PLA AEW&C, SIGINT, EW and MPA thread

tphuang said:

Does it already have 9 KJ-200s? 9 Seems like a very old number.

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FORBIN said:

I have 8 in service : 6 for PLANAF i think sure and 2 for PLAAF/26 Div.

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hmmwv said:

So far 26th Div has been taking the just in time supply chain management concept to the heart, if they built 9 shelters then I'm fairly certain they have 9 planes and are being occupied now. The image showing finished shelter was from last October. It seems to me that there are only room for 9 shelters at the southern end of the airport, but they may very well expend to the empty plot between the KJ200 and KJ2000 shelters, where three more shelters can fit comfortably.

The good thing about WUX is that the presence of NKG and PVG/SHA will definitely limit its growth on the civilian side, so PLAAF will have priority over land use for any future growth, also the areas surrounding the airport is less developed so expansions can be done relatively easily. I think the maximum number of AEW assets stationed there will be 6 KJ2000 and 12 KJ200.

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tphuang said:

guess if I ever get a chance to fly from WUX, i might get a chance to see some of these AEW assets. I was flying from Yantai airport 2 weeks ago and saw some JH-7A from 5th PLANAF division.

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hmmwv said:

The best you can hope for is round trip from a northern city, that way you land at RWY 21 and slows down and turn right in front of the KJ200 shelters, or a RWY 03 takeoff where your plane has to taxi pass all the shelters to get to the end of the runway.

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A mechanized infantry division under the Army of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) maneuvered long distance to participate in a drill commanded by an early-warning plane of an aviation division under the PLA Air Force in mid-November of 2012. In ordinary people’s eyes, it is no more than a common scene of joint training of PLA troop units. In fact, however, it marks that China’s independently-developed early-warning aircraft has formed early-warning and command capabilities, becoming an airborne command center for the three services of the PLA. The PLA’s combat command has achieved a historic leap from two to three dimensions.

China began to develop her own early-warning airplane in as early as 1960s. China’s independently-developed early-warning airplanes KJ-2000 and KJ-200 debuted at the 2009 National Day parade in Beijing to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

“The significance of home-made early-warning aircraft lies in its role in systematic military operations,” said a leader of the PLA Air Force.

Nowadays, China’s early-warning aircraft is no longer a mere “flying radar station” carrying antennas but it can directly command and control air operation groups consisting of fighters, bombers and tank, and command and guide long-range ground forces of the army, becoming a real airborne command post that guides the three services of the PLA across the new threshold of systematic military operations.

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