China’s KJ-600 Carrier Based ‘Flying Radar’ Aircraft Nears Completion with New Test Flights - First Supercarrier Soon to be Launched

The world’s first carrier based fixed wing airborne early warning aircraft developed outside the United states, the Chinese KJ-600, has completed further test flights as the aircraft prepares for entry into service in the People’s Liberation Army Navy. The aircraft provides a direct analogue to the U.S. Navy’s venerable E-2 Hawkeye which was designed to be deployed from the U.S. Navy’s 11 serving supercarriers - and is also deployed from France’s own much smaller carrier as a major force multiplier for their air wings. The E-2 and KJ-600 both carry negligible armaments, but deploy very large radars, communications equipment and data links which allow them to increase their carrier groups' situational awareness and coordinate the actions of fighter units to counter potential threats. The aircraft also have the potential to guide air to air missiles towards their targets using their sensors, which are considerably more powerful and many times larger than those which fighter sized aircraft can accommodate. The KJ-600 is just one of several new aircraft set to enter service on China's upcoming supercarriers alongside stealth drones, electronic attack jets and a new generation of heavily enhanced J-15 fighters.

The KJ-600 will be deployed using the electromagnetic catapult launch systems (EMALS) on the PLA’s upcoming two Type 002 Class supercarriers - a new kind of launch catapult which only the American carrier USS Gerald Ford currently benefits from using. Future Chinese carrier classes such as the larger nuclear powered Type 003 Class reportedly being planned will also use EMALS, and will thus be able to accommodate not only the KJ-600 but also heavier fighter jets carrying more fuel and more weapons. The KJ-600 will represent a major force multiplier for Chinese carrier air wings, and will provide a major advantage over carrier wings which lack fixed wing AEW aircraft such as the British Queen Elizabeth Class, Russian Admiral Kuznetsov and Indian Vikramaditya and Vikrant. These ships all use cheaper helicopter based AEW platforms with much shorter ranges and far smaller and weaker radars, meaning they cannot contend with Chinese or American carrier groups on a near peer level in terms of situational awareness.