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Aircraft carriers can reinvent a country’s navy, allowing them to project military power thousands of miles away from the country. It also extends maritime power to open oceans and deep-water areas, possesses expeditionary combat capabilities, and becomes one of the true symbols of the “blue water navy.”
An analysis in Forbes magazine on the 13th noted that due to the PLA’s lack of airborne early warning aircraft, if the carrier was heading east toward the Pacific or south toward the Indian Ocean, it could be vulnerable to airstrikes. However, the Air Police-600 airborne early warning aircraft is about to change this. Generally speaking, the Air Police-600 is similar to the American E-2 Hawkeye early warning aircraft. Some people even think it is a “replica”.
The early warning system can detect and track other aircraft from a distance. Because they can see further, it can greatly increase the adaptability of the aircraft carrier and improve the combat effectiveness of the fighter. They can detect missiles or offensives from afar and notify the carrier’s aviation wing for action.
China will be the third country to deploy fixed-wing early warning aircraft on aircraft carriers. Currently, only the US and French navies have E-2 “Eagle Eye” early warning aircraft. Others, like Britain and India, use helicopters. Although they are still important, the range is shorter and the radar is usually smaller.
Based on the analysis, it is not necessary to overemphasize the similarity between “Eagle Eye” and Air Police-600, because it is probably a case of “next function of form”. Even the Yak-44, which was abandoned by the former Soviet Union, adopted a similar design. The focus of the question is how the Air Force-600 will change the combat power of Chinese aircraft carriers.
Rick Joe, who specializes in the development of Chinese aviation and navy, believes that the Air Police-600 will greatly enhance the combat power of the Chinese navy. He noted that once you are in service on an aircraft carrier, you can greatly increase your knowledge of air and sea conditions and strengthen the carrier’s battlegroup offensive and defensive capabilities.
Satellite images show that the Air Force-600 will have a rotating shield radar in the fuselage, and Joe believes it will be the last “Active Electronic Scanning Array” (AESA) radar. This makes the Air Force-600 similar to the E-2D early warning aircraft serving the US Navy, and he emphasized that, like the advanced E-2D, the Air Force-600 will use the more powerful radar and data link technology.
Also, Joe believes that in terms of technology, the Air Police-600 is more like an E-2D early warning aircraft. The important question is whether it can deploy all Chinese carriers. Since the first two aircraft carriers of the People’s Liberation Army, the “Liaoning” and “Shandong” ships, are ski jump-take-off type aircraft carriers, the Air Police-600 may be too heavy for them. Therefore, it can only be applicable to the Type 003 aircraft carrier with a catapult device. In fact, the Pentagon has already hinted in the 2020 China Military Power Report submitted to Congress that this catapult takeoff device will help support fixed-wing early warning aircraft.
(Zhongshi News Network)
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