PLAN Naval Helicopter & ASW Capability II

Blitzo

Lieutenant General
Staff member
Super Moderator
Registered Member
And posted by a man over in the carrier thread!!

I don't think the sudden emergence of these clearer photos is a coincidence.

111706iuomwwmujwonkic6_zps53271659.jpg~original
 

asif iqbal

Lieutenant General
A very nice photo of a very nice helo

Just what I wanted to see and they have developed from the Z8 platform they have but totally modernised

A large most likely rotating surface search radar under the nose with a dipping sonar for ASW work

So we have it for surface and sub surface engagments two areas of naval combat that PLAN really has to master

Question really is what onboard equipment and facilitys have they installed for processing and analysing the data and information? Can it do it all by itself or rely back to home station? It's a big helo and if they have installed all this for two naval roles then I would think it does not have enough space to carrying all of the on board equipment for information processing

Either way it's a huge step forward in naval aviation also for China it's a big leap in capability

They need to learn how to utilise this capability to get maximum out of the platform

Building a flat deck LHD/LHA for China would be very useful with that they could station a huge helicopter force equipped with Z18F and use them for anti submarine and anti surface screening as of now they will have to devote a serious amount of Liaoning air wing to commit for ASW or from the escorts

It's the kind of helicopter that wil serve PLAN well
 

asif iqbal

Lieutenant General
Quick update on the naval air arm


Looks like PLAN is pretty serious when it comes to rotary wing for the Liaoning carrier just as exciting as the J15 development

So far we have seen 3 new type of helos specially for the carrier they are

Good decision by PLAN to use Z8 platform rather than the Kamovs or the Z9C which are small units not that they are not going to use them they will use a mix of helos but having a large platform like Z8 is very advantageous

Z18 general transport

2ff72fcfe953b21e16eab59d59ed8f29_zps65c38017.jpg


Z18 AEW variant
5921c9d16ebfb17d05bc47f3e41b4710_zps629a8206.jpg


Z18 ASW variant
2a691ded6f4784ee77f0d44dd6ade63b_zpsad57ee3f.jpg
 

Blitzo

Lieutenant General
Staff member
Super Moderator
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Actually that is first one is a VIP version

Now they just need a modernized general purpose assault version for their 071s and future LHAs.
 

cn_habs

Junior Member
What's the latest on the Harbin Z20? On top of being smaller, it'd be more agile than the Z18 wouldn't it?
 

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
To add to Asif's post, here's some pics I have put together for each of the Z-18 types, more are included on
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14730029388_3db3172c4e_b.jpg

Z-18 AEW Variant

14730066497_b03d48ede3_b.jpg

Z-18 AEW Variant

14916636945_ea7d9f6aa7_b.jpg

Z-18 AEW Variant

14729971819_e121c06bf6_b.jpg

Z-18 ASW Variant

14916278502_44987ea4f3_b.jpg

Z-18 ASW Variant

14916278452_efa519537c_b.jpg

Z-18 ASW Variant

14729971140_44c967975a_b.jpg

Z-18 SAR/COD Variant

14916278432_bc3fa8ce15_b.jpg

Z-18 SAR/COD Variant

14730066307_a1d6e692dd_b.jpg

Z-18 SAR/COD Variant

I am sure these will probably operate off of the carriers, the LPDs, and eventually off of LHAs or LHDs the PLAN builds.
 
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Dizasta1

Senior Member
Correct me if I am wrong, but China does not have any plans for fixed-wing AEWs to deploy on Liaoning AC, do they?
 

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
Correct me if I am wrong, but China does not have any plans for fixed-wing AEWs to deploy on Liaoning AC, do they?
Unclear at this point, but very unlikely for STOBAR.

More likely when they build their first CATOBAR.

Until then, their new Z-18 AEW helos and their Ka-31s will be used.
 
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delft

Brigadier
Correct me if I am wrong, but China does not have any plans for fixed-wing AEWs to deploy on Liaoning AC, do they?
It is well possible to design a fixed wing AEW plane to use a ski ramp. However we have until now only seen an aerodynamic test article based on Y-7 resembling the US E-2 aircraft, not yet a prototype for a carrier borne aircraft. The fixed wing AEW aircraft might be intended for the next flattop which might have cats, probably then EM cats, and possibly integrated into the ski ramp.
 
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