warning (AEW) aircraft. Airshow organizers were also touting a “secret combat aircraft” belonging to the PLAAF for the flying display, which is thought to be the Chengdu J-20 stealth fighter, currently in low-rate initial production (LRIP). But it was missing from the updated line-up that they published today.

A pair of LRIP J-20s sporting a new two-tone dark gray splinter camouflage have been observed carrying out maneuvers and formation flying over Chengdu Aircraft Corporation’s facilities, further fueling speculation the type will make its debut at Zhuhai this year.

Meanwhile, the appearance of the J-10B confirms that the type has entered PLAAF service. The aircraft that is in Zhuhai carries tail serials for the PLAAF’s 2nd Air Division, 5th Regiment based at Guilin, Guangxi. Photos of J-10Bs in PLAAF colors have been appearing since late 2014, but with tail serials either blurred or edited out altogether, precluding identification of their unit.

Read the full story at AINonline

News Story: China Reveals Origin of AEWC Radar

KJ-500 AEW&C

Wendell Minnick

Chinese Radar AEWC Revelations

TAIPEI – A government-run media service, Xinhua, reported that the No. 38 Research Institute under the China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC) designed the radar platform and system for the new KJ-500 Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEWC) aircraft.

The Institute is actually known as the East China Research Institute of Electronic Engineering (ECRIEE) in Hefei, Anhui Province. It is one of the numerous institutes under the CETC umbrella (CETC-38). ECRIEE works closely with the Hefei-based Department of Radar Armaments under the National Remote Sensing Center of China.

Xinhua quoted Xiong Qunli, CETC chairman, as confirming the information in a March 14 article. The radar is attached to the top of the aircraft in a round radome similar to the Northrop E-2 Hawkeye. The KJ-500 is a fixed-wing Y-9 four-turboprop aircraft.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Story: PLA targets Vietnam in S China Sea exercise, US in E China Sea

Chinese Navy Warships on patrol (File Photo)

The People's Liberation Army Navy last week held large-scale military exercises in the East China and South China seas, according to Sina's military news web portal.

On July 28, the South Sea Fleet led a live-fire exercise in an area of the South China Sea measuring several tens of thousands of square kilometers, along with the other PLA Navy fleets, the Guangzhou Military Region and the Second Artillery Corps; on July 30 and 31, the PLA Navy dispatched a fleet of electronic-warfare aircraft and Xian H-6 twin-engine jet bombers on several missions flying over the Miyako Strait, the waterway between Japan's Miyako Island and Okinawa Island, into the Western Pacific.

The targets of the two military exercises were not announced in the PLA press release. Military affairs websites have suggested that the South China Sea exercise is likely aimed at territory within what China calls the "first island chain" — the term the Chinese military uses to refer to the string of archipelagos extending from the Kuril islands south through Japan and its Ryukyu islands, Taiwan and the Philippines — likely in preparation for a potential scenario in which a US aircraft carrier war fleet break through the first island chain. Although this is a reasonable assumption, in a real combat scenario, relying on anti-ship missiles, conventional submarine-launched missiles and air-launched cruise missiles with a range of just 300 kilometers to take on a carrier fleet means that all the warships, planes and submarines would have to penetrate the carrier fleet's outer defenses and approach its inner defenses to fire their payload. This kind of scenario is hard to imagine playing out in reality, given the naval power of the US.

Read the full story at Want China Times

News Story: China lacks fuselages to build more KJ-2000s

KJ-2000 (Wiki Info - Image: Wiki Commons)

Even after developing five types of early warning aircraft, China remains unable to build more than five KJ-2000s due to its lack of enough fuselages, according to a report by overseas Chinese news outlet Duowei on May 12.

China began the development of its first-generation early warning aircraft based on a Tu-4 bomber provided by the Soviet Union back in 1960s. However, China was unable to put the aircraft known as the KJ-1 into service because it could not build a proper radar system. It is still unclear whether China ever started test flights of the KJ-1. The aircraft is currently exhibited at the Chinese Aviation Museum located at Beijing.

Read the full story at Want China Times

News Story: Taiwan's defensive air superiority challenged by new Chinese aircraft

KJ-500 AWACS (Internet photo)

Taiwan's advantage over China in term of air defense may have been lost as the People's Liberation Army recently added a fleet of new airborne early warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft to its Air Force, a global defense magazine reported Thursday.

Referring to photographs that were released on a Chinese online military forum, the magazine IHS Jane's 360 said the Chinese Air Force has commissioned its newly developed KJ-500 AWACS aircraft to bolster its air superiority capabilities.

Reports from China indicate that the PLA Air Force had been relying on its KJ2000 AWACS aircraft, which is based on the design of the aging Russian Ilyushin IL-76 airframe, the online magazine said.

Despite its stellar maximum endurance rating, the PLA Air Force's fleet of 4 KJ-2000 aircraft is not enough to meet the country's need in combat, according to reports from China.

Read the full story at Want China Times

News Story: PLA's airborne radar system touted as 'best in world'

KJ-2000 Mainring AEW&C (Wiki Info - Image: Wiki Commons)

Hong Kong military commentator Leung Guo-liang says China's airborne early warning and control system is the world's most advanced radar system, according to Hong Kong's Ming Pao.

Leung, deputy editor of Hong Kong's China-leaning magazine the Mirror, said the radar's role in large-scale air battles has become increasingly important for coordinating aircraft.

Wang Xiaomo, one of the developers behind China's airborne early warning and control system, said the country has achieved nine breakthroughs in the development of the system that put it ahead of the United States. China's KJ-2000 early warning and control system is a multi-functional and sophisticated radar that has the longest and widest range in the world, Wang said.

The Washington-based Jamestown Foundation was cited as saying China's early warning and control system with its Active Phased Array Radar is one generation ahead of the Boeing E-3C Sentry of the US, the most advanced of its kind in the US, with its rotating radar dome.

Read the full story at Want China Times