TSAMTO, October 13. The Chinese corporation Xian Aircraft Corporation (XAC) has completed the assembly of the second prototype of the KJ-600 AWACS carrier-based aircraft, which is being developed for use on aircraft carriers of the PLA Navy.
According to Jane's Defense Weekly, satellite images taken on October 1 and 2 identified the second prototype KJ-600 at Xi'an-Yangliang Airport in China. This is the first time that the second KJ-600 has been definitively identified in the pictures, and both prototypes of the aircraft were filmed simultaneously on the southwest parking ramp near the assembly shops of XAC among various gliders of the Y-20 and H-6 series.
The KJ-600 will be based on promising aircraft carriers of the PLA Navy. The aircraft will significantly increase the range of the radar assets of the aircraft carrier battle group and provide direction to the taking-off fighters to intercept enemy air assets. In addition, the KJ-600 can be deployed ashore and used from airfields unable to accommodate larger AWACS platforms such as the KJ-500.
The initial commissioning of the KJ-600 is likely to be associated with the adoption of the promising aircraft carrier Type-003, which is currently being built at the Jiangnan Changxingdao shipyard (near Shanghai). Since the Type-003 is equipped with a CATOBAR type system (catapult takeoff and landing on an aerial finisher), most likely, it will need exactly the KJ-600.
Before commissioning, the KJ-600 aircraft is likely to be tested at the Huangdikun Air Base, which is equipped with runway models with braking mechanisms and catapult tracks, originally used for design work, but potentially useful for training pilots in operations with a CATOBAR type system.
