The Chinese carrier-based KJ-600 early detection radar aircraft cannot operate from the country's existing aircraft carriers, Defense World reported, citing the national television of the People's Republic of China.
The other day, the CCTV TV channel reported on another test flight of the KJ-600, successfully performed from a ground airfield in Xi'an. When the journalist asked the military expert Song, whether the plane will be able to take off from the aircraft carriers available to the People's Republic of China, he replied in the negative.
The deck-mounted "flying radar" is very similar to the American equivalent of the E-2 Hawkeye and is equipped with turboprop engines. Their thrust is not enough to lift an 18-ton aircraft into the sky from a short ship's deck without the help of a catapult. American aircraft carriers are equipped with such devices, Chinese ones are not. The existing "Liaolin" and "Shandong" are based on the Soviet project 1143.5 and have a springboard for taking off jet fighters on the afterburner. The Type 002 aircraft carrier, which is being built according to the Chinese project, is planned to be equipped with electromagnetic catapults.
Anton Valagin
