KJ-600 carrierborne AEWC thread

[Quickie]

I always wonder being a pilot and flying these awacs or aewc aircraft and sitting so close to an object shooting so much Electromagnetic radiation. The risk of cancer must be high for them.

Doesn't the aluminium skin of the aircraft block most of the radiation from the antenna? Only very high frequency radio waves like UV, X and gama can penatrate the aluminium skin and cause cancer, not the radar's.


Fighter pilot sits under the canopy which always let in radiation from the sun. The higher up they go the stronger the radiation. The sun radiation is UV which causes cancer.

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says "for every 1000m increase of altitude, UV radiation increases by 12%". So at 10000m the radiation is 1.12^10 of sea level, that is 300%. I imagine that is like a north European exposed to sun in a tropical country 8 hours a day. We know for a fact that Australian whites have a higher chance of skin cancer.

The rule of thumb is the higher the frequency, and the shorter the wavelength, of the E.M. Wave the more ionizing/energetic it will be i.e. causing more damage to whatever comes its way e.g. body tissues, even electronics if it's strong enough.

The rule goes vice versa when it comes to the penetrative power. Long E.M. Waves like radio waves (UV, X-ray, and gamma rays are NOT considered radio waves) can go through practically everything with comparatively little attenuation and no ionizing effect and are quite harmless to humans.

 

[Deino]

Not sure if this image of the KJ-600 AEW was already posted.

(Image via Roy YU/FB)

 

[ACuriousPLAFan]

New KJ-600 photos, now in PLAN colours. Posted by @种花家的小姐姐2 on Weibo.

 

[Blitzo]

New KJ-600 photos, now in PLAN colours. Posted by @种花家的小姐姐2 on Weibo.

View attachment 121490
View attachment 121491

It may be PLAN colours... or it may not be.

We first saw a KJ-600 in grey back in 2021, and even back then it was unsure if it was in "PLAN service colours" or whether it's just... well painted grey.

Same goes for these pictures here. I would also add that we technically don't know when they were taken (even the one taken on the Xiaomi phone with the date and time could be added in).

That said the first image is actually quite good as it shows the arresting hook (and its distinctive V shaped recess) at the aft of the fuselage.

 

[by78]

Spotted again at a facility of the Chinese Flight Test Establishment.

 

[ACuriousPLAFan]

Spotted again at a facility of the Chinese Flight Test Establishment.

The pitot tube is still on...

 

[Deino]

The pitot tube is still on...

That‘s indeed surprising … maybe not a recent image?

By the way, here the full one:

(Image via @一蓑烟雨任平生sjs from Weibo)

 

[Blitzo]

The pitot tube is still on...

That‘s indeed surprising …

I'm not sure why this is surprising and why it is worth mentioning that it has a pitot probe??

After all, we don't know which of the various prototypes it is (obviously earlier prototypes will still have the pitot probe), and we don't know when this picture was taken either.


Just because KJ-600 is likely reaching the last stages of its development and flight testing, doesn't mean all of our pictures of KJ-600 will follow the same progress (i.e.: we may still get old pictures of KJ-600 prototypes released, and we may still get new pictures of earlier KJ-600 prototypes doing flight testing).

 

[Deino]

I'm not sure why this is surprising and why it is worth mentioning that it has a pitot probe??

After all, we don't know which of the various prototypes it is (obviously earlier prototypes will still have the pitot probe), and we don't know when this picture was taken either.


Just because KJ-600 is likely reaching the last stages of its development and flight testing, doesn't mean all of our pictures of KJ-600 will follow the same progress (i.e.: we may still get old pictures of KJ-600 prototypes released, and we may still get new pictures of earlier KJ-600 prototypes doing flight testing).

I just edited my post !

 

[Blitzo]

I just edited my post !

Apart from the possibility of being an old image, it is also possible it is a recent image, but of one of the earlier prototypes which would still be expected to be doing flight testing and would be expected to retain its pitot tube as well.


Overall the key point imo is that it's not surprising at all. In fact as a picture, there actually isn't much that is interesting or worth registering at all.